I figured this would make an interesting topic.

Lately, around my neck of the woods, I've seen a great deal of youngsters roaming about with stretched ears.  I'm talking 7th and 8th graders, and I'm talking 0g+.  Personally, I think it's very irresponsible for the parents to let this happen... a lot of these kids probably don't realize how permanent stretching is, and I'm sure many of them have followed bad stretching advice to get to enormous sizes so fast.

 I graduated high school in 2006... ear stretching was just catching on at my school.  You'd see a lot of girls and guys wearing 14g-12g CBRs and whatnot [I wore them on and off, but wasn't allowed to go bigger than a 14g], but only a few kids had larger gauge plugs.  These days, I guess stretching has become quite a trend, and kids are really wanting to jump on it.  What about next year, when they decide they really don't want huge holes in their heads, and they're left with icky ears from trying to race to a certain size?  I mean, I'm sure some of these kids are really into mods, and want their stretched lobes for the long haul... but many end up regretting it.

I posted a previous topic about a "friend" with badly stretched 2" lobes.  She's just sixteen, and has stretched on and off since age twelve.  Well, she recently decided that she no longer wants stretched lobes.  They literally make her miserable.  Mommy and Daddy refuse to pay for surgery.  Had she waited a couple years, thought it through, did her research, etc... she probably wouldn't have rushed the process, or maybe decided against it to begin with.  Her sister, who is 14, has 1/2" lobes.  She took them out and is frustrated that they haven't shrunk.  Someone at school told her they'd shrink back to normal, and that's why she stretched so large.

I have wanted to stretch since I was fifteen or so.  I'd sneak and buy 14g circulars and CBRs from mall stores, even though my parents noticed they were bigger than regular earrings and didn't approve whatsoever.  I wasn't allowed to go bigger, and it frustrated me.  I obeyed my parents' rules and thought to myself, "Okay, if I reeeeeaaaallllyyyy want these, I'll still want them when I'm older."  I DEFINITELY still wanted them four years later when I began to seriously start stretching.

 Basically, I think you should be mature enough to handle one of the most time-consuming body mods around, and I have trouble believing that a thirteen-year-old can do this.  Stretching badly is disgusting, and can be found everywhere... from kids putting straws in their ears at the lunch table to gruesome youtube vids.  A lot of young kids do not realize you have to wait a certain amount of time between stretches, not skip sizes, use particular kinds of soap, SSS, etc.  I've been informing all my friends about this site.

 I don't think I can really give an age to start stretching.  Some kids are more mature than others.  But I do believe that if the person wants it badly enough, they'll still want it just as badly in the future.  So kids, please wait, and if you don't want to... do it right.

So, what do you guys think?  If there's anyone here below, say, age sixteen with larger stretches... I'd like to hear what you have to say.  I neither condemn nor condone, I just think you should make responsible decisions.

My kid can mod when they are out of the house and taking care of themselves.  So 18+ for me.  I can already hear myself shouting "Not under my roof you won't"  I'm down with being "Lame mom".

I agree with you for the most part.  I'd be cool with letting my kids get pierced as teenagers, as long as they're responsible with it, but NOTHING permanent under my roof!  Like I said, if they want it bad enough, they'll still want it when they're older.

 This sort of blows my mind. I am not a youngster. In fact, this makes me feel a bit old...kids these days! I was talking to one of my "nieces" (she's 12) yesterday...there's a boy in her school (or her class) that has stretched lobes (I'm guessing 0ga from her description). I wasn't even allowed to get my ears pierced until I was 12! I know there's quite a few younger people here that are in it for the long haul and are going about it properly, but it just seems so young. It's unfortunate that something so permanent is a trend or fad with people still in middle school/junior high. At least with clothes/hairstyles, when the trend isn't so trendy anymore, the clothes can be replaced and the hair updated. You can't just decide one day to "take off" the large holes in your ears. When I got my first helix piercing, everyone was a bit weirded out by it ("you'll regret that later" etc and so on), granted I lived in a little podunk prison town. And that was my senior year of high school. It's too bad that they can't have a session on stretching in health class or something.

Times, they are a-changin' 

 i keep thinking about this girl i rang up at work a few months ago, she couldn't have been older than 14 but she had these big tapers in her ears [ probably like a 4g ] and she had these pink and yellow flower printed bandaids over them...................................... [ like squeezed around the taper to form some kind of "seal ".] the worst part was that she was with her mother, and she looked like she had just come from soccer practice. it really bothered me, because people really underestimate stuff like this, even the parents. 

 i can't get into age and maturity because it all varies a lot, but someone younger than 15 making big holes in thier ears, and wearing the wrong jewelry to do it, with the " approval " of parental figures.. seems a little crazy to me.

our bodies don't stop growing until our 20's....

jesskaface:

our bodies don't stop growing until our 20's....

