Babies & Toddlers With Pierced Ears

[StarlightLady]

AIBU to suggest that there should be a minimum age for ear piercings on young children, in particular those who are unable to consent?

For the record, I am not anti piercing. I have 3 ear piercings and 3 others. In particular I had my ears pierced when l asked and was old enough to fully understand.

Ok. So you are against it, despite having it yourself. Thanks for the reply.

I agree. Ear piercing is relatively painless, reversible, and leaves no scars or injuries. Comparing to something barbaric like genital mutilation is absolutely ignorant.
I had mine done as a baby and I am glad because I love wearing earrings since I was a child. In what way is it tacky?

Despite having it yourself is an odd comment. By definition something done when you are an infant is not your choice.

The big difference here is that genital mutilation of girls is already illegal. I am not saying it doesn’t happen though.

It’s all a bit chavvy

These threads are so boring. If you care so much, be brave and confront the black and Asian parents with pierced eared babies and not just shudder at the white lower class people you feel brave enough to slag off. Babies who are fed, warm, loved and cherished are lucky to be so, who gives a shit whether their parents do something that has literally no impact on their emotional or physical safety. You just don't like it because you think its common, I bet you never even picture a brown ear piercing when you grip your middle class amber necklaces.

It’s absolutely demented. Also circumcision.

It should be illegal for parents of any colour to pierce their young children and infants ears.
‘We have always done it’s is not an acceptable reason in the UK.

You already need a licence to pierce ears, it would be very early to put in a mechanism making it illegal to pierce under 13s full stop.
Anyone who goes out of their way to pierce their child at home is just a scum bag.

Yes i would agree, I would say 10 should be the minimum age

Well, I'm not fuming but in my case, ear piercing was not reversible. I had mine done when I was 10, which was earliest I was allowed. I promised faithfully to take care of them but probably didn't clean as properly as I should have, and possibly also had several allergic reactions to the cheap earrings I was wearing but my piercings frequently got sore and weepy. I gave up wearing earrings and now have scars on my earlobes and lumps of scar tissue inside. Not particularly noticeable and it really doesn't bother me too much but it is unsightly and I've never been able to wear earrings as an adults so I do wish that I'd not been allowed to have it done when I was a child.

I don’t care what the culture or tradition is. It’s wrong to poke holes in babies and small children. It’s also chavvy as hell.

I think it's gross and really weird to think gorgeous babies require decorating.

Putting holes in someone's body is abuse and should be illegal. Culture and tradition is a shit excuse these days, everyone's educated to know better.

I worked in Claire’s Accessories when I was a teenager at uni. I pierced the ears of many babies, toddlers and young kids. Should I have done that? Absolutely not. I was 19 years old, had scant ‘training’ and we used a gun - on actual babies tiny ears 😭 Although Claire’s has gone, I can’t imagine things have changed much. IMO only licensed piercing studios should be able to perform piercings on young children and the rules and regulations should be far more stringent. YANBU

Body modification without medical need should require consent. This includes ear piercings and male circumcision.

I don’t think ear piercing requires a child to be 18 to understand and consent to the procedure. I’m not sure where the legal cutoff should be placed. There are reasonable arguments for setting it at a variety of ages.

Different cultures and traditions are irrelevant. It’s like saying you agree with circumcision on baby boys and female circumcision which, as we know, is very dangerous. None of these are British traditions so should be illegal. Ear piercings, in babies and children, should also be illegal.

Most places that do piercings have set their own minimum age.

I think 10 years old is the bare minimum.

YANBU. I have never once looked at a baby or toddler and thought, “Cute, but two holes and a bit of cubic zirconia will elevate them to super cute.” It’s just totally unnecessary.

My partner is from a culture where piercing ears pretty much at birth is normal, but still that’s not an option for our DD3. It’s a parental choice to bow to cultural norms IMO.

In Ireland it's almost tradition to get them done at around 7/8 for First Holy Communion. By then the girls are usually begging to get them pierced. I consider that as consent but little babies, definitely not and not a good look either.

The controlling everything little Timmy and Daisy do until they’re 18 always gets me 🤣.I don’t think people realise at 16 you can get your eyebrows, nose and lip pierced without mummies permission. I gave birth to my child and moved out at 16 (less than a decade ago before someone calls me a fosssil and says times have changed)

That said I wouldn’t get my kids ears pierced until they’re old enough to ask for it. It’s literally just unnecessary pain for the sake of vanity. Do parents of pierced eared babies realise everyone’s judging them? Probably not as one expressed genuine surprise and upset when she posted on our local fb page asking where she can get it done and received hundreds of comments calling her a shit parent

My 13 year old doesn’t wear Jewellery anyway, so I’d fall of my chair if she suddenly found a love for earrings, and I fucking hate having little bits of shit like that in the house. It honestly makes me feel ill.

So yeah, probably 18 if my 6 year old really wants them one day. Older teenager anyway, old enough not to leave little earings laying about.

I am odd in my hatred for jewellery being near me though, I won’t even let dh wear a wedding ring. I’m like the way some people are about spiders with it.

Circumcision has several health benefits - lower risk of UTIs, phimosis and balanitis and can decrease the risk of sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV HPV and herpes. Penile cancer is uncommon in circumcised men. Upto 5 times less risk of cervical cancer in partners. Just saying.

Did you even read the thread? Everyone opposed to ear pierced babies is in agreement that it dosent matter what culture.
It looks shit no matter what colour, just unnecessary pain and potential risk of infection

I moved out at 16 too. I only said 18 as I fucking hate jewellery and having had a teenager already, I don’t trust my younger two not to leave it laying about. If my dd really wanted them at say 14, she could have them, but only if she didn’t leave the bloody things laying about, I can’t stand little bits of metal!

I didn’t mean anything by the language but I get your point about my clumsy wording.