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AIBU?

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Original poster

piercing a young childs ears........

249 replies

charllie · 26/07/2012 18:43

I really don't understand why a parent would want to take their young child out and get their ears pierced!! Having a stranger, or even someone you know, either using a piercing gun to pierce their ears, or using a needle (not sure which one is used for young children) I personally think it should be illegal for a parent to make this decision. Or maybe not that strong, but at least an age limit. Why can't the child make that decision for themselves when they are older. Why take a baby, or even a toddler out to get their ears pierced!!?? In my eyes, its a form of child abuse. Its no different to hitting your child, etc. You are causing them pain, quite often making them bleed, all so they 'look nice' well i think it looks horrible! I've not seen one child/baby that i think awww cute. I have piercings myself and i will not be getting my DD's ears pierced until i feel she is old enough to make that decision for herself and only then, will it be after she has been talking about it for a little while.

OP posts:
MorrisZapp · 26/07/2012 22:51

Yanbu. Piercings on children

FreudianSlipper · 26/07/2012 23:04

i see these as more adult piercings if i had a daughter and she wanted to when she was older that is her decision

i do not see ear or nose piercing (a little stud) as a big thing, is not a statement or an expression of body art it just looks nice nothing more

Inneedofbrandy · 27/07/2012 00:14

kissmyshineymetalass joining you im proberly a chav on here to. both mine were done once there injections were finished with so about 6 months. Oh well.

Inneedofbrandy · 27/07/2012 00:19

Oh I forgot my dd has them done twice so she wears little studs and little hoops, I think she looks GAWJUS Can i fit a LOLZ HUNNY to piss you child abuse brigade off to hehe. Ah im definatly chav tastic on here.

RubyFakeNails · 27/07/2012 00:24

I had my ears pierced at about 1 month old, by our family doctor he was NHS and everything though my mum did have to pay for it. I gave myself about 3 more piercings in each ear by 13.

I got my dds done when they were babies, it wasn't that planned, from what I remember I was out, walked past jewellers and went and got it done. I had never realised it was a big deal. The majority of women have their ears pierced, so to me getting it done when their young saves on the faff later on. They have no memory of it, they cried much more at injections or just a bloody cold stethoscope. I managed the cleaning of them and by the time they were at school they were healed.

I can't really get het up about it, I've never encountered it as an issue apart from on mn. The only thing I've ever objected to is the stupid cow I know who put giant hoops on her baby.

Although as its come up, I've also had my son circumcised so I'll probably be put to death by the mn jury for that alone.

Krumbum · 27/07/2012 00:28

Freudianslipper just because you have made these arbitrary judgements about what piercings 'mean' doesnt make it true. They are still wounding a child for no reason. Why is it that ears and nose look naice but other piercings are expressive. When you look at it without just blindly following a fashion trend (which ear piercing is) they are both as 'adult' as eachother. And should be the reserve of adults.

ravenAK · 27/07/2012 00:28

I think the main reason I'm not a fan is that I do like, & have, piercings & tattoos.

& my bottom line is that I think that it's for the person having their bits pierced to choose to have it done.

I can do what I like to my own earlobes - so can my dc. I would absolutely not plonk one of them down in the chair at Claire's if they hadn't expressed a clear wish to have it done: totally out of order IMO.

Ds is quite keen to have his ears done. He's 8. I'm about it, dh is very anti. The two of them can fight it out & I'll happily take ds to have it done (somewhere decent) if he manages to persuade dh. Equally, if he goes off the idea, that's fine too.

Krumbum · 27/07/2012 00:30

Oh and if I got a son's ears pierced as baby people WOULD tell me that was cruel..

Inneedofbrandy · 27/07/2012 00:33

Krumbum You cant really say fashion trend though, trends come and go and not everyone follows them. Earpiercing on the other hand has been around for 100s of years and it is only a very few minority of woman (and men where im from) who dont have them done. Each to there own though.

Inneedofbrandy · 27/07/2012 00:34

Not one person in RL has told me it was cruel btw so why would anyone tell you?

Krumbum · 27/07/2012 01:01

I can assure you they would. Im going to ask people tommorow
No ear piercing has existed but not been an almost compulsory norm. And even if you don't question it on yourself that doesn't mean that children should having it done. There's no benefit.

KissMyEmbroideryHoop · 27/07/2012 01:20

Krum the benefit is that the child feels happy...can choose earrings they like...to express themselves and feel like an individual. My DD aged 8 feels happy that she's deemed mature enough to choose for herelf...and mature enough to cope with cleaning etc.

I suppse you advocate brown sacks for attire....as there is no benefit in pretty or attractive clothing?

