ear piercing for young children

[fumanchu]

I was disturbed to overhear in Claire's Accessories yesterday a mum trying to persaude her obviously distressed child to have her ear(s) pierced, saying it wouldn't hurt. The child was about 6 I think. I wasn't sure if the child had had one done and refused the next, she was crying. The shop staff just stood by. I was tempted to say something but didn't. What do you think? and shouldn't shops have some kind of age policy? personally I think its fine for say 13 yr olds and up and I know Italians for example often have babies' ears pierced but i was very unhappy about the coercion.

That's your opinion Posie. Does it look naff on adults too?

yes it does

I think this thread got the full house

Back to the OP

If the child was clearly distressed and didn't want the other ear pierced it was silly to try and put pressure on her ... better IMHO to remove the stud and let the ear heal until the child is older.
As to the rights and wrongs of ear piercing it has to be a matter of personal choice. Personally I wouldn't allow my daughter to get her ears pierced until she was in her teens but that's my choice.

Oh come on - is everything that adults do, particularly in the pursuit of beauty and adornment, fair game for children and babies too?

Next you'll be telling me that we should be St. Tropez-ing, hair-extending and fake-nailing our kids too.

Of course certain things look naff on babies that won't necessarily look naff on adults. Yes, it's a matter of opinion, but a fairly widely held one in certain cultures...

'@Electra, you obviously take great offence at the assertion you are a child abuser and will argue black-is-white to make people (yourself) believe it is untrue.'

Not at all. If you think that I am abusive because I've had my child's ears pierced then it really is not possible for me to care less. Just because I don't agree with you does not mean that I am arguing black-is-white. Who made you an authority on the absolute truth of anything? You will also see that I accept that other people don't agree with me.

PosieParker - if you think that my posts are offensive then report them to MN HQ yourself. I stand by what I said and I will not ask for them to be removed, nor will I allow you to presume the right to tell me what I can and cannot be offended by.

This has become quite an offensive thread. I feel like I am back at school in the UK, where other kids used to bully me and my sister just because we looked different (different hair, darker skin and spoke another language). Thank you for reminding me why I was so happy in the end to leave.

TO be quite frank my dd was more distraught after trying controlled crying than after having her ears pierced.

But u know, if you believe that we are chavs and child abusers then that is just your problem. If it really upsets you then call child services. As i said before nobody is trying to impose their beliefs on you or your babies. So there is no need to become aggressive. We are just trying to explain why we decided to pierce the ears of our babies, we are not trying to convince you.

BASTA!

Cannot decide what I'm more amazed by: the crapness of this thread or the fact that I agree with PP's last comment. First time for everything .

@samoa - sorry you find it offensive but personally, I would be most offended if you punched holes in my ears against my will

@Posie - please feel free to report any of my posts to MNHQ.

@Barmy - "There is a direct relationship between the age at which a female's ears are pierced and (a) the age at which she loses her virginity, (b) the grades she gains at school (GCSE/'A' Level), (c) the number of benefits she is claiming by the age of 21."
My mother had my ears pierced when I was a week old and..... a) I lost my virginity at 18, b) I have 10 GCSEs at grade A and 4 A levels at Grade A, c) I have never claimed benefits but pay income tax of over £200,000 each year. Yes, I am clearly chavscum.

massivemammaries - that is fine. but i am not trying to do it to u or your child. what i find offensive is the name calling from some of the posters, none of us ear piercing believers are calling u guys names. If some of u really think that we are child abusers then u had better call child services. I would not sit idly by, wasting my time on mnet if I knew a child was being abused.

noviceoftheday - i would not waste ur time trying to explain urself. some of these posters have set ideas and are quite judgemental. i would not waste my breath with them

In answer to a post waaaay back about my friend who lost her earlobe after being pierced as an infant. It became infected with an impetigic sore, so nothing at all to do with keeping it clean it wouldn't have made any difference as the infection lived on her skin surface. One earlobe was gone and the other quite disfigured with scar tissue.

This may be unusual but why would anyone risk it? It certainly put me off. I was 21 before I pierced my ears.

I'm loving the idea that novice and electra choose to be offended by comments that are not racist but like to see them that way, very convenient and yet they feel calling someone a racist is not offensive.

The irony is that electra and novice are asking people to understand culture as a valid reason for puncturing children's ears, but apparently if I say I want to celebrate my own then I am racist.

Too stupid for words.

I would not call what is happen here racist. But I would call it ethnocentric.

It's not ethnocentric, it's ear piercing. I couldn't care less what culture the child comes from it looks vile. You can dress the objections up however you please but for most it comes down to three things, not wanting to permanently alter children without their adult consent, not wanting to hurt our children for no good reason and that it looks horrid.

Culture is a poor excuse for bad practices.

"There is a direct relationship between the age at which a female's ears are pierced and (a) the age at which she loses her virginity, (b) the grades she gains at school (GCSE/'A' Level), (c) the number of benefits she is claiming by the age of 21."

Yep like good A levels, , not having underage sex or underage drinking or smoking and not claiming benefit.

Oh and then that poster rants about the 'chavscum'. Well, OK - but I think that it's accepted that chav is word used to mean lower class and she's basically writing off a section of the population who actually do the best in terms of education, behaviour etc. That poster is just being nasty.

Some of you may think it looks tacky but perhaps what you mean it that it would awful on your daughter.

It looked great on me and I sure it does on electra's and novice's kids too.

I'm offended for mum - she called me and I told her about this. She doesn't think she was abusive at all. I agree. At the age of 71 she just laments how people in this country are becoming sooo provincial and narrow minded.

You know electra and novice - we all like to moan about our parents but after this thread I'm so glad for the parents that I have and the fact that they were nothing like these posters.

Imagine growing up with that mindset at your guidance.

My ds doesn't know what a chav as it's not the language I use.

giveitago.....what a stupid post.

Is there a club for people who like to misinterpret conversations to suit their martyrdom status?

And I mean it looks tacky on all children, without exception.

PP - your implication was that UK culture is somehow superior/more enlightened which I object to. There is nothing stupid about that and it seems it's you slinging insults, not me. Where exactly did I say 'Posie Parker, you are a racist'?? I do not recall saying that anywhere but I addressed some of the language you used (which is also used by other people, often - which I consider to be a problem mostly because some people don't want to acknowledge the offense that they could cause). I will say again that I was making a general point about language - which could have been on any other thread.

Nobody has suggested that you cannot 'celebrate' your culture or that you should pierce your child's ears, though you apparently think it's ok to insult everyone who disagrees with your views and cast harsh judgments.

Still away with the fairies then.

I said that as an English Atheist I have no culture which requires.....

And that is a fact, I haven't used negative language about anyone else's culture. If you assume that I mean by that that my culture is more enlightened then perhaps it is but that's your projection.