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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

477 replies

ElleBelly · 21/08/2013 11:59

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 posts:
LookingForwardToVino · 23/08/2013 09:45

Nope I hadn't been drinking Ghana.

The mum described in the op seemed to think holding people down

(because that's what children are...people)

was ok. So I suggested maybe the op should have done it to her.

(And the kid might have been cheered up top see the bitch who was laughed at their pain pierced instead)

Grin
StephenFrySaidSo · 23/08/2013 11:27

I dont know about anyone else but i do ask my dcs if they want their haircut or want to go in the bath. Ds2 didnt have his haircut until he was 3 because everytime i asked him until that point, he said no. Then one day when ds1 was in the chair, ds2 said he wanted his done. He was happy, no-one cried, no-one had to be held down or distracted. Sane with baths, there are times they want one and times they dont- it averages out about 4/5 baths a week and i never have any tears or tantrums. And im definitly not middle class.

glossyflower · 23/08/2013 12:24

This thread is getting boring now

Amrapaali · 23/08/2013 12:33

True. This thread has run its course. There is another interesting looking one about onions in sandwiches. Lts trot on over there... Grin

glossyflower · 23/08/2013 12:43

Lol Grin

usualsuspect · 23/08/2013 13:37

Don't worry. Someone will start another one fairly soon.

SPsTotallyMullerFuckingLicious · 23/08/2013 13:42

this is the perfect end to a thread

Amrapaali · 23/08/2013 14:48

Eeurgh!! My eyes!

Ghanagirl · 23/08/2013 14:51

Littlemog you don't have valid right to
Opinion as you think some people more deserving of respect than others you negate most of the world and also those in this country who don't belong to your class or sect or wherever it is you get your sense of superiority, would love to see you with an actual child rather than a essay theory

Alisvolatpropiis · 23/08/2013 14:53

AGAIN SP REALLY?!

Sad
Ghanagirl · 23/08/2013 14:56

Lookingforwardtovino, such violent thoughts made me wonder If you'd been drinking. Describing undertaking a violent act on a woman you don't know in front of an infant doesn't seem the logical way to express your concern about something which is both culturally acceptable and legal

Amrapaali · 23/08/2013 14:57

Have I been on MN too long? I'm beginning to think Cliffy looks handsome... Confused

See what you did SP with your random links, I am getting desensitised to THAT face.

littlemog · 23/08/2013 15:28

GhanaGirl more funny posts I see. To be fair - you sound like you've been on the Babycham as your post addressed to me makes little sense.

As it happens, I deal with very many children being a teacher and all. Some of them are even pierced although not allowed to wear earrings until the Lower Sixth.

AmberLeaf · 23/08/2013 16:02

'vile' 'grim' and most importantly 'chavvy'

These threads are always about laughing chavs in claires accessories aren't they?

Never seen one about an indian Mum getting her babies ears pierced.

Damn those pesky chavs eh with their tattoos and ear rings.

Original poster
ElleBelly · 23/08/2013 16:31

Except I haven't once used the word chav, or offered any kind of description of the mother's perceived culture/ethnicity/background. Because it's not important. Anyway I'm heavily tattooed and have numerous piercings which I hope gets rid of your assumptions.

OP posts:
IceBeing · 23/08/2013 16:31

I dunno amber I am a veteran of these threads and I have not resorted to any of that terminology to make my point, which is that it is ethically wrong for parents to impose in a permanent way their ideas of aesthetics/culture/religion on the body of a child.

In the age of the internet there is no guarantee that your children will share your cultural ideas or your religious ideas. There was never any guarantee that you children would share your idea of beauty.

So how can it possibly be ethical to tattoo, pierce, or make any other permanent non-medically required modification to another persons body?

Would you drag your adult child to get their ears pierced without their consent? What about a 14 year old who didn't want it? Or a 6 year old that didn't want it?

Seriously the only difference it makes to do this to a baby is that they can't fight back. Sad

littlemog · 23/08/2013 16:44

Don't think that anyone on this whole thread has used the word chav. And I don't agree with piercing babies for any reason, culture or religion. Let the child make up its mind as and when it is able to and until then leave his or her body alone.

AmberLeaf · 23/08/2013 16:49

Why doesn't anyone start a campaign against it being done by people who do it for cultural/tradition reasons then?

Just a campaign against Claires and the chavs who shop there

Personally, I wouldn't pierce my babies ears, nor force an older child into having it done, but I can think of better things to get worked up about. [that other people do]

Icebeing, I can see you haven't used that sort of terminology, but it is always present on these threads.

AmberLeaf · 23/08/2013 16:50

Littlemog, someone said it was 'chavvy' or looked 'chavvy' near the start of the thread.

AmberLeaf · 23/08/2013 16:58

kilmuir Wed 21-Aug-13 13:45:24

so anything goes if we throw in the cultural line? yes you can have female circumcision as its a cultural thing???
disgusting behaviour, shame on Claires for taking part in it
Anyway looks very chavvy

FreudiansSlipper · 23/08/2013 16:59

cheap, naff, abuse, more prevalent in rougher areas....

quite a few of the little girls have their ears pierced in ds class (reception)

you forget amberleaf those poor Indian ladies know no better

AmberLeaf · 23/08/2013 17:05

Ah yes Wink

MrsOakenshield · 23/08/2013 17:12

having read the whole thread, I think only one person, quite early on, used the word 'chav' - good of you to resurrect it, though.

I think a number of people, rather than going after Claire's Accessories alone, suggested a minimum age for piercing, such as 12. There does, however, seem a reasonable argument that Claire's need to ensure that their staff are properly trained, and that they don't use a gun to pierce babies' and young children's ears. Which seems fair enough.

FreudiansSlipper · 23/08/2013 17:18

Yes I agree that staff should be better trained and of course seeing a child distressed was upsetting for the op

but I am going to argue back that my family are not abusers and we do not look cheap and tacky well imo we do not

AmberLeaf · 23/08/2013 17:38

Yes one person quite early on, who was then pulled up on it by usualsuspect, who was going to say it after that?

The implication of it being 'common' [that old fashioned word for chavs] is running throughout this thread though as it always is, so I wasn't resurrecting anything.