4 year old getting pierced ears at Superdrug

God that's awful and genuinely is child abuse.

My eldest nagged from the time she started school when she saw other girls had them done. I wasn't allowed until I started secondary school so that was the age I said she could (I'd also nagged- my mum hadn't been allowed til she was 18, so 12 to her was a big concession!)

However in the end I relented when my daughter was ten and she had it done at a proper place I'd researched with a needle, but by then she had been campaigning to have the done for six years and I was satisfied that it was her choice. The younger one had hers done at eight as she was campaigning even harder once her sister had hers done... but again, I was satisfied it was her choice and that - most importantly- they consented.

In my opinion, despite having had it done and let my girls have it done as older kids, it should be privy to the same rules and laws as tattooing because whilst it's legal for kids to have it done, it'll be done to babies and small kids like the one in the OPs post who can't consent.

YABU
Mind your own business.

The service is offered. You don't have to avail of it for your children if you don't want to have their ears pierced.

But plenty of people from all sorts of cultures get their children's ears pierced, and everyone survives.

My 4 year old asks to have hers done occasionally and I ordered her a bunch of clip on dressing up earrings. Not sure why they need the real thing yet. Adults can change their mind and remove consent, so can children. They should stop when the child stops consenting and changes their mind.

I’m actually going to go against the grain here. Mn hates piercing guns but in my experience it’s less painful and heals faster than those done with a needle. I have 3 dds and piercings myself and mn persuaded me to get dd pierced with a needle. Dtds had theirs done with a gun (because our local place with a needle only had a small room and stopped doing dc during covid. Dd1’s took ages to heal whereas dtds healed super quickly. I’ve got 2 sets of ear piercings and had can compare - gun healed faster and hurt a lot less. So long as they are clean it’s fine. Nothing to get hysterical about.

personally, I think dc should be old enough to manage their own personal hygiene before getting piercings so are 4 would be a no from me but it’s not my dc.

Dd5 has 2 piercings in each ear but no one held her down, she just sat and she didn't even flinch.

I wouldn't have let her get it done if she had been like that.

I don't care for what reason people get their babies and small children's ears pierced, cultural or not. Inflicting pain on a child when it's not for a valid medical reason is abuse.

There is absolutely no valid reason. I also notice that people only do this to little girls. Babies don't need holes in their ears to look cute!

The world as gone mad.

I told my daughter she would get 2 people at once as its been done many times...unfortunately there was only one member of staff available!

Awful! How could someone do that to their child :(

My DD will be choosing if she wants them done when she is old enough to make that decision.

It's interesting that 30% of the vote is that YABU, but none of them have posted as to why.

A chavvy friend of mine (well, was a good friend when we were young) has pierced all her children’s ears as babies and put gold hoops in as soon as she can. It looks awful.

It is child abuse to inflict pain on a child if they cannot consent, for no reason other than vanity.

When I was out last weekend I saw 2 babies with pierced ears - proper babies visibly well under 1.

When my son was in preschool I overheard a mum say how she took her 3 year old to get her ears pierced but she was so terrified she ran out of the store with only one ear pierced.

It's heartbreaking. I have a dd and she won't be having her ears pierced until age 10 absolute minimum, I was a teenager when I had mine done!

I had mine done at age 11, by my aunt's father in law, a GP, at their dining room table. He was known as Grandad B. He obviously did it absolutely correctly, everything sterile and it wasn't painful but unfortunately he was in the early stages of Parkinson's so the piercings are not quite even...
When i was telling my cousins (his grandsons) about this a few years ago when we were all adults and the doctor was long gone, the eldest, DGS1, said 'that's nothing, Grandad B actually circumcised DGS2 at that table. '
Luckily that was several years before the onset of the Parkinson's.

Babies and toddlers with pierced ears don’t look cute, they look damaged.

I saw a sitting up age baby in the tube, she had earrings, a gold chain around her neck, , a tight looking bangle and nail varnish. I though it would have been so much easier to buy a doll.

My parents wouldn't let me pierce my ears (despite much pestering) until I was 14 and I had ti save up myself to pay for it.

Despite my teen strops at the time I think they were right.

Old enough not only to consent but also do the aftercare. Gold studs again to minimise reactions.

My were done by a gun (normal at the time) and were fine but I'd never use this method now.

I can't fathom non health procedures on babies/very young children and frankly find the cultural/religious reasons as hard to swallow.

Babies/toddlers with pierced ears don't look cute. They look damaged.

@viques that's heartbreaking, that poor little child, totally unaware of what they were about to do to her. Why couldn't they just buy her some pretty hair accessories!

I have had to leave Claire's stores for the same reason. Barbaric.

4 is an odd age IMO.

I'm not actually against piercing babies' ears as this is culturally normal in lots of countries (including mine). But to wait until they're old enough to be upset by it, but not old enough to choose for themselves just seems really bizarre to me.

My friend just got her 4 and 6 old DDs ears pierced at Claire's and both girls had an infection within a month.

It's policy in places like Claire's to do both ears simultaneously :/

Friend of mine worked it a pharmacy chain that did piercing when we were uni students. Her manager was very clear that she could refuse to pierce the ears of anyone if she didn't feel comfortable doing it. She flatly refused to do children younger than teenagers and even then she'd only do it for the ones who were clearly keen and excited.

There was one that was widely shared on media of a child being held down and screaming at Louvisa a similar shop to Claire’s. Maybe if more people film and report to council they will lose licence - they do it so publicly in shop window.
My mum just said not until 16, I had done in my 40s (not at Claire’s!)

That's good to hear. It would never have occurred within my circle that we wouldn't be allowed, just what age our mums would allow it, with the consensus being when we were old enough to bathe them properly with methylated spirits. There would be a rush on at the end of the school year so we had 6 weeks before we had to remove for PE.

I was in Claires one day and heard a woman say to her partner,”You’ll have to stay with her while they do her ears, I can’t watch.” I really wanted to say to her “ If you can’t even bear to watch how do you think your child feels having it done to her ?”

But I didnt. The child was about 2, happy and smiling in her pushchair, looking at all the pretty shiny things they have in Claires, completely unaware.

If my DDs want their ears piercing they will have to make the appointment, take themselves there and pay for it themselves, I'm having nothing to do with it. I'm 47 and don't have pierced ears. I remember watching my friend when we were 14 putting an earring in and saying 'ouch, it hasn't found the exit'. Sounds really painful.