ma_ref...
I had the same sitch last weekend in a 6th grade girls game. Girl comes out for tap with band-aids on her ears. I told her I couldn't let her play with jewerly on and the band-aids didn't change anything.
She gave me the whole story about just getting them pierced etc....I told her that she didn't have to take them out but I couldn't let her play with them in.
She goes back to the bench crying and her coach is giving me this "are you serious?!" look and we played on. I noticed she stopped crying about 4 minutes into the game
btw ma_ref...I've probably asked you this before, but my memory is terrible (probably why I think I've never blown a call), what board are you in?