Would You pierce Your Babies Ears?

[jellybrain]

There was a phone in on Radio 2 at lunchtime asking the above question. A woman had been in a shop and seen a parent holding down a clearly terrified child (6 months or so) who was having her ears pierced, she was quite justifiably horrified. Those in favour argued their babies looked cute. One woman said her daughter had very little hair and people mistook her for a boy (she had ears pierced at 2) er whats wrong with a dress, something pink or just girls clothes if you're that concerned?
As you can probably guess I am against it babies and toddlers can't give their consent. It made me mad to hear parents saying that their dds looked cute or really pretty . Yes babies are cute but, they aren't fashion accessories . Of course there is a safety risk too.
Ok rant done over to you lot now.

today? my tongue.

i have had lots of piercings over the years, ears, nose, tongue, lip, eyebrow. plus tattoes. As a full grown adult i can make these choices for myself, and can self medicate for pain relief if needed. a baby will not be able to tell you if they are in pain by having their ears pierced. its just wrong.

I don't like it and wouldn't do it - it's purely a question of taste for me though and not one of cruelty, removing choice etc.

Hahahahaha at judging women who have children in buggies without shoes and socks - is yours old enough to pull said items off? Because if not... Hahahahahaha!

As for piercing babies' ears - I've already used up my quota of saying "sick fuck" in posts today (one a day) so I won't say it again

nah, piercings look vile on little kids. They just do, I'm sorry. They are so beautiful at that age, why'd you want to go stick a 9 carrot Argos gold pin in each ear?

my kids often go without shoes and socks in the sumner. its better for their feet (I'm talking grass not pavements here), though, and I am a paid up lentil weaver, so...hey.

sick fuck.....................

i have lost many shoes and socks over the years. once i bought dd1 a lovely pair of white mary-jane type shoes, she sat in her buggy on the bus home, we got off the bus, walked to the flat (she was still in the buggy), got there and relaised we were missing one sock and one 2-hour old shoe. never did find it.

I wouldn't just because it looks common. Sorry, I know that's classist, but there it is. It's probably not a good reason, but I don't care.

But I'm interested in one thing - we all accept that if it's for cultural reasons among black and Asian kids, that's OK (and yes I'm guilty too, because when I see a Bangladeshi child with gold earrings, I don't immediately think "common" as I do with a white child) but actually, it's a pretty common cultural practice among the English working class and has been for quite some time. I had my ears pierced when I was seven or eight (although my family is Irish and my father was horrified "why do ye all want to have holes in yeerselves like pigs we used to have on the farm?" But I think we were just doing what every other child in the culture in which we grew up was doing). Why is it OK for Asian and Black people to have their cultural practices respected and hastily excused from our prejudgemnts (mine too, I hasten to add) but not the white working class?

yes i do like them. no i dont like seeing little girls with those huge hoops hanging form their ears like they are waiting for a dog to jump through but tiny studs (like my daughters) look kind of pretty.
Yes she looked a little boyish and so maybe it would help that.
i knew that sooner or later she would want them done and i think that it is easier and less likely to cause infections etc if she had them when she was younger and did not realise and so didn't touch or fiddle with them.

but mostly it was because i wanted them done, i had them all my sisters, neices, cousins etc all had them done. so yes maybe it is just part of my families culture.

Oh an i had my own ears peirced a second time at the same time as DD. yes it stings like a kick up the betty but it doesnt last for long, it was done with a gun so both ears were over and done with at the exact same time.
i had no pain that night or any subsequent night and becasue i bought the far more expensive studs that were hypo allergenic or whatever they're called she didnt need them twisting every night. i just rubbed them with the solution i got at the time of the peircing.

she has had them for quite a while now. she is perfectly fine, isnt at all traumatised by it and doesnt have huge cauliflower ears.

yes it was hard watching them do it, i even chickened out and made my mum hold her. but then again i did when she has to have her guffry test, 3 month injections etc etc. but i know its best for the long run.

im sorry. who are you calling a sick fuck please misdee?

