'Scarlett Johansson pierced her baby's ears. I wish I'd taken a leaf out of her book.'

I wish I had taken a leaf out of Scarlett Johansson’s book and pierced my daughter’s ears while she was little. Rose Dorothy Dauriac, Johansson’s daughter with husband Romain Dauriac, is just 18-months-old and recent photos of her show that her ears have been pierced.

Some feel that the piercing of baby’s ears is cruel. I say it’s much crueler to wait until they are older.

Johansson isn’t the first celebrity to pierce her daughter’s ears. Blue Ivy, daughter of Beyonce and Jay Z, was shown with pierced ears at the age of two.

I casually mentioned to my husband one morning that we were off to get Caterina’s ears pierced and he was horrified.

“You’re what?!?”

“I’m getting Caterina’s ears pierced today.”

“No you’re not,” he said. Then he threw this at me. “You always say if one of us feels really strongly about something to do with our children gets to decide. Well I’m totally against it. She’s way too young.”

“So when can I do it?”

“When she’s old enough to make the decision herself.”

So I waited. I waited until she was six. I took her to get her ears pierced at a reputable local establishment… and it was terrible. It hurt her a lot more than she expected and then one of them became infected. And in a case of shocking timing I had just signed her up for netball and she had to take her earrings out before each game, or put band aids over them.

She was in constant pain and eventually stopped putting them back in. Now the holes have closed and I am left to say “I told you so” to my husband who vetoed it when she was younger.

I should have pierced her ears at an age when she was too young to remember the pain, when I was in charge of her physical care and could have kept them clean, when she was little enough to wear the earrings I had saved for her. Because I was taken aback by my husband’s opposition to it I forgot to explain how much it meant to me to pierce her ears. I felt strongly about it too.

It’s something I had always wanted to do for her and should have done. Now it’s become a complete mess. Caterina wishes she still had pierced ears. She’s been given so many beautiful pairs of earrings that she would love to wear but now that she knows how painful it is, I doubt she’ll ever get up the courage to do it again.

We filmed this little video to send to her grandmother who was in Chile at the time and planning to buy her some earrings. Post continues after this video…

I watch my daughter put stickers on her ears or draw on them with markers, anything to make it look as though she is wearing earrings, as most of her friends and cousins do.

Piercing your child’s ears isn’t child cruelty. It’s not vain or under-thought. In my family it is tradition. Our cultural background informs all of our decisions and this is one tradition I really wanted to follow. We don’t circumcise in my family but that doesn’t make me judge those who do. That’s them being informed by their beliefs and cultural backgrounds.

All I want is for my little girl to be happy. And yes, I want to pass onto her some things that meant so much to me.

Babies have had their ears pierced for generations and it doesn’t cause any long-term damage. Nobody’s ears are falling off. Nobody becoming ill from deathly ear-piercing incidents. These celebrity couples don’t deserve the criticism they are copping as a result of this and neither do I. It’s just ear lobes. It’s just something that’s cute to do.

I fully support any parents who want to pierce their baby’s ears. It’s just not a big deal.