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.

On a pregnancy app I looked at when I was pregnant (it was a mainly American audience), some people on it said they got their babies ears pierced so that random strangers could tell they were a girl. Because obviously correcting people you don't know or care about would just be too difficult...

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

Dd1 has been asking because 'xxx has hers done'. She is 8 this week. I have said when she is 10 (and then only if a proffessional piercer will do it). So she asked Exp, who has said yes.

I have discussed with her pain, aftercare, not being able to take then out for PE so missing PE (school started back yesterday), not being able to go swimming (lessons start next week), until they have healed.

I am not anti-piercing, I have several and I went with DS to get his ear done at the body piercers for his 14th birthday. I am hoping that her love for swimming will be greater than her want to be the same as her friend, I cannot stop Exp from taking her to get it done and he won't listen to a word I say, but I really don't think that she is old enough to make that decision for herself just yet. To get a baby pierced is wrong in my opinion.

YANBU. Why the eff is it not illegal to purposely harm & scar your baby & cause considerable distress & weeks of pain. Fuckwits! It's so blinking scummy!

There we go, the real reason MNETTERS don't like it.

'It looks chavvy'

I think you'll find a lot of tattooists and piercers feel very strongly about piercing guns too. They cannot be autoclaved and therefore are only at best disinfected. The person pierced by the gun before your baby could have had HEP B or any other blood borne virus.

And shame on Claire's!

I'd sign the petition. If you pierced your dogs ears you'd probably get prosecuted (rightly) by police/RSPCA, but it's ok on a child you can't consent??

Amrapaali - Why did you pierce your 1 year old's ears? Serious question, I'd like to understand the logic.

Culture norm can cover a multitude of sins/practices.

Foot binding only died out in China in the early 20th century, and there was a case of Satism (is that the right term for the act of a Sati?) in the 1980s in India, while the police had to intervene in the late 1990s (yes, 1990s to stop a widow from self sacrifice).

Christ what happened to the nice little stick on one's! I think my mum let me wear those until I was about 10 and then took me to get them done properly. Thank god I have 2 ds!

I don't like it and wouldn't do it but to judge people who see it as the norm in their culture is quite harsh when you would probably do as they are doing if you were of that culture. Doesn't mean you can't raise the issue or talk about it or try and get the law changed. But the harsh judgements and insults are a bit narrow minded and little England.

"Its a cultural thing". I couldn't give a tom tit. So is circumcision. Doesn't make it acceptable

Just about sums it up for me.

Bling - so you don't judge people who perform female circumcision then? As it's cultural?

It's not that it looks 'chavvy', it's that it looks, on a little baby or toddler, like something which indicates that that child's parents have prioritised doing something which they think looks nice but know hurts and serves no purpose other than to look nice (if we even could agree that it did) over their baby's happiness and well-being.

Was any 6 month old ever happier for having its ears pierced? There's no benefit to it at that age; it's done because the parent wants it done, even though they must know full well that it does hurt.

So it looks to me like their parents have some values I don't much care for.

I wouldn't do it if raising a child in Spain or wherever it's seen as the 'norm'.

It's also a bit insulting to assume that it's 'cultural'. My grandmas parents were Spanish living in the NE, and they really didn't want her to have it done (only gypsies had it done then according to them).

And I'm not 'Little England'. It's 'Little Scotland', if you please.

My DD is the only girl in her class who hasn't got pierced ears. She's 7!

I live in France though and I wonder how many of the boys in her class haven't been circumsized. From friends and neighbours, it seems to be common practice for "medical reasons"...?

Definitely a case of cultural preference. I wouldn't have liked seeing a small baby being put through this but I do find MN to be particularly snobby and judgy on this subject.

Wouldn't want anyone to think you were a Chav would you?

Usual, to be fair, I think only one person has said 'it looks chavvy', and you're picking up on that rather than anything else that's been said.

It hurts babies and it's of no value to them - therefore I think less of those who do it to their babies.

Ear piercing is on the same level as female circumcision now? Jesus, we best take it to the human rights court and get it outlawed. Then we can drive the practice underground because those who have a cultural motive will still want it doing. Hygiene standards won't be regulated and more babies get serious infections from it.

Ah wait, that solves bugger all, doesn't it?

Jolleigh of course it isn't on the same level as female circumcision... that doesn't mean it isn't an irresponsible thing to do to a baby, or that the idea of a higher age limit set on it shouldn't at least be considered.

I think most people who take a 6 month along to get its ears pierced would probably wait a bit if the rules were different, rather than taking it underground - unless you are arguing that those who would pierce a baby's ears are so heedless of that baby's safety that they would take it somewhere unreputable to be pierced?

Just because x isn't as wrong as y, doesn't mean it's not still wrong. Stealing a packet of chewing gum is inarguably more wrong than mugging a frail old man for his war medals, but it's still wrong to steak the gum.

*less wrong, even.

Well said, loopyluna - snobby and judgy sums it up.

Do the parents of kids in your daughter's class appear to be neglecting their kids in any other ways. If not, as I suspect, it's something they think is in the kids' best interests.

Don't give a shite how it LOOKS and wouldn't ever use the word chav. Fir what its worth i am covered in tattoos and have several piercings. That I got as an adult.Being able to consent to the procedure, understand the risks, and cope with the discomfort. My objection to it is down to the fact that it is painful, unnecessary, and totally pointless on a baby that age, plus as a nurse I've known countless small babies/toddlers in A&E with earring backs stuck in ears which are then even more painful to remove, infections, several instances of backs/studs having to be removed from ear canals/noses, or being swallowed.
In terms of it being a cultural norm, as others have said, that doesn't mean it's right, prime example being FGM!