To find it appalling

[GollyMissMolly]

that a friend of mine has just got her three week old twin daughter's ears pierced! They are now wearing silver studs.

Not only do I think it's dangerous because they haven't had their vaccinations but why would you inflict pain on a child. The earings need turned and the crusts that formed need wiped with antiseptic daily. They are 3 weeks old!!!

of course they are identical earrings - these twins will probably be dressed/treated identical in every way by their moronic mother.

((OK I'm BU calling someone I've never met a moron .............!!!))

"If that kid swallows the earing and perforates her oesophagus then I'm sure many would think it was a form of abuse, however minor."

Ummm, no actually. You caould say that about any little object that a child gets hold of and swallows.

What if the mum dropped an earring and didn't realise and a child picked it up, swallowed it and tore their oesophagus? That wouldn't be abuse.

This is not abuse at all. It is an idiotic act by a chavvy parent wanting to make her girls look 'cute' and achieving the opposite.

I think that inflicting unnecessary pain (emotionally or physically) on a child is abuse. So this, to me, would class as abuse. Yes, there is a scale and this is at the lower end but it is still there. Poor babies :( How did she even get someone to do it? Stupid 'babies feel less pain' argument :(

She's got 3 week old twins, and has the time and energy to sort out getting their ears pierced???? Who are these people who can be arsed with anything other than making sure their child is fed, clean and dressed at week 3...

Agree it's a bit hidious, but wouldn't call it abuse.

"Or course it's not the end of the world but this column is not called "OMG It's going to be the end of the world" is it?"
Please can I use that quote, it summarises perfectly what I try to say almost every day? :o

strandedatsea, which country do you live in, if you don't mind me asking?

I agree it is abuse, low scale abuse but still abuse.

I also thought that FPT! With DS I could only really get one of uus dressed in the morning - never mind getting 2 babies dressed and out of the house and all the organisation that would go into getting their ears pierced!

I had abit of an awkward conversation with a Canadian mother I knew vaguely when dd1 was tiny. She was bookish WASP "middle class" and had a highpowered job. Out of nowhere she asked me when I would get dd's ears pierced. I said I thought about 13 as being the minimum age. She looked shocked and said she would get her daughter done at 3 months. Really surprised me but maybe is the norm over there for all sorts of people.

its hideous, chavtastic and I cannot stand it

but it's not abuse

I just do not understand why anyone would do it either, I just dont get it

For all those saying it's not abuse: what do you class as abuse then? Where do you draw the line for inflicting unnecessary pain?

This topic has been done to death.

bubbley I would class abuse as when someone does something to a child in order to purposely cause them distress and pain, eg hitting to leave marks, flushing heads down toilets, locking them in cupboards, breaking limbs, taking them out the back and hosing them down with freezing cold water because they wet the bed? And thats just the physical, not sexual and emotional. Need I go on?

Ear piercing looks awful on little ones and it is totally chavvy but the parents are not doing it in order to cause their children pain and induce fear. They are doing it because they think it looks nice.

As someone who has been abused, I do not like what I went through being compared to someone getting their childrens ears pierced. The few on here that are saying it is abuse could not have experienced real abuse themselves (hopefully) as they would not compare it to that.

CPL :( I agree, it is not abuse.

I personally don't like it, my biggest 'issue' with it, is that it's fairly easy for a small child to accidentally tear the earing through the lobe causing a great deal of pain and a scar for life - but I guess the risk is actually quite small or we'd hear about it in papers etc.

I live in St Lucia