Dreams VS. Reality | Scarlett Stories

Do you have kids? What about a daughter?

Did you envision all the times that you would spend together creating special bonding?

Have you ever smacked yourself to wake up and realize those moments are fake?

I always thought by having a daughter, we would do so many amazing things together. You know, like brushing her long gorgeous hair, or painting her nails. Man, I was so WRONG. Those moments actually are ones I dread. I hate bath nights when I think about having to brush through the snarls. How many times can I actually hear "ow, that hurts"? You'd be surprised. I finish brushing her hair seconds before I would rather just shave it all off. Hair is overrated.

Let's talk about ear piercing.

Backstory: My husband said well before having any kids that any daughter he had would be the one to choose when to get her ears pierced. She would have to be the one to ask us and ultimately her decision. Pretty sure he was thinking it would be closer to the 12ish age verses the 5ish when it actually happened.

Daughter #1 was 5. Long story short - I had to get my 2nd hold re-pierced in order to get her to go through with it.

Daughter #2 wanted them done for her 5th birthday. She's our tough one, or so I thought. How do you give her a gift in the middle of a pandemic? You don't. You wait. And wait. Until what seems forever.

And then. It happened.

It was a beautiful Wednesday in June. We were all having a great day outside and it was even better when we got a call from Claire's letting us know that Scarlett could finally join the ear-hole club. This newly 5yo was ecstatic and we loaded up and raced to the nearest store.

Silly me thought that if she watched a smaller girl before her get hers done, she would have no problem. Quite the contrary in our situation. It just scared the living shit out of her. The little girl, no older than 4, shook. She didn't cry, she didn't scream, she shook a little shake. You know, like when you get a quick chill? Well, that was enough for Scarlett Mae. She was done and no longer cared to be part of the club. She would rather settle for clip-ons the rest of her life. She hid around each corner in the store and ran when I tried to get close to her. When I finally cornered her and told her it was go-time, she said "I can't do it. I don't want to do it. It's going to hurt." I said the little girl didn't even cry, she was smiling the whole time, so how would she know it would hurt? Well, Scarlett continued to say, "she shook" and acted out a full out seizure. Ugh.

I love to lie to my kids and today was no exception. I told her that the she must have had a chill and that's where the shake came from. Finally after 15 minutes of persuasion, we picked out earrings and she sat on my lap. The technician told me that once the package was opened, I had to pay for it. I agreed and we continued, knowing this was one of the most expensive birthday gifts any of my children would ever get. My tough little spitfire did SO well, until the first ear was pierced. Waterworks instantly started and she turned to me and yelled, "YOU LIED. IT HURT!" Whoops. My bad.

$70, one pierced ear, a traumatized child, and 40 minutes later, I started using any threat I could possibly think of. Eventually, I looked her in the eye and said "Here's the deal. We're either going to rip out that one earring, or we're going to pierce the other one. You're not going to just have one ear pierced. Which do you choose? I'll leave it up to you." My patience was long, long gone by this time. She agreed to get the remaining one pierced, but still refused to put her fricken hand down from covering her ear. SERIOUSLY child? FML.

I did what any mother would do and built up her confidence. "Scarlett. This isn't going to hurt. Usually only one of the ears will hurt and the other wont. Did that ear hurt? It did? Well, then this one isn't going to. Let's be tough and get 'er done. I'm telling you, it won't hurt." The tech also said, "Yep, she's right, it's not going to hurt." CLICK! We finally got it done. The screams were so loud and she scolded both of us, "YOU LIED AGAIN! It hurt just as bad as the first one!!!!" I threw her off my lap and said "Yeah, well, now you have your ears pierced, congrats!" We continued to the check out and I heard her say, "I'm so tough." I peed a little from secretly laughing. Or it could have been the sweat I saved up from the hour long hostage situation.

Mothers of un-pierced children. GOOD LUCK. I thought it would be such a beautiful story to tell my grandchildren one day. A true mother-daughter bonding moment. Nope. We would all rather forget it happened.

Those damn little ears better stay pierced forever.

XOXO

Hells