Earings on younger boys, yes or no?

[Blandmum]

on lads less than 16?
Yes or no?

Better or worse than on girls?

Chavarooney.

Personally, I cross the road if I see anyone coming towards me with an earing in, especially the under 5s.

Good for you, Cod . Can you do that if they wear nylon trackie bottoms, baseball caps and trainers as well?

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No! I like being small minded on this one

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Sukki, tell me one place where I say that all boys with earings are disruptive?

You can't because I haven't. I mearnly say that in my experience many boys who have them, are disruptive.

And the idea that we don't judge on volendary looks is totaly insane. Can you hand on heart look at this pucture

people elect to look like this

And tell me that yuou have no preconceptions about what these people are like?

I can see that this topic could go on all night. I guess everyone has their own opinion. it would be nice though if people would not try to force their opinions on others. Just because they dont agree with boys having earrings does not mean that they should condemn other parents that allow it to happen.

Also if a lady is allowed to wear earrings to work why isnt a man? We always complain at how sexist the world can be towards us but isnt this being sexist towards men. I guess I am lucky that where I live we dont judge people on how they look, it is who they are that is more important to us.

I guess we will all have to agree to disagree on this subject

Sukki, this isn't about how the world should be, it's about how it is.

Earrings on men are frowned upon for the same reason skinheads on women are. The majority of people who care about appearances do not do it to their children.

Sukki, I do think you are missing the point of some of the posters.

i have looked at that picture, Martian and in my opinion you cannot guess what those people are like. A few years ago we discovered that a paedophile had been allowed to move next to our school and protests were held. Many people at these meetings looked just like those in that picture but they were just ordinary people who had every right to be angry. There was no violence just a lot of angry people who wanted to protect their children.

You may think I am naive but i have been brought up not to judge a book by its cover and that it how I will bring my children up. Luckily many people in my area feel the same as me and we do not judge people just because they look different.

I like what you said, Sukki... pebbles-whatever too.

But oddly enough it is usually pretty safe and sensible to judge a book by its cover - that's why books' covers have different designs on them. A publisher wouldn't take a copy of Winnie the Pooh and adorn the cover with images of bleeding gunshot victims, for example. The ways in which people choose to adorn their bodies and alter their appearance have certain ramifications for the way they are perceived by others. That's the purpose of personal adornment and it has never been any different. No sense whinging about it

So if I saked you if you thought theye were more like to be a bunch of neo nazis or social worked you honestly wouldn't have a clue?

How about this guy

man in a kilt

You didn't look and think, 'Probably a scot?'

If so I think you are in a minority of one. We make snap decisions about people based on they way they look and dress every day. We all do.

I don't think that all boys with an earing are bad, I don't expect them to be bad. But I do know that I have met lots and lots who are.

I've just been reading the thread again and have to disagree with colditz.
Appearance is very important to both myself and my children. and yet my oldest son has his ear pierced. He has never received any negative reactions to it and even if people dont agree with it they are polite enough to keep their opinions to themselves. I have never been potrayed as being a bad mother for allowing him to have it done and if anyone did say that i would challenge them to prove it as they could not be more wrong.

I accept it is not everyones cup of tea but surely the decision is that of the individual and we should all be grown up enough to respect everyone elses opinion.

It has been fun reading this thread though esp after sukki joined in

FWIW, I don't think it makes you a 'bad mother' in any case.
I can't possibley say that about you, since we have never met!

We live in a day and age where people are allowed to wear and think what they like. Just because a man is wearing a kilt and plays the bagpipes does not neccessarily mean he is scottish, my husband got married in a kilt and he's from London! Also a skinhead with an angry look on his face is not neccessarily a neo nazi. Many men shave their heads nowadays and have piercings but they are not all racist thugs!

All I have been trying to say is each individual is different and it is out of order to potray them as something they are not just because that is your opinion.

When have I said that tis is the case for all children with earings?

And did you realy not think probably a scot!? Come on!

And I found the picture of the neo nazis on a page about neo nazis!

So nothing has any meaning any more, all cultural and societal signifiers are thrown out of the window, and anyone who says otherwise - or is guided by his/her intelligence and experience - is a rabid fascist....it doesn't sound like the kind of world I care to live in.

Your Scot made me laugh mb!

In the school I work at children are allowed a single piercing in each ear with studs, one ring, one watch, one chain ... no other bodypiercings, no multiple earrings, and no make-up. Generally these rules are followed, but there are a group of pupils who repeatedly have to be told to remove jewellery, or to wash off make-up.

Clearly the pupils who do this are the rebellious ones, the ones who push the boundaries, and often these are the students with most potential to be disruptive in class. It isn't wearing the make-up that makes them rebellious; rather wearing the make-up is a demonstration of their rebellious nature.

It is usually - though not always - an indication of lack of parental support for school discipline, as most of these children clearly leave their houses plastered in make-up or whatever.

so this man may not be a sikh

this man may not be an orthodox jew

and I dare not assume that this is a nun

because I cannot judge a book by its cover? Please, that is insane.

How we choose to dress is part of the way that we signal to the rest of the world what we are like. That is why we do it for heavens sake!

If that man isn't a Scot, he should be arrested under the trades descriptions act.

He's disguised as a Scot, that's for sure.

I always judge books by their covers.....it seems so much easier than hunting for a review every time I want to read