Our brains aren't fully developed until then, either...

I'm 15, and have multiple piercings and stretched lobes. You can find my posts around here somewhere about me stretching too quickly..I didn't do the research I should have done, but thankfully I started to repair the damage before it was too permanent. I'm now completely at peace with taking multiple more years to restretch and whatnot. Both of my parents are completely accepting of my lobes (now that they've seen me really become understanding of the consequences), and I'm doing it properly now, so I feel like I deserve to be at the size I'd like. I'm fulling aware they'll limit my place in the workfield, and will be there if not all of my life. I feel really well, almost ashamed I get put in the catagory of the 'stupid' kid, because I have stretched ears because "I'm immature and don't know what I'll want later in life", when I take excellent care of my ears now, and I feel like I really do understand what I'm doing to my body. I know better than to do anything like scapel or scratcher tattoos, and all of that jazz. I feel like a big ol' hypocrite saying most kids should wait to do modifications, until they know the proper info, but I do believe it. I never had anyone tell me I was stretching poorly, doing this or this wrong, and now that I do know so much more, I try to help other people my age get the right knowledge, and none of them listen so I feel like maybe I'm a little more mature (cocky, much?), seeing as I did end up doing the research, taking all the advice I could get, and executing it to save my ears before it was too late.

Maybe I just repeated the same thing over and over, but I couldn't figure out how to word it 

 no kidding! i didn't start stretching until i was about18, and i made mistakes along the way.... and if i had been able to get tattoos when i was 15? 

holy cow. don't even wanna think about it. 

I agree about no permanent mods for the kids until they're on their own. Luckily, I have a boy who vows to never get his ears pierced ("you have enough for two people, mom") or a "needle" tattoo. Too cute (he's 6).

And I remember having to choose between leaving in my 2-3 week old lobe piercings in, or playing in my championship soccer game. My mom wasn't about to let me rip my earlobe open, or risk getting stabbed in the neck with the sharp back of the crappy mall studs that I had in. I played in the game (and we won), and was able to put the earrings back in after (after a shower). My mom did tell me before that I may not be able to get them in afterwards, and if I couldn't, then we'd wait awhile and get them re-done. I love my mom. Perhaps not relevant, but Jesska's story reminded me about it.  

jesskaface:

 no kidding! i didn't start stretching until i was about18, and i made mistakes along the way.... and if i had been able to get tattoos when i was 15? 

 

holy cow. don't even wanna think about it. 

Idk about you, but I personally would have tattoos representing shitty bands all over my body right now.

My boyfriend got a tattoo as soon as he turned 18... it was a small religious one [to soften the blow to his parents that he was indeed getting a tat], and he got it at this shitty shop who put it on his arm backwards.  Fortunately, a couple years later, he saved up and was able to get a design he truly wanted tattooed over it... but he had to get it done much darker than he would have liked, in order to cover the first tattoo up.

 So yeah, patience grasshoppah.

miss elaineous:

jesskaface:

 no kidding! i didn't start stretching until i was about18, and i made mistakes along the way.... and if i had been able to get tattoos when i was 15? 

 

holy cow. don't even wanna think about it. 

Idk about you, but I personally would have tattoos representing shitty bands all over my body right now.

that's EXACTLY what i was referring to. stuff that i just *knew* i would love forever.. it's not that i dislike it now, but it isn't a priority, or worth being a walking advertisement for the rest of your life. 

*edit* i should add though, that i have a tatto planned as a tribute to a band, but the name [ spelled out ] will certainly not be a part of it. 

Also representing the youngins (16 here). I'm not heavily modified - both hips and 4g lobes, both of which I got at 15. I did a LOT of research before getting both done and waited 8 months to a year before acting to make sure it wasn't just a whim. They're all healthy, happy piercings and I think I'm done modifying myself for now.
But most people my age don't know (or just don't think about) what they're doing to themselves.. not ALL modified kids are "messing up their faces"! Most are.. and I'm proud to be different. ;)

 Yeah!! There needs to be more smart and patient "kids" like Lana!

snowstarz:

 Yeah!! There needs to be more smart and patient "kids" like Lana!

Agreed!  She seems to have a good head on her shoulders.

Another thing... I'm so sick of going on Yahoo Answers and seeing all these questions like "I'm 13, how can I convince my mom to let me get snakebites?" or "I wanna gauge bigger but dad won't buy me bigger plugs, what household objects can I use?"  Then again, Yahoo Answers is a total joke anyway.

 ...or the "how do I pierce my own bellybutton, lip, nose, etc." And the people giving them tips!! Arg, I want to hunt them down and slap (err, some sense into) them!