Random Act of Kindness

August 29, 2007 /

Maya was thrilled last year when we relented, and decided that it might be OK, after all, if we were to let her pierce her ears before age 16. It was a difficult decision for me, because I wasn’t allowed to get my ears pierced until I was 16. In the Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture in which I was raised, girls with pierced ears were ready to date. And yet…times change. When I was growing up, most of my friends, at least half, did not have pierced ears until they were 13 or 14. Now, all, ALL of Maya’s girlfriends have pierced ears. Partially due to times changing, I suppose, but surely also due to the intermingling of cultures. So, she got her ears pierced.

Lately, she’s been wanting dangly earrings. She wants hooks, so she doesn’t have to take the backs off of posts when she changes her earrings, just slip them in easily. Me? Not so comfortable with the idea. To me, dangly earrings represent a sassy sexiness that girls need to be a bit older to carry off. So I’ve told her that she has to wait. Wait until she’s older.

But then, on Monday afternoon at Macy’s – we saw THE EARRINGS. Little, delicate gold dangles with a hook back…so tiny that the heart barely reaches the bottom of her earlobe. Light and delicate enough that they are not in the least bit sassy or sexy. BUT…(of course, I had but face…) they’re in the fine jewelry area. Nothing like them in costume. They’re 14k gold, and they’re $60. Even though I have not been thrilled with the cheap earrings that clearly give her ears trouble, and gold would be a big help…$60 is a lot to pay for earrings, for anyone, not just an 11 year old girl getting ready to start middle school. So I said no, I can’t afford it. She didn’t complain. But she kept thinking about those earrings. About how we had looked all over, and those were the perfect ones, etc.

Later, she said, can I take money from my savings for the earrings? Well, since the money in her savings was given to her as gift money for Christmas, I didn’t see why not. That gave her $40. She also had an unused $25 gift card from Barnes and Noble, which she offered to sell me. (Hey, I have reading challenges! I can clearly use that card!) So now she had $65, plus some allowance, so she was ready for purchase price plus tax.

So, off to Macy’s we went. We looked around one more time, to see if there might be something else, something cheaper, that would fit the bill. Nope. Over to fine jewelry we went. I browsed around, and she took the earrings and her wallet over to make the purchase. The very kind woman behind the counter sized things up. Child in the fine jewelry department. Child with own money, buying expensive earrings. And you know what the kind woman did? She gave Maya 50% off of those earrings, even though they weren’t currently on sale. I thought that was SO cool of her. And Maya was THRILLED. So now, she has her earrings. And when she put them on, right there in Macy’s, I was relieved to see that they were clearly NOT too old for her. Whew. And she has her earrings, just in time for the first day of school.
DSCF2112
Update: I tried to take a nice picture of the earrings, but they came out too blurry. But if you look at this lovely photo, you can see that they are tiny and tasteful, and just perfect for a middle schooler. 😉

13 Comments

  • Py Korry

    August 29, 2007 at 7:37 am

    They are very cute earrings! And she’s quite the logical thinker when she wants to buy something. I mean, the whole “Wanna buy a $25 B&N Gift Card” so I can get some earrings is pretty good.

  • Gina

    August 29, 2007 at 8:49 am

    That is SO COOL that she did that for her!

    But I think it is great that Maya was willing to spend her own money on it as well. I’m having money issues with my child, so it heartens me to see children learning about the value of things.

  • Cherry

    August 29, 2007 at 11:45 am

    How awesome is that Macy’s sales woman! One of those things where you’d want to tell her management how great her customer service was, but then you wouldn’t want to get her in trouble either.

    Can’t wait to see them (and bummed I couldn’t see them in her first day pic, but I’ll see them tonight.)

  • Kvetch

    August 29, 2007 at 6:00 pm

    Funny how we reference our own childhoods in our own parenting. I wasn’t allowed to get my ears pierced until I was 10. My daughter was 7. I don’t remember if my parents had a dangly ear policy or not, but I was not allowed to wear black. Black was a grown-up color (or lack of color, whatever). My daughter wears black – and I love how she looks in hoop earrings. Sometimes big hoops if she’s going to a dance or we’re getting dressed up. She’s 12, but I’ve never thought she’s looked hoochie or inappropriate. Her clothes are subdued – although it seems that skulls and rainbows are all the rage. You are correct, J. Times change.

  • Chrissy

    August 29, 2007 at 6:31 pm

    Wow! Too cool! Those earrings certainly do suit Maya. They look so dainty. I think it’s even cooler that she got 50% off! WOW! I’m glad she was able to find the perfect pair of earrings to make both mom and daughter happy 🙂 Oh, and I love that it’s real gold. I’ve got sensitive ears, so I can’t wear any costume jewelry 🙁 If Maya’s got sensitive ears too, better to stick with the good stuff! I meant to tell you…how lucky are you that you’ve got such a responsible and mature daugther! She didn’t beg or plead or throw a hissy fit. She asked if she could use her own money. All I can say is that you and Py must be doing a fantastic job as parents 🙂 I know quite a few kids Maya’s age who would kick and scream until they got what they wanted. Cheers to the three of you!

    xo

  • Lotus

    August 30, 2007 at 4:48 pm

    Maya looks lovely with her brand new earrings! In India our ears are pierced when we’re still babies and many of us got nose piercings around Maya’s age, however, that’s changing a little now, not too many kids are having their noses pierced, which is probably a good thing as it takes so much longer to heal than the ears.