Most professional piercers here in the UK wont pierce a child's ears until they are 12 years old.
My daughter is 11 and has had her ears done for a few months now ( her father got them done last summer) and then we had them re-pierced a few weeks back. That age group is just about right for a child to have thier ears done personally speaking. My daughter had been badgering us to get her ears done for the last 3 years lol.

As for tatoos... im a fine one to talk... I have 6. My 1st one was done when I was 24. Each tat represents something of me and not just some stupid disney character.

cg