to think piercing of childrens ears should be banned

[lucyellensmum]

why why why would anyone want to do this to a three year old????? I went to a childrens party at the weekend, there was a lovely little girl there with the most awful blingy "diamond" earings pulling her ears down - ear piercing hurts, it is tantamount to child abuse IMO.

No No only positive things

i hate taking my ds for his jabs, as he screams with pain, and they're necessary! i don't understand what cultural experiences would make a parent put their child through pain. surely a child in pain is a child in pain, whether Latina, Afro-Caribbean, Asian or Caucasian!

interesting inside view there Cathcart!

That has been my point TUD, but apparently if something is traditional/cultural than the fact it is harming their child without their consent or understanding doesn't seem to matter...

I had mine done at Claire's and am v. happy. This was my third go (other times it'd failed due to infection) and it actually went really well for a change (and didn't hurt). As cathcart said, the studs they use have sharp points.

It's apparently okay to slag off other peoples' cultures and traditions if you are English. After all, no one else can possibly understand who best to raise a child . . .

[rolls eyes]

am also baffled that there are plenty of people here who think it's ok to chop off part of a child's genitals in the name of the parents' 'god' but that's it horrifically cruel and barbaric to pierce a baby's ears (surely far less invasive) in the name of culture.

LOL!

I don't live in England, toy.

So you can go back to reading the copy of The Daily Mail someone left on the bus seat for you.

Oh, and just a little tip: 'youre'. I presume that you actually meant 'you're'. That's a contraction for 'you are'. 'Your' is the possessive pronoun you lack in your last post.

You set such a fine example for schooling in today's Britain .

expatinscotland i have lived in scotland and there is not much difrrence in culture to england so country dosent rearly matter.You come to another country exspect people to respect youre cultures yet you should be the one respecting theres.NOT BRINGING YOURE OWN TO THERE COUNTRY.

Noone here has said they support female circumcision - so let's not deviate from the op, particularly not in thsat direction..!

Everyone is entitled to an opinion and to ask for details/explanation to try and understand something that seems wrong/cruel to them.

Lets not start swearing at each other in the absence of understanding our differences

i still haven't seen anybody explain why piercing babies ears is a cultural thing,apart from vague references to status/wealth?

does anybody actually know?

for example,i know that male circumsision was traditionally done in very hot countries due to the risk of infection etc,and has become a part of many religions/cultures.

but ear peircing?

I don't know divastrop, and i think its sad that if thats the only reason ( wealth, status) then you are using a tiny baby to 'show off' to your peers...

Surely there must be more to this? Doesn't anyone know?

Well, our family are white, British with probably a mix of working and lower middle class individuals and when this very subject was discussed at a family party everyone seemed to think it was "common" for young children to have pierced ears unless there was an ethnic cultural tradition involved.

Call us snobs !

I had mine done at 18 btw.

If I was considering the case of someone of Southern European origin eg olive skinned or another Eastern ethnic group where it is a cultural thing I would not have the same snobby opinion as I do of someone like myself, white British.

I don't get this parental thing of "well, my daughter begged and begged me to let me have them done at the age of 4"

Ds1 is 4 and he begs and begs for lots of unsuitable stuff (which he will not be getting) but he can be reasoned with and I am after the parent and he is the child, end of dilemma.

toy you are well out of order. i find your post incredibly offensive, and think you owe expat an apology. all she was doing was expressing a point of view, we were having a discussion and you have no reason to say what you did.

i've reported your post to MNHQ.

Who cars what other people do with their own children? I'm sure you'd love them pulling you up on your choices.

Child abuse my arse.

expatinscotland if you think how good some1 spells has anything to do with educational lvl you are an idiot.

who cares what other people do with their own children?

quite alot of people,i would hope

toy....how about a little respect for the english language?

toy23

Quit while you can, your spelling and grammar will undermine the validity of any argument you're trying to pick with expat.

I'll also take the trouble to inform you of the correct use of there's (there is) and theirs (belonging to them).

See this stuff really bugs me and I sometimes have to read and shortlist job applications with CV's and interview people so it does matter !

toy23, actually spelling is an indication of their educational level. after all, it is taught in schools.

divastrop, you know what i mean. Is someone having their child's ears pierced really that intrusive or outrageous to some people's lives?

Im not saying sorry to any1 i dont care if people find my comments offencive im just exspresing my views and say things how i see.

God, I have enough trouble keeping a baby's bum clean without worrying about keeping ears sterile/free from smeared poo/apricot etc. All you baby piercers must be either mad or have extremely docile/ non-octopus-like children.

toy23, you carry on expressing. As long as you don't mind everyone else disagreeing with you.

Aaaah, resorting to text speak, in my book an admission of a battle lost.