AIBU to want to punch the mother I saw yesterday getting baby's ear's pierced?

[ElleBelly]

Was in Claire's Accessories yesterday with my 4yo daughter, and there was a Mum getting baby's ear's pierced. Bab must have been about six months, and was screaming her head off, made me feel sick. Cannot for the life of me understand why people put their children through that at that age. It's so cruel. And mother was laughing with friends about it! Have got DS second lot of imms this week and dreading it, pathetic,over emitional,hormone befuddled woman I am, and just think its so wrong to put a baby through that pain uneccessarily.
Sorry for the rant but I so wanted to give her a slap.

Op, really non of your business what this mother was doing, and as for wanting to give her a slap, do not think you should have said that.

Yes really LoopyLuna, why would I lie?? I have never seen anyone using reins. Are French children the epitome of good behaviour then? I saw plenty of naughty ones on holiday this year!

StephenFrySaysSo - you're arguing RE general consensus on my grammar now? Should we pick your grammar apart too?

I apologise for not DIRECTLY LINKING that particular part of my paragraph to the part that clarifies what I mean. In future I shall remember that this is MN and there are plenty of people like yourself here who choose to ignore the facts being discussed and hone in on a simple mistake in grammar instead.

I'm unsure how we got from ear piercing to massive generalisations about British culture, our children can't behave like the French, we don't eat together at the table like Mexicans. What a barrow load of shite

At what point does child abuse become other people's business or do we just sit back and ignore it as it's only "mild" or because the end result will assist a child in being fashionable? (playing devils advocate but things are only acceptable if we allow them to be)

so you made a mistake saying "certainly not illegal"? is that what you mean? you mean to say 'certainly not legal'?

pull apart my grammar if you like. it doesn't change the fact that tail docking is illegal.

we could go round in circles on this but i'd rather not so i'm going to end my involvement in the tail docking discussion here as it's not what the thread is about. I apologise for the derail- I had only intended to dispute misinformation that was posted.

Nothing I've read since I last posted has changed my mind. It's barbaric to inflict pain on a baby for anything other than a medical situation. It's not for the baby's benefit, so why the hell do it?

I was pushed by a friend to have mine done when I was 38. The first one hurt, a lot, I yelled and the person doing it asked if I wanted the second one done. Well since I didn't want to look stupid, I said do it, that hurt too.

Saying it's cultural is bullshit, so is mutilating female babies' genitals, as others have said. Who could possibly agree with it?

Celticclan some brought up reigns, care of old folk and babies in nurseries etc as you asked what we consider culturally acceptable and normal but other cultures might not or even think cruel and abusive.

No one is actually criticising these things just trying to make folk consider how things can be considered in a different way from different vantage points. People are being really smug and superior here they might only have this stance as they are viewing it through UK eyes. If you were born or lived in another country/culture it's very possible you might have happily trotted off to get your babies ears pierced.

I'm sorry but some things are ok to judge.

If I see a parent swearing abuse at there child- I judge
If I see a parent wollop their child- I judge
When I see fb updates from parents about how "wasted" they got AGAIN last night- I judge
When I see parents restraining their children whilst a shop assistant punchrs holes in their flesh- yes, I judge.

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-30731/How-pierced-ears-leave-infants-agony.html

How is piercing a child's ear not illegal? It's not ok to smack your child when they are being naughty but its ok to pierce the child's ear in the name of beauty? World gone mad! At least leave it until they are old enough to make the decision for themselves!

Piercings should all be 16 years plus

Hahaha I'd like to see what your prospective teens think of that happymumofone, at less than 16 we chose to have eyebrow, bellybutton and multiple ear piercings, everyone was doing it... not to mention the godawful pooh bear or snoopy tatoos.

MN is batshit crazy.

Claire's give no training to their staff to do ear piercing. When I left uni I was offered a job at Claire's, I didn't take it as I was told I would have to pierce ears, and briefly told how to use the piercing gun. I said I wouldn't be able to do babies ears, I was told I would do whoever was paying. I refused the job.

Sounds like assault to me.

Pretty horrified the piercer would do this.

Piercings should be an over 16 thing imo. When the person who is being pierced can give informed consent. Piercing babies is absolutely disgraceful and the 'my baby, my choice' idiots really make me . I think it is abuse.

To be honest I think that pierced ears on anyone look pretty naff (I am not a fan of earrings in general) but on tiny babies and young children they look unspeakably cheap and tacky.

And why are people taking the OP's comments as literal when she was just trying to express her annoyance and upset at what she saw?

This is very interesting. I am from Spain and had my ears pierced when two days old as a consequence never known the pain of it and holes never closed. I'm having twin girls in October and briefly thought about this recently - my conclusion was that while I don't see a problem with young girls having it done I don't think I'm interested in my girls following in my footsteps and will wait until they are interested and see it as a milestone birthday thing. I'm sure it does look distressing so have sympathy for Op.

Actually thinking about it, I used to teach in a really rough challenging area and many of the primary aged children and the pre-schoolers were pierced (not just the little girls either). I now teach in a very naice area where this sort of thing is much less prevalent. I wonder if there is a socio-economic connection here?

Can anyone think of a good reason for the age limit not to be the same as for tattoos?

I mean some cultures do tattooing from birth too... but we don't allow that..we have an age limit of 16.

So why not for piercings too? no one would have to fight with their 12 yo DC's about it then...

As well as any cultural factors (as outlined by SpanishLady) that is.

ICBINEG I agree completely. There is absolutely no reason for this not to be the case.

I think it ought to be illegal for parents to consent to this on behalf of their child, 16 as a minimum age sounds about right.

There should be mandatory training/licensing so that only those who are qualified can perform piercings.

Piercing studios should be subject to random inspections to ensure safety standards are adhered to.

16? Don't be so ridiculous.

why is it ridiculous? Or rather why is it more ridiculous for piercing than for tattoos?

I agree there should be a minimum legal age for piercings.

Tattoos is 18 not 16.