Kids-Safe Studs/Clip Ons - What You Should Know

There are three attributes which I feel a kid's earring should possess to be considered kids-safe:

1) It should not have any pointed corners, ends or backs ( may scratch/poke the skin and/or cause the hair to tangle );

2) The earring back should be flat/blunt and shouldn't have any protruding earring post ; and

3) Metal/Non-metal used is hypoallergenic.

I thought only Gold studs with screwbacks or loop earrings satisfied the above two conditions. However in the case of the former, screwback earring backs loosen over time and fall off without even you noticing or can screw out if you have a girl who is always fiddling with her ears. It was not as lasting as I thought it will be. My kids kept loosing their gold, screw-back earrings so often, it was burning a hole in our pockets and creating tension in my already stressed-out sahm life. Lol. When I changed to loop earrings, it also came off and got lost, thanks to my girl with hyper-active hands that refused to part with her ears. I needed a value-for-money option that will stand the test of time and activity. That's when I came across the plastic earring post/stem option.

I started loving, making stud earrings for kids using plastic earring posts and silicone ball-shaped earring backs or plastic clip-on earrings for those who haven't pierced their ears.

Unlike metals, plastic earring post allows me to cut the stem length to 6 or 8mm long which is ideal for young kids with relatively thinner ear lobes. Teenagers can take 8-10mm for a nice fit while majority of the adults can try 8-12mm lengths depending on the thickness of ear lobes.

Majority of the studs in the market are minimally 10mm long and that's exactly the problem. We often find the earring post sticking out so much more than we will like and in the worst scenario, see it scratch/tear the skin behind the ears when kids fall and press their ears backwards. Yes, that has happened many times, sigh. That's what triggered me to search for a safe and hypoallergenic earring stud for active kids and made me chance upon the plastic earring post that allows me to cut and adjust the length and also a ball-shaped silicone earring back that won't allow the earring post to stick out from the other end. Woah! This was a double jackpot. I trialed these together on both my daughters who fell in love with them at first sight. Let me give you a tip also. If you don't plan to take out the stud often, you can actually apply clear nail polish on the earring post/stem before you put on the earring back so that it will stick together. Yes, clear nail polish actually doubles up as glue too - guess not all knew that ;p

However as not every kid has their ears pierced so young, I also combed the net and came across a plastic clip on earring that was modeled after the shape of the earring lobe. It was a great contrast to the flat, metal clip on earring that I used to wear and my ear lobes used to cry in pain and protest against. However, this plastic one felt tight but didn't cause the discomfort the beautiful clip on earrings brought along with it. It also held onto my kids' lobes firmly and comfortably. Boom, I started gifting them to parents of (young) baby girls ;) It was just perfect.

As these studs and clip-ons are made using plastic/silicone, we don't need to worry unnecessarily about kids having metal sensitivity, an allergic reaction or best still, being injured by the earring - the plastic will bend instead of pierce or scratch the skin. Cost was no longer an issue anymore, phew, I can now feel my blood pressure reducing back to normality now. :)

#kidssafeearrings #kidssafe #safeforkids #kidsearrings #jewelleryforkids #kidsjewellery