Im all up for a discussion on pericing but i think that sort of language is neither rleveant nor appropriate. i have not found it necessary to insult you. nor have i seen anyone else....so whats your problem?

i couldn't cause my child pain just for fashion. just couldn't. sorry.

do not touch or fiddle with them? i am struggling to stop dd3 from ripping her great big cut open. (she was glued back togetehr at the weekend), she'd be a nightmare with earring. in fact knowing how grabby babies are was one of the reasons i removed some of my piercings before she was born.

the sick fuck comment was in response to hunkers post.

thank you very much Caligula. precisley what i was trying to get out but my poorly educated (degree level) working class (social worker) typing wouldnt quite put it as elequently as you.

So ( im still in neutral mood) you compare the pain to a "kick up the betty" which im presuming is your foof

you dont mind your daughter having that albeit brief pain?

Oooh, tongue! I wish you would type how you are talking at the moment Misdee, I sounded like James Bond for 3 days, people kept getting me to say "miss moneypenny"!

Caligula,

what an interesting post. perhaps you don't think it's common when you see an Asian child with earrings because, as I said, the practice is widespread through all classes. In fact, my father is a pediatrician and actually recommends that piercings be done sooner rather than later, though he also only recommends doing them in a hospital. I expect he would be struck off the medical register here!

i sobbed my heart out at all of dd3 blood tests at the hospital, and told them to leave her alone at one point. juyst couldnt stick metal in her for her to look 'pretty' she is pretty already.

yesh ok, i will type how i ams talking right now.

its not that swollen really. will goback in a week to have the bar changed.

I am also bemused by all this talk of turning, and fiddling, and to be honest, terrible pain. My daughter wears hypoallergenic studs too ( barely visible) so they haven't needed any turning, and she hasn't ever fiddled with them. She didn't seem to be in any pain either, I have to say. Actually, she was laughing throughout the whole process, because she got a lollipop. I suspect there is a great deal of difference between getting it done in Claire's and getting it done with a gun by an expert.

dont claires use a gun?

I have to butt in here, it's not about culture or fashion, it's about inflicting unnecessary pain on children who have no choice. An extreme example I know, but would you feel the same about female circumcision? It's about the unnecssary risk of infection and getting your ears ripped apart during sport/play. Babies are born beautiful - leave them alone!

Your example is extreme indeed, Rachel. I wouldn't equate female circumcision with ear piercing. About the unnecessary risk of infection, yes, certainly there is a risk. I think I eliminated most of that risk though.

poppadom that's probably waht it is - when I see an Asian child with pierced ears, she is as likely to be the child of a lawyer and a doctor, as a supermarket assistant and a taxi-driver. But if I see a white child under about 10 with pierced ears, she is very unlikely to be a doctor's daughter and if she is, it's a great surprise. So I guess if all white lawyers started to get their daughter's ears pierced, the perception would very quickly change.

I expect my DD will want her ears pierced at some stage and I'll make her wait at least 2 years of nagging and begging and proving she's responsible enough to look after her wounds before I allow it. If she wants it done though, I'm not going to say no just because of my snobbery. I was so delighted to have it done that I really didn't care about the pain and was scrupulously careful about using the TCP. It's an early lesson in "Pour beaute on doit suffrir" but hey ho.

I wouldn't equate it with castration either, or not having a choice. I nagged for a good eighteen months and it was my birthday treat.

definately not, i dont think earrings are necessary until secondry school, and i will ask my DD first.

Atlast Caligula someone who has an opposing POV but able to voice it clearly and with respect.

i agree with your observations of the whole class aspect. i owuld like to point out that DD is the daugher of a social worker and (not sure if this is classed of blue coller or not) army officer.

my sister works as an insurance trader sort of thingy (ok ok im not overly sure what she does TBH) for Lehmen brothers(i know they are very famous adn highly influential,...and have a bloody huge chunk of central london to themselves) her daughter also had her ears peirced.

other neices have peircings with parents that are Primary school teacher, journelist, nurse and some run of the mill office exec's from various industries.
the thing is there may well be quite a few Dr's that have their children peirced but they dont alk around wit their stethoscope around their necks so people just assume that the child must clealry be the spawn of an Asda checkout girl.

we all judge and have pre conceived impressions of people as soon as we see them. i accept that and am totally at ease that there are many out their who do not share my POV on numerous aspects of my life.

And when they get them ripped out at school? What is the point? Seriously - gilding the lily, I think.