Kelly Stafford on making her daughters wait to get their ears pierced, and why husband Matthew is 'done' with them wearing bikinis

Kelly Stafford says ear piercing has been a "battle" in her household, because she's not ready for her four young daughters to have it done.

Stafford — who has twins Chandler and Sawyer, 5, Hunter, 3, and Tyler, almost 2, with her NFL star husband Matthew Stafford of the Los Angeles Rams — shared on her The Morning After podcast that her girls have been eager to have their ears pierced. The issue arose this week after Kelly, 32, and Hunter were admiring photos of 4-year-old Stormi Webster on the Billboard Music Awards red carpet alongside her famous parents, Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott. Hunter quickly clocked that Stormi was wearing small hoop earrings, having had her ears pierced as a baby.

Kelly Stafford explained why she's not ready for her four daughters to get their ears pierced. (Photo: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports)
Kelly Stafford explained why she's not ready for her four daughters to get their ears pierced. (Photo: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports)

"Stormi's ears are pierced, y'all," Kelly groaned to listeners during her latest episode. "This was a battle for me. All the girls immediately come over and look and they're like, 'I want my ears pierced, I want my ears pierced.' Again, I have no problem with kids having their ears pierced. I have a problem with — I feel like kids are growing up too fast."

Kelly, who didn't have her own ears pierced until she was 16 years old, explained that ear piercing was just one of many things she feels pushes children into growing up before they're ready.

"I have a problem with kids growing up too fast," she said. "With social media and all this stuff, it's just happening so fast. Even the clothing that they're selling kids now, there's, like, crop tops for 4-year-olds. I don't know, that's a little off-putting for me. I just want my girls to wear princess dresses and be kids when they're kids. And so the whole ear piercing thing was just a little too much for me. I was like, 'You know what, girls, you for sure can get your ears pierced. I have no problem with it. But we're not going to do it right now. You can wait.'"

Stormi Webster's earrings at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday sparked a conversation about ear piercing in the Stafford household. (Photo: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for MRC)
Stormi Webster's earrings at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday sparked a conversation about ear piercing in the Stafford household. (Photo: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for MRC)

Kelly also joked to her producer that she tried to stress just how painful the ear piercing process can be: "It hurts really bad. There's a needle going through your ear ..."

She added, "It was one of those times and moments [when] I was just like, 'No. I just don't want that right now for you.'"

She's not the only parent putting their foot down. Kelly also revealed that husband Matthew objected to the girls wearing bikinis after seeing photos of 3-year-old Hunter in a two-piece during a recent cruise the family went on without him.

"He was like, 'Um, that bikini is too much. Like, we're done with that. I don't know what you were thinking when you bought that,'" she admitted. "I was like, 'I don't know. I just thought they'd be cute in bikinis.' He was like, 'No. No.' ... So, yeah, we'll be back to the one-pieces now."

Moving to Los Angeles from Detroit following her husband's trade has made it harder to not cave to pressure to follow the latest trends. Kelly said she already feels like her 5-year-old twins are "like teenagers."

"I'm not trying to keep them my babies forever, but I want them to keep them kids as long as I can, because once they're not kids anymore they can't turn back. And I do feel like social media does that," she said, adding that she and her quarterback spouse are already discussing how they won't give their daughters phones "for a very long time." Kelly also noted that she may step back from social media herself once the kids are old enough to be aware of it.

Ear piercing can be a divisive parenting issue, with celebrity moms like Jenner and Hilary Duff being criticized after showing off their infant daughters' studs. But pediatrician Alefiyah Malbari told Yahoo Life last year that the procedure should be safe at any age, though some doctors may advise waiting until after a baby has received its first round of immunizations.

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