Editorial: A word or two in Dad's ear

It has been a war of attrition for five years.

I put up a good fight, but as time went by, it became clear I would not win this battle.

This weekend I gave up and let my 15-year-old daughter get her ears pierced.

She has been nagging me since she was ten, but I kept a firm line - she could do it when she was eighteen, or better still 21.

"Unfair," was the regular refrain tossed in my direction.

Her mother was not fussed and would have been happy for the ears to have been pierced when my daughter was 12-years old. But, some old-fashioned reasoning held me back.

Maybe it was this day and age of tattoos everywhere and piercings goodness knows where. Maybe it was also not wanting to acknowledge that my little girl was growing up.

Whatever the reason, it became harder and harder to defend.

Even now as I think about it, I cannot tell you exactly why I did not want her to do it. It is a variation on that age-old example of a child and parent argument.

"Why can't I do it?" yells the child. "Ahh, because I say so," is the not-so-rational response from the parent.

So, there it was. After standing strong for five years, I capitulated. And what was the catalyst for this huge turnaround? Granny got in my ear.

Yes, my daughter's grandmother (aka my mother) stepped in and ended this terrible injustice.

It just goes to show that even at 45-years-old, one is not immune from doing what your mother tells you to do.

The family is down for the school holidays and Granny came for a visit as well.

On Saturday we went for a walk - just the two of us. We were hardly out of the house when the gentle probing began. "Why won't you let her get her ears pierced?" etc etc.

Eventually, I just gave in.

What this meant of course is that Granny was, and still is, the hero.

Once the decision was made, the process moved rather swiftly. It was the first order of business on a shopping trip to Napier yesterday morning.

Having rolled over in the first place, I was in a generous mood and suggested my eight-year-old daughter may like to have her ears pierced as well.

The fifteen-year-old did not take too kindly to this.

"That is so unfair," she said. "I had to wait until I was fifteen."

Thankfully the eight-year-old has decided she will never get her ears pierced.

Watching the piercing of her sister's ears was enough to put her off for life.