<p>I kind of like the nose twinkles.</p>
<p>I personally don’t care for nose studs - my first impression is that “something is stuck to their nose” and it’s never a good thing I’m thinking of. In Germany, there are many many adults (my age or older) with nose studs, so I got used to looking at them, but never learned to appreciate them. The flip side is that I think my kids might tend to think of them as an over-the-hill, trying-to-look-hip thing to do.</p>
<p>But I don’t think I would care too much one way or another if any of my kids did it. But I have to qualify my reaction, because I do believe they would ask first, or atleast “inform” first. My middle S has long hair, and he asked us (in 10th grade) for permission to grow it out. My H hates it (I love it), and would have a harder time than I with piercings or anything off the conservative straight and narrow. But we agreed early on in this parenting adventure to save our "no"s for the biggies. Our kids would ask because they’d be pretty confident of hearing, hey, it’s your life.</p>
<p>The nose studs are quite attractive.</p>
<p>Ok so this is an anonymous board, so here goes. My rebel 15 was told no tatoos or piercings untill she is living independently and supporting herself. (In reality I was hoping to at least delay it until 18.) Her hair was already black and cut in an odd way. Then a friends mom called me to say that “your D pieced my D’s belly button, did you know?” Nope, I didn’t. Nor did I know she had pierced her own as well. No drugs, no drink, just ice cubes and done. She did hers first, then her friends. Of course I confronted her about it, more worried about the friend getting MRSA or some other deadly infection. Doing herself is one thing, “operating” on someone else is another…Luckily no one was harmed. They bought DIY kits at the mall. </p>
<p>The good news is that I told her having one was unacceptable, and she was grounded until further notice…while H and I decided exactly how to approach it. Before we had to choose whether to let her keep it or not, she brought the piercing to me and apologized. I never let on that maybe I would have let her keep it. I am hoping that by 18, she stays away from facial piercings and tatoos that I can easily see. I won’t hold my breath.</p>
<p>I agree that just having them come home alive, safe, not pregnant and not in jail works for me. I don’t much like it though.</p>
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<p>Definitely, 07Dad.</p>
<p>Neither of my kids have tatoos or piercings, other than the double piercings in D’s earlobes. But I have a feeling D (an incoming HS senior) will eventually get a tatoo of some kind. If she does, I hope it’s small, well-done and meaningful (rather than a lark). At the beach yesterday, there was a good looking Anglo man in his 30s with a much younger blonde woman. He took off his shirt and there were an assortment of tatoos on his upper arms and back. One was a snake eating its tail. But the most awful one was across his back (huge, at least a foot wide) and it read “murder” and had blood dripping off the letters. The woman had no tatoos at all. They looked completely mismatched.
p.s. I actually think very, very small diamond nose studs are attractive in women, especially if you can barely tell they are there. That said, I will have no more piercings (already have ears lobes pierced twice each) and no tatoos!</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone who has shared their thoughts. You’ve helped put things in perspective–and it’s always nice to hear from those who have “been there.”</p>
<p>My daughter will be an engineering student. I am worried about how she will be perceived by her professors. What about internships and co-ops? A job when it is time to be in the real world? All of these things were running through my mind Saturday night and my husband, who is taking things a lot better than I am, said he was sure the hole would close up when she is through with this phase of her life. But when the doctor said it was a permanent hole, I started flipping out all over again.</p>
<p>I honestly would have been happier with the small shamrock on her ankle–partly because she had talked about it and partly because it is not on the face where everyone can see it immediately. </p>
<p>I did say something to her in the car on the way home from the doctor today. The conversation went like this:</p>
<p>M: How would you like it if I put something like that on my face?</p>
<p>D: You wouldn’t have enought guts to do something rebellious like that.</p>
<p>M: Aha! So you’re doing this to be rebellious, huh?</p>
<p>D: No, this isn’t rebellious for someone who’s 18. It WOULD be rebellious for someone your age, though.</p>
<p>Hmm. I thought I found the reason for this, but maybe not. So, I will try to “chill” and repair the damage because we don’t have many days left to be together before she leaves. My husband keeps reminding me what a great, smart kid we have and to “drop it already!!!”</p>
<p>I really think that half of the flipping out is because I was so hurt that she didn’t bother to tell us ahead of time.</p>
<p>A humorous side note to this: I had been crying when I told my mom that everything was ok, but her granddaughter had pierced her nose. Her comment was, “And then what happened?” LOL! She said she hoped she didn’t hurt my feelings by her comment but, as many of you have stated, there are far worse things that could happen.</p>
<p>Thanks again to everybody, and if you have anything else to share, I would love to hear it!</p>
<p>
I thought “love” was never having to say “Your sari…” Must be another one of those things I misunderstood, like coming to Casablanca for the waters.</p>
<p>One of many reasons that I’m happy to be married and not dating these days is not having to encounter belly jewels. For whatever reason, my reaction when I see one is “ugh.” Guess it’s just one more sign of my innate conservatism. </p>
<p>A tasteful tattoo…inside of ankle, back of shoulder, inside of thigh, like a cigar with wings that looks like a sparrow, would be okay. But at least the jewelry isn’t necessarily permanent.</p>
<p>I rather like the nose piercings, too, but I do think they look better if the person has a “perfect” nose (obviously subjective); otherwise, they just exploit too many imperfections. The worst part about them is that they leave a noticeable and permanent scar, which I think is just sad. I’d rather see a nose piercing than tattoos, though. Tatoos just remind me of old sailors. I can’t fathom why anyone would do that to themselves.</p>
<p>Oh, I also agree with ID’s “rules,” except I’d move #5 to #1.</p>
<p>Just read the post below about swallowed tongue studs. Oh, ouch.</p>
<p>Word of caution on piercings -steer clear of tongue piercings. After hearing a doc friend describe fixing perforated bowels of patients who swallowed tongue studs… oh man. Please warn all piercing teens to stop before they get to the tongue, the gut they save may be their own.</p>
<p>I just came back from getting my first tattoo 
But I grew up with a dad who had both tattoos and a pierced ear. I’ve always thought it would be kind of cool to have a tattoo, but had the same fears that it might affect my ability to get a job, etc.
