Paradox and Inspiration 164: Why I Still Want to Have My Ears Pierced

My seven-yr-old daughter waited anxiously for her turn while her elder sister did her ear-piercing at the jewelry shop. And when her sister's streams of tears turned into bawling and wailing, the salesgirl told me that I should have let the girls come at a different time as the younger one would naturally back out upon witnessing her sister's dramatic reactions. When asked if she still wanted to have her ears pierced, she said yes without a moment of hesitation, surprising me. But what took me by an even greater surprise after the whole episode was over was her answer to why she still chose to go ahead despite that her sister complained that it hurt a lot - "I wanted to know how Jiejie (sister) felt."

On pondering how the younger one has always shadowed the sister, maybe it's not that hard to understand after all. She has always wanted to wear the same clothes and shoes as the sister, have the same hair style, buy the same school bag and stationery, and even attend the same enrichment classes (whiich she confessed she didn't like but just refused to give up). The power of sibling identification.