i totally agree about working early to understand the way of the world for sure. (and just in case i wasn't clear, it was my best friend that was 13... me was 20. :-) but as you say that was not necesarily unusual back in the day...
The closing ears is what i am worried about for my daughter too. im very careful to make sure she keeps her earings in AND that she has one pair of expensive gold ones that she wears most of the time to keep reactions that might cause scaring at bay... thats what happened to mine.