4 year old getting pierced ears at Superdrug

[Childpiercinggate]

I was browsing in Superdrug this lunchtime and saw a small child getting their ears pierced. It was awful, the mother was holding the child down and she was yelling at the top of her lungs. I was in the makeup section at the other end of the shop and stopped in my tracks as I’ve never heard anything like it.

I asked to speak to the manager as I was so shocked that they do this in store. The manager told me it was nothing to do with me and the mother had given consent.

Ive written to the head office although I know nothing will be done.

Yes you were unreasonable - mind your own business
No you’re not unreasonable - you’re right, children of that age shouldn’t be getting piercings

Have any former-babies bothered to lobby or protest?

The most vocal people are the white middle class who've never had it done themselves, and always compare it to African girls being tortured through FGM.

Yanbu. It's child abuse, and it also looks ugly and chavvy. I know in the US it's considered normal to have them done young ( for some people) but I hate it.

Presumably anyone who is lobbying against it was a former baby... my mother had mine done when I was around 18 months old and I think it's vulgar as fuck to do it on a child, much less one who has no idea what's happening. The idea of inflicting unnecessary pain on a child for little more than vanity is disgusting.

Ah yes 3 year olds.

Those known proponents of good ideas 🙄

Absolutely! It doesn't really matter about anyone else's culture really, what's wrong is wrong! We would never in this country subject children or anyone under 18 (or stand by as they are subjected to) any pain that's not medically necessary. That's why no tattoos/sex/drinking/smoking/vaping before 18 (hopefully 21) or anything else that might result in pain for the child (or future pain e.g. diseases) . Hopefully all other countries drop all their customs that we might not agree with.. Other PPS have said it's absolutely disgusting that parents might allow any of these things that could cause children pain or inflict future suffering, that's worth considering

There should be a minimum age.

Not sure what it should be but 18 is too high.

There's a difference between a child wanting them pierced and being held down and having them pierced. A massive difference. Even if the child wanted them pierced and then found out it hurts after one, the parent should say ok we'll leave it rather than force them to have it done. And shop should not be complicit in this even if it means a partial refund or change in policy to come back another day.

I've said 10 to my DD. She will be able to understand better and take care of them herself. If she wants them done of course.

I can remember having mine done at 3 years old and it wasn't traumatic or painful at all! Some people are so dramatic 🙄

And you are a judgemental know it all!

it's incredibly tacky in very young kids and babies. the reasoning is always "oh it's so they won't remember it" but it's not like it's mandatory at all!!

It’s awful. I saw a tiny toddler getting her ears pierced in Claire’s once and she was absolutely screaming, completely distraught. And her grandmother was filming it.

It’s only places that do cheap gun piercings that will pierce young kids’ ears. Proper body piercers who pierce correctly with needles in a sterile environment, rather than crunching a blunt sleeper stud through your ear in a grubby shop, are invariably very strict about age limits and consent.

I’ve got loads of piercings and the place I go to will not pierce the ears of children who are under eight, ever. And for children are over eight, they will only pierce their ears if a) they ask for it themselves and explain why they want it done and b) can demonstrate that they understand the aftercare and why it’s important. If the piercer doesn’t feel they understand, they tell them to come back when they’re a bit older. They will not pierce any child who doesn’t want it done - the moment the child says no, the piercer won’t do it, however much the parent tries to persuade them. And yes, this does mean that sometimes a child gets one ear done, decides it’s too scary and refuses to have the other one done! The piercer will always respect the child’s wishes.

Horrendous! I've never liked children getting their ears pierced (think I stated my goddaughter should be 16 before she got hers done, her mother said 12, lass is in her 20s and still unpierced) but the thought of putting my 4 yo through that is just unthinkable. She barely lets me brush her hair, there's no way she'd let me take care of the wounds, and that's if she got more than one done anyway.

She likes looking at my earrings but that's it for now. She can wait til 16.

Blame the (chav) mother. There's a lot of them around.
Treating babies and young kids as fashion accessories.
Makes me sick.

I'd have been tempted to film it, send to HQ and ask them to review their policies.
Poor child. Disgusting excuse of a mother giving her consent to mutilate her daughter, who is cute and pretty just as she is without bits of metal in her ears.

