I admit it, I judged (big time) AIBU?

[luciadilammermoor]

Walking through a shopping centre at lunchtime (endless search for shoes to fit DD1), we heard a loud and paniced screaming coming from somewhere. It crescendo'ed as we passed the hairdressers where 4 adults were pinning a little girl of c.2years old against a woman (her mother?) to enable one of them to pierce her ears.

I admit it, I stopped short, held by the sheer panic and fear that this child was shouting out for us all to hear. I judged, I hoisted big judgy knickers up to about my forehead (in my head): just how the hell could someone do that to their child and why the hell didn't the person do it ask whether this really was a good idea/would they like to rethink?

As I say, I judged. I feel guilty now because everything in my body was telling me to go and say 'really? this is so important? why exactly?' and yet I knew I should not get involved. Not my child etc.

But wtf?

Yes batsme I'm afraid I do mix with some thickos

oh god yes! cassete it is chavtastic, and even in the 70's/80's it was pure chav, before the word even existed. In fact the middle class girls were not allowed to play with me because i was 'nouveau riche' (i was actually told that by a mother when i was 8!).

Rebel I am remembering when my ds was in SCUBU, he screamed his head off when they took pin prick samples from his heels etc and poked and prodded him!

It is VERY old school thinking that babies and animals don't feel pain.

I don't suppose that a small,screaming child finds it any less distressing because it's a cultural norm.

Rebel the people who told you that are absolutely stupid, they have no idea on human biology

I bet they had their babies ears done as well!

even if they 'don't remember' the pain the still have 2 holes in their ear lobes as a reminder

YADNBU! Poor girl,how awful. It makes my blood boil..

I had my ears done when I was able to choose to have them pierced. I showed no interest until I was in my teens.

Surely by any definition it's child abuse. Claire's should be boycotted if they do that.

That is just dreadful, it makes me furious and it's about time it was classed as child abuse. If I ever see it I will get involved and I will call the police on the basis that a child is being deliberately injured in a public place. I might just fire off a shitty email to shops that carry it out.

The people who think that babies feel no pain have mostly died out, thank God - but they used to believe that! They used to do surgery on them without anaesthesia because they believed that they didn't feel pain! They knew they had nerves etc. but didn't think the pain signals were understood by the brain, or some such bollocks - and that any screaming was purely coincidental . Wankers.

I was 16 when I had my ears pierced, it was like a rite of passage, mum coming with me to Brent Cross John Lewis I think, and having a nice meal afterwards.

OOOH that is horrid Thzumbie I never heard of that till this thread.

Could we not get this included as part of the 'let girls be girls' campaign (excuse my ignorance if it already is)
Or start a petition to get an age limit of say 12 for ear peircing.
Where would we start?

I'd have complained to the stores head office, the staff shouldnt have done it and if the child was in distress I would have considered calling the local police station.

Piercing should be banned for under 18 like tattoos.

Good idea Pissedrightoff I've gone onto Twitter and berated Claires accessories for their butchery.

Good for you Alouise! They won't like that one bit so obviously it needs stepping up!

Totally right to judge, how could a mother do that to her child :(

Even if done at the same time it hurts, just feeling it once doesn't make it any better. I begged to have mine done and mum finally gave in when I was 6 or 7, it was horrendous, I needed pinning down for the second one and I've never forgotten the pain, or the fact that they throbbed for weeks afterwards.

Feel free to join in, they are @Clairesstores.

I agree happy but not the 18 limit, I had mine pierced at 16 out of choice, I was not held down by 4 adults kicking and screaming in distress. I think mabey 12 would be more appropriate. Tatoos are totally different, the inking is more or less permanent, to have them removed you have to have expensive treatment. whereas if you don't want the holes you just leave them to close.

Talking of Claires, I did see a young girl of about 2 years having her ears done, she was crying afterwards though

It was bad enough having to pin dd down when she had to have her eyes checked as part of the Community Paed investigations. Bless her she was so in distress and her arms were all red as a result but that went after about an hour. it was necessary though to rule out sight problems that may be making things difficult for her