Let Her Have a Belly Button Ring

So your daughter decided she wants a piercing? She told you she wants to pierce her navel so she can wear belly button rings? Well, then you shoud thank Heaven that she chose to pierce her belly button riff instead of her tongue or eyebrow. At least she can conceal it most of the time and your friends won't see it unless they meet her at the beach or the pool, if this is a comfort to you.

The best thing you can do, is show your love and emphaty by stating that you don't personally like the idea, but that you respect her decision and will support her anyway. Take it a step further and offer to find her the best piercer in town, one who is a professional, has good educational background and many satisfied customers. It is indispensable that he also has a very good hygienical code of work and uses disposable gloves, needles and pads.It is also good to make sure he does not use guns for piercing, as those cannot be sterilized.

The other important thing is to educate yourself and your offspring about the pros and cons of piercing, the possible side effects and complications, the lenght of time till the wound heals, etc. An evening of online research together would bond you and your daughter and will make her realize you are her friend beside her mom and just want to make sure she will be all right.

In most western countries it is required by law that underage citizens get written legal consentment from their parents when visiting the piercing clinic. Too many problems with infections, scarring and scamming made this law necessary. Make sure you comply with this requirement, or just go along with your daughter and hold her hand like you do when visiting the dentist. It can be a bit scary, but it is not painful at all.

There is another benefit to agreeing to disagree in a friendly, cordial way with your daughter. If you say how much you like her belly button ring, chances are she will stop wearing it all together after a while.

Moms and Dads are quite conservative regarding their teenage children's body piercing. We just dislike it. Period. It brings to our minds scenes of savages in the jungle with bones accross their noses, or big holes in their ears. It is something alien to our culture and difficult to adjust to. Even when in some asian countries the practice of multiple ear piercing, or nose piercing is quite frequent from immemorial days, the truth is that they did not pierce their belly buttons, tongues or eyebrows. This is a modern trend, it comes from a shady background and parents just don't like it. Can you blame us, older generation for not liking it?

The problem is that when parents dislike something, chances are that the children will just do it on purpose, just to prove their independence from you --not to bother you--as we usually interpret it.

This is life, folks. We were rebels too, once upon a time. Some of us danced to the rock and roll and the twist to the horror of our parents, others of us dressed as hippies, and we did lots of things that they did not approve. Now it is our turn to experience how it feels from the other side.

Long gone are the days when body piercing was something that only marginal minorities used to do. Punks, some shady bikers, maybe some sadomasochists club goers did it to make a statement 30 years ago.

It just took the mass media advertising the catwalk of famous model Christy Turlington in London as she was wearing a belly button ring on her navel, and people started wondering if it could turn into a trend. Later on the music video clip "Crying" depicted Alicia Silverstone getting a navel piercing and that did it to the youth. Now it is not only not uncommon anymore, but the jewelry niche has taken to it producing a great variety of bar bells or belly button rings, ranging from simple studs to exquisite jewellery designs, with precious gemstones engraved. These belly button rings are produced out of assorted precious non-allergic metals like Gold, Sterling Silver, Titanium, Stainless steel, etc.

IT hurts. It is tender, red, and if you rub it with the pants or touch it, you go "ouch!" for sure. IT is very important to keep the area clean and aired out as much as possible and to avoid wearing jeans or anything tight. There is no need to soak it in alcohol or oxigen peroxide, as those products --although good disinfectants-- may also delay the healing.

Keep the same barbell that was used for the piercing on for a few weeks, until the scar tissue is healed and the hole is clean and defined. Then you will be able to wear different belly button rings for different occasions and really enjoy your new beauty jewelry. Take into consideration that --with some people--sometimes it may take from 6 months to one year until it is totally healed.

Young people don't usually have much money to spend on gold or silver, and it is just logical to assume that they will buy the cheapest belly button rings they can find. This is not such a great idea, considering that a tender piercing won't take too well with metals that are not noble or pure like Sold, silver or Titanium are. Barbells plated with gold or silver won't do either, because the plating can peel off exposing the metal beneath, which in the case of nickel, tin or iron, could cause allergic reactions and a subsequent infection of the belly button riff.

Best thing to do, buy a gold belly button ring for your daughter. It is an investment in her health, her beauty and her future (providing she doesn't lose it, that is)

These beautiful body jewelry looks great on young tanned mid riffs and shouldn't be a matter of concern, providing all the previous points have been taken into consideration before doing the piercing.