I voted yabu not because I agree with young kids and babies having piercings but about complaining about it to a manager. Super drug is a chain, people who work in stores have zero say over anything. Op should have spoke to the parent if she felt so strongly as she's the one making the decision

Can't get my head around this, why isn't there some kind of law around the age of child piercings?

I understand children need some autonomy and choices, but what age do we ensure that the pierced ears are something they understand will hurt and will have take some responsiblity for, such as cleaning? They should be an age they can decide they do or dont want it.
I want my dc to make choices about things they want such as piercings, but I want them to be old enough to understand the consequences.

A lass from my secondary school had a baby girl whilst we were in year 9 and she had her ears pierced at the local market hairdressers a few hours after leaving the hospital because she didn't want people to think her dd was a boy.
That was over 20 years ago now and I still hear of people taking tiny babies to that place to have their babys ears pierced.
It's fucking criminal.

My dds both got theirs done at Claire’s, both times 2 members of staff did the piercing at the same time so they didn’t have to wait for 2nd one to be done. Both dd decided to get their ears pierced themselves, I don’t wear earrings so never had any expectation that dds would. Dd2 asked for hers to be done for her 7th birthday and dd 1 only just had hers done recently and she is 14!

I can’t imagine taking a baby to have them done, it’s bad enough taking them for vaccinations at that age don’t know what anyone would put them through the pain just for appearance!

For my sins, I worked at Claires many moons ago and pierced ears. I hated the 9ct guns though, it just blasted the earring through the ear. The 18ct guns were much gentler. We also marked out the dot before piercing, and I was meticulous with that, looking and relooking, wiping and marking and looking again. My own (done at local jewellers) are slightly lob sided, so if you got me, I was going to be 100% bang on!

They did (probably still do) one staff member per ear so they could be done together. Younger children (I hated piercing their ears) could be sat on a parents lap with a hand gently holding their forehead to help keep still. In our store, we wouldn't do childrens ears if they were held down by force, and if they started fighting and screaming then the answer was no as well.

I'd probably take DD to a proper piercing studio if she wants them done when older though (and no doubt I'll be double and triple checking the place dots!!)

I also had mine pierced with a gun in the 80s ( and then more piercings in the 90s also with a gun) and didn't feel anything and never had any infections.
The first time I was 11 and looked after them really well during the healing process.
The second/ third/ maybe fourth time was when I was 15/16 and kept letting the second piercings heal over as I wasn't as careful.
Ironically now I never wear earrings ( although I think I probably still could) as I just don't think they suit me...

You were witnessing child abuse.

Hi, former baby here protesting about it.

Fucking awful isn’t it? One of my work clients works at Superdrug and was told she had to pierce ears for her job there - on her first day after her 2 hours’ training (!!!) on plastic ears some tiny girl was crying her heart out while her mom said ‘she does really want it done, just do it and get it out of the way!’ My client got disciplined for refusing, who could do that to a crying child? It’s just grim. The mom put in a complaint because her sobbing child pleading ‘no no no I don’t want it’ couldn’t get her ears pierced.
I posted on another thread on here the other day about how awful piercing guns are and I’m sure it’s already been said on this thread. Just awful places like jewellers, Claire’s and Superdrug still do this. If you could see up close how shonky the jewellery they fire through your ear with a grotty unclean gun is you’d wonder why anyone would opt for this method when there’s safer ways to do it, it’s just lazy and irresponsible IMO. (I’m a trained tattooist and piercer so have seen some horrible shit with jewellery stuck in ears from bad gun piercings).

OP, please report back and let us know if you get a response to your correspondence.

The manager’s argument that the parents have given consent is weak. What about the rights of the child?

My ears were pierced as an older child, probably around 13, when l asked to have them done and mum talked it through with me; l think that’s fine. I’ve had other piercings since.

It does seem odd to me that smacking a child is frowned upon, yet making holes in them so you can dangle pretty jewellery from them isn’t.
We live in a weird world.

You were right OP, that’s just awful. Well done for saying something, poor child .