Krumbum · 27/07/2012 01:32

Wearing clothes isn't wounding you! In what way is that comparable? She could wear a necklace or bracelets which don't Hurt the body.
Children don't have a real understanding of the pain either. I certainly didn't. I'm not saying dont have permanent holes put in your skin, just do it when your actually old enough. And as I've said it is genuinely no different to any other piercing, people would be up in arms if I got a 2 (or even 10) year olds eyebrow or belly button pierced but It's exactly the same.

KissMyEmbroideryHoop · 27/07/2012 01:36

Do you feel the same way about braces worn by children as a corrective measure for an overbite? A cosmetic one....? Those hurt too you know. And dont say they're not permanent...the changes they make are. Or should we all stay exactly as we are?

Body mdification is part of being human...we've done it since time immemorial...and I'm sure a few pearl clutchers won't change that.

Inneedofbrandy · 27/07/2012 01:38

I can assure you nobody has told me that. Smile

KissMyEmbroideryHoop brown sacks and no pink for girls ever dress them in sacks and make them eat gruel. Do not ever brush there hair either that can cause them pain too tut tut.

bogeyface · 27/07/2012 01:44

Well, DD is almost 11 and this summer hols is the agreed time so we are off to the piercing studio on Wednesday. She is desperate to have them done, as was her sister and my 7 year old is gutted she has to wait another 3 years! So I dont consider it abusive in anyway as the child concerned wants it done.

But piercing a baby or toddler, putting it through pain (and risk of infection) that it neither needs nor understands is plain wrong.

bogeyface · 27/07/2012 01:46

Kiss you cant compare a corrective procedure recommended by a health proffessional to a piercing! That has actually made me LOL, so well done!

Krumbum · 27/07/2012 01:47

Are you deliberatly being child like? Obviously a wound is not the same as clothes or food Hmm
Braces have a medical benefit, thats why they are done on nhs.Straighter teeth are much easier to clean so decay much less and are stronger so will last longer.
Yes if people want to modify their OWN bodies that fine. But encouraging and sometimes forcing children to modify their bodies is clearly very different.

Whitamakafullo · 27/07/2012 01:48

I'm a bit Hmm at people saying it should be illegal until the age of 18!

I was 5 when I got mine done, 11 when I had 2nd holes and by the time I was 14 I had about 10 piercings in my ears. Didn't do me any harm in life! I did take most of them out, and only have one lot of holes and one in the cartilage now. I did get my tragus pierced last week thoughWink

My DD was 5 and wanted it done, so I agreed. I told her it would be sore, she understood that and looks after her little studs. If people think its chavvy then so what? I don't live my life by what other people think.

HappyAsChips · 27/07/2012 01:49

Babies with pierced ears look awful and I totally agree that it must hurt them quite a lot. Why can't the parents wait until the child is old enough to decide for themselves whether or not they'd like their ears pierced? They obviously do it for themselves because they like the look (goodness knows why...)

ravenAK · 27/07/2012 01:49

I don't brush my dds' hair often enough because I tend to forget about it. When I do set about it, I do so so that their hair isn't tangled as that in itself would be uncomfortable. If they need orthodontic treatment, again, that would be because wonky teeth are problematic.

Unpierced earlobes aren't the same thing as tangled hair or wonky teeth. They're fine as they are & don't require anyone messing about with them.

I don't stick holes in my dc's ears or elsewhere because I think I have a perfectly good body of my own to perforate & can leave my dc to make their own choices.

Seriously, you can't see the difference? Enjoy the gruel, then...

Krumbum · 27/07/2012 01:52

RavenAK
You put that perfectly.

MammaTJ · 27/07/2012 08:09

I always said my DCs would not have their ears pierced until old enough to ask for it.

My DD has just has hers done, she is going to be 7 at the end of August and she has had them done at the beginning of the school holidays so I can better manage the care of them.

She did have a bit of a fit after the first one. I had told her that it would hurt and that once she had had one done, she had to have the other. She let the girl doing it measure up for the second, that is what she told her she was doing and I whispered to her to just do it and she did. My DD is so pleased that it has been done.

I promised my eldest daughter at around 10 years old that she could get her belly button done when she was 13, thinking that was ages away. She did not forget and 5 minutes later (so it seemed to me) she was 13 and demanding promised piercing. She had it done. I just think if she regrets it, she can take it out.

I would not have had their ears pieced as babies though.

FreudianSlipper · 27/07/2012 08:40

yes i am sure Krum you will come back with lots of stories of the pain and horror of ear piercing the anger they feel over the violation of their rights over their body Hmm

i said i think it looks nice nothing more, for many in my family it is tradition. for some hindus nose piercing is symbolic and has been taken on by others in asia and has carried on for hundreds of years for some cultures it was/is a show of worth, a coming of age and for many is now just a tradition that is carried on

FreudianSlipper · 27/07/2012 08:47

show of wealth not worth, that is the families wealth in what jewellery they have

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