I think that nowadays so many people have them that it is not so big of a deal. Same with piercings (eyebrow, nose, belly), you can take them out so who cares? I let 2 of my sons get their ears pierced when they were still in grade school; one of them never wears an earing any more though. But I would like them to wait about tattoos because they are so permanent. I figured since I’ve been contemplating one for 20+ years that I could get one if I wanted to :p</p>
<p>I am amazed at how many people here would punish their college-age kids for getting pregnant. All these parents are doing is forcing their daughters to go through a difficult experience without support from their families. What’s the point?</p>
<p>I think that if I got pregnant my parents would be there for me emotionally, but not financially. Like I said, pregnancy is one of those things that signals to my parents that I am a grown woman…If I don’t feel like I’m old enough/responsible enough to be a grown up and have a baby without my parents financial assistance, then I shouldn’t be having sex.</p>
<p>Who said anything about “punishment?” Seems like good advice, though-- to not get pregnant as an undergraduate. Who could argue with that?</p>
<p>I just don’t like the idea of a young woman having to deal with getting an abortion alone because she can’t tell her family about her problem. Yes, in an ideal world, the guy involved would be available to support her through this difficult situation, but we don’t all live in an ideal world.</p>
<p>I also don’t like the idea of a young woman feeling compelled to choose abortion in order to conceal her pregnancy from her parents because they would otherwise cut off her tuition, when she might have preferred a different solution to the problem of an unplanned pregnancy.</p>
<p>In my opinion, if a college student is not ready to handle the responsbilities and consequences of sex, then they shouldn’t be doing it. I don’t think my parents are being unreasonable whatsoever. They don’t pay almost 50K a year for me to end up pregnant. If I choose to have sex and get pregnant, I can’t honestly expect them to continue paying for my education. </p>
<p>And I don’t think anyone here suggested that their daughter should get an abortion if she gets pregnant. My parents would never want me to do that, they would just want me to deal with my pregnancy like a responsible adult.</p>
<p>You explain your situation well, hotpiece101. It’s great that you and your parents seem to understand each other’s viewpoints so clearly.</p>
<p>Hah, this thread’s gone waaaay off topic! Hopefully, a lot of the parents on here would still be compassionate and emotionally supportive if their daughter ended up pregnant, no matter what they say now to try to dissuade their kids from it. I don’t know anyone IRL whose parents have actually articulated a specific policy about pregnancy while in undergrad, though! I think my parents know pretty well I have no intention of raising a child until much later on, so they’re right not to be worried.</p>
<p>I do think the adult thing to do is not to have sex that might result in pregnancy until you’re prepared to have an abortion or go through a pregnancy. At the same time, life doesn’t always work the responsible way, and I think it’s important for parents to let their kids know that they’ll still be there if mistakes happen… it’s not like condoms break because of poor judgment!</p>
<p>I picked up my 15yo D at the airport last summer after she spent a week skiing on Mt Hood. She had an earring in the cartilege part of her ear. I didn’t say anything but the tears just streamed down my cheeks. I couldn’t stop them. That lasted about 10 secs. She then pulled the earring off and showed me that it was just a clip-on bought for the sole purpose of freaking me out. Well, it worked!!
PS We have the same rules as interresteddad as well as a 6th:
No rides on motorcycles.</p>
<p>Hotpiece, darling, I mean this in the kindest way. If I were your mom, and worried about sexual behavior, your user name would really scare me.</p>