Choosing when and where to pierce your child's ears is a personal choice each parent has to make. Some parents choose to do it when their kids are babies — while the kid can't decide for themselves, they believe there's less risk of them messing with the piercing. Other parents choose to wait until their child asks for a piercing to allow them body autonomy.
There really is no right or wrong answer when it comes to ear piercing. But one mom had her parenting questioned by a stranger after choosing to have her daughter's ears pierced at the local Claire's, and she's sharing the stranger's harsh words on social media as a lesson for others.
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The mom shared her tearful reaction to the stranger on TikTok.
TikTok user Hannah (@shesworthafortune) shared a teary video recounting how a stranger called her a "disgusting mother" because of her choice to have her daughter's ears pierced at Claire's.
In addition to calling her disgusting, she shared that the person "told me that they hope somebody holds me down and does painful, awful things to me" because she had gotten her daughter's ears pierced.
It was the daughter's reaction that elicited the stranger's strong words.
Hannah explained through tears that "naturally" her daughter cried during the piercing process. She added that the stranger told her "that I just taught her that anybody can do those things to her."
"I don't even know what to say," Hannah said, trying to contain her anguish at the stranger's words.
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Hannah had some strong words for the stranger herself.
In her response, Hannah shared that her daughter thinks highly of her as a mom and had been asking to get her ears pierced "for weeks." She also said her daughter was "smiling" after getting her ears pierced.
She then went on to call the woman a "disgusting excuse for a human" but added a note that she regrets "stooping to the same level" in her daughter's presence. The mom did praise the people at Claire's, however, for offering comfort and support to her and her daughter after the incident.
"Stop shaming people because they don't agree with you," Hannah pleaded.
People in the comments were mostly kind.
Although opinions varied wildly in the comments about Hannah's choice to pierce her daughter's ears, one thing people could agree on was that the stranger's comments were unnecessary.
"Personally I don’t agree with it. But that hardly makes you a bad mother. Keep doing great," one person wrote.
"You’re a great mom, you care and that makes you great," another person shared.
Hannah shared a follow-up to give people a little more insight once she had some distance from the experience.
In the video, she reminded people that her daughter had asked for the earrings and that she had been "crying" for weeks about wanting to get her ears pierced.
She also addressed the many comments about getting the piercings done somewhere besides Claire's. Many people have noted that store employees are not always properly trained at piercing and that piercings should be done by someone with training. Hannah explained that she called three places in her area, but none would do the piercing due to her daughter's age.
Finally, she shared the story of how the actual piercing moment happened. She explained that she allowed her daughter to see several kids get their ears pierced and that despite seeing them cry, the girl wanted to proceed. When it was her daughter's turn, she put her arm around her daughter's shoulders as she had seen other parents do to hold her still.
After all the drama, Hannah revealed that her daughter made it "six or seven weeks" before she decided to take out her earrings.
