Doesn't she look like she should be entering beauty pageants?
Here's the story. Amiya has wanted her ears pierced since foreeeeeever. And we've been stalling and putting it off for foreeeeever. Well, no more. Amiya's cousin Nisha was in town and so off we went to the mall one sunny Sunday morning to get Amiya's ears pierced.
Now, I can't say for sure how these things are done as my ears were pierced (at my request) by my Mother at my Grandmother's house when I was 12. I remember ice, alcohol (for sterilization, although perhaps it should have been for consumption as well) and a needle. And it wasn't horrible. My ears were pierced and I wore earrings just fine.
It was horrible for Amiya. I'm not quite sure of the profit margin for this chain and their ear piercing racket, but holy crap. We walked out of there with over $60 bucks on the card and there was no numbing of any sort. Even compressed air is a bit cold - come on! The girl (and she was, truly, just a young girl) dotted Amiya's ears with a marker, cleaned 'em with some alcohol and lined up the gun with the (can you even believe it!?!?) $26 pair of starter earrings and took to Amiya's ear. She was agonizingly slooooooow with that damn gun and Amiya's right ear. I could see her squeezing and kept thinking that she was going way to slow. But who am I to know?
Let's reflect on how Amiya probably reacted.
Anyone? Anyone?
That's right. Hysterics. Mayhem. Sobbing. Screams of "No, Mommy! No!" for roughly 30 minutes. (I kid you not.)
And that's where the pageant mom thing came in. I didn't really have a good way to say how I was feeling at that moment until discussing the whole shabang with my friend Lauren. She very aptly stated that I must have felt like people were looking at me like I was some sort of pageant mom, forcing my daughter to do something against her will to be beautiful.
Now, I don't know if I know any pageant moms. It's not something that is always floated out there over the juice boxes and goldfish at the park. I'm sure that there pageant moms who are completely fabulous, so I'm not knocking the group. That being said, I couldn't be further from the stereotypical one, so holding a screaming five year old next to the gaudy jewelry at the mall while receiving glares from other shoppers was not my most cherished moment.
Eventually Amiya came to terms with the idea that she would either have to get ear #2 pierced or that she would forever have a hole in ear #1 as we would have to take that one out, box up both of the (did I mention?) $26 starter earrings and go home, not to repeat the process until she is legally able to do it without my signature.
She decided to go forward with #2, but only if I held her. Fine by me. This time salesgirl's caffeine seemed to be working properly and it was done lickety-split. I am not sure why it could not have been done lickety-split the first time, but I guess what doesn't kill Amiya makes her stronger, right? And now she has a brave story to tell.
Here's the story. Amiya has wanted her ears pierced since foreeeeeever. And we've been stalling and putting it off for foreeeeever. Well, no more. Amiya's cousin Nisha was in town and so off we went to the mall one sunny Sunday morning to get Amiya's ears pierced.
Now, I can't say for sure how these things are done as my ears were pierced (at my request) by my Mother at my Grandmother's house when I was 12. I remember ice, alcohol (for sterilization, although perhaps it should have been for consumption as well) and a needle. And it wasn't horrible. My ears were pierced and I wore earrings just fine.
It was horrible for Amiya. I'm not quite sure of the profit margin for this chain and their ear piercing racket, but holy crap. We walked out of there with over $60 bucks on the card and there was no numbing of any sort. Even compressed air is a bit cold - come on! The girl (and she was, truly, just a young girl) dotted Amiya's ears with a marker, cleaned 'em with some alcohol and lined up the gun with the (can you even believe it!?!?) $26 pair of starter earrings and took to Amiya's ear. She was agonizingly slooooooow with that damn gun and Amiya's right ear. I could see her squeezing and kept thinking that she was going way to slow. But who am I to know?
Let's reflect on how Amiya probably reacted.
Anyone? Anyone?
That's right. Hysterics. Mayhem. Sobbing. Screams of "No, Mommy! No!" for roughly 30 minutes. (I kid you not.)
And that's where the pageant mom thing came in. I didn't really have a good way to say how I was feeling at that moment until discussing the whole shabang with my friend Lauren. She very aptly stated that I must have felt like people were looking at me like I was some sort of pageant mom, forcing my daughter to do something against her will to be beautiful.
Now, I don't know if I know any pageant moms. It's not something that is always floated out there over the juice boxes and goldfish at the park. I'm sure that there pageant moms who are completely fabulous, so I'm not knocking the group. That being said, I couldn't be further from the stereotypical one, so holding a screaming five year old next to the gaudy jewelry at the mall while receiving glares from other shoppers was not my most cherished moment.
Eventually Amiya came to terms with the idea that she would either have to get ear #2 pierced or that she would forever have a hole in ear #1 as we would have to take that one out, box up both of the (did I mention?) $26 starter earrings and go home, not to repeat the process until she is legally able to do it without my signature.
She decided to go forward with #2, but only if I held her. Fine by me. This time salesgirl's caffeine seemed to be working properly and it was done lickety-split. I am not sure why it could not have been done lickety-split the first time, but I guess what doesn't kill Amiya makes her stronger, right? And now she has a brave story to tell.
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