Health & Safety Gone Mad - Ear-rings related

[michglas]

DD2 (10.5) has been deciding for the past few months whether she wants her ears pierced and we told her to have a good long think about it. We didn't think there was any pressure to get it done over the summer holidays as in previous years girls have covered their ears in plasters for PE.

Gone back to school 2 weeks ago and girls with newly pierced ears are being told to remove them for PE in line with Council policy. I rang the school today and they confirmed and said there would be a letter going out about this later this week, asking parents to refrain until summer holidays. They said if i chose to remove her from PE, there was nothing they could do about it but they wouldn't be happy. I rang the Council today to confirm and they said it has been policy for 10 years and obviously the school haven't been conforming. They also said that they had emailed the schools before the end of summer term asking them to let parents know that any ear piercings should be done in the summer holidays.

Given that i made DD2 have a good long think about it, I am not about to tell her that she has to wait another year. If the school had put the newsletter out like they were supposed to then we would have got them done in the summer. So I damn well letting her get them done this weekend and i will remove her from PE in the interim - getting them done with needle opposed to gun, so they should heal quicker.

Am I unreasonable?

I don't think that they ought to be able to withdraw from PE-at least not for trivial reasons.

And it's not this thread that has led me to this conclusion. The amount of people that post on here for support and get jumped on and preached at is ludicrous. I feel sad that people don't get the support they need on here, and probably go to bed feeling even shittier and more alone than before.

You didn't ask for "support" you asked if you were being unreasonable - you clearly are.

Oh and you really believe that missing 30 mins of organised PE a week is going to harm her. Get over yourselves. I tell you what to make up for her missing 30 mins of PE I will personally play with her for 90mins on the kinnect.

Im going to take my child to the tattoo shop that me and DH got our last tattoos done and get her ears pierced as she has wanted, she has made up her mind that she wants them done. then im going to keep her off PE for the 4-6 weeks it takes to heal.

cold beer in had waiting for the flames and trolls

Speaks for itself really. That's not asking for support - that's incitement.

Personally insulting feenie is unacceptable op...You didn't get the response you were looking for and that has made you angry. You wanted to find others to justify your position and you found no one did........but that does not entitle you to be so personally rude.

If people are going to post they ought to read quite a lot of AIBU first.
It is not support thread.
People make the huge mistake of believing themselves right and want agreement. They ask the question and quite often people say YABU(sometimes nearly everyone). They should think of the possibility before they ask the question-it isn't rhetorical-people will respond with the truth as they see it.
There is no point in getting cross-don't ask if you don't want the truth.

Sorry-it was primary education

However-you still have to expect disagreement. I don't want parents at my DC's schools fighting about trivial issues.

bloody hell OP you sound delightful what a load of horseshit from the OP , Feenie talks a lot of sense wheras OP you ummm....don't

Oh and OP don't call other posters twats and then go for the sympathy vote

michglas Sun 04-Sep-11 12:57:03

whatever Feenie
Good grief ! You sound like a surly teenager who hasn't got her own way no wonder you are worried about telling your daughter she will have to wait to get her ears pierced if that's her role model.

Aw diddums. What support was it that you were looking for exactly?

A child should not need to wear earings at school - have seen what happens when a child's ear lobe is torn apart because of an accident in school - NOT PRETTY!!

I can't believe I'm reading all this in this day and age. People have been having their ears pierced for thousands of years. The likelihood of causing damage to one's earlobes is far greater if you are made to continually take your studs out for PE than if you were to leave them in. Every time you take them out and put them back in, you risk infecting your ears. Whoever came up with that policy obviusly never consulted any doctors on the matter! The rest of you who are ranting on about kids becoming fat through lack of exercise in pE, well you really need to open your eyes to the fact that 20 minutes of jumping around a hall once a week is not going to prevent your child from obesity. School policy should either be to leave studs in (and cover with tape) or else to ban piercing...the British can be the freaks of Europe, once again!

Are you MichGlas's sockpuppet ButteryMoon?

Frankly they should raise the age at which piercings are allowed to 18. End of problem. A child, ie anyone under 18, is not mature enough to make a decision to stick holes in their body, and run the risk of infection/damage to earlobes etc.

The rest of you who are ranting on about kids becoming fat through lack of exercise in pE, well you really need to open your eyes to the fact that 20 minutes of jumping around a hall once a week is not going to prevent your child from obesity.

Children do 2 hours a week in most schools, Butterymoon.

I agree it's normal policy in schools, was the same when I was in primary school myself and that was many years ago! Don't see why she can't wait another year, and if you feel unable to say 'no' (or even 'wait') to your child then that's a problem in itself!

I don't think missing PE is going to 'harm' her or automatically make her obese, but it's silly for her to have to miss out on normal school activities for such a reason.

Personally since she hasnt already got her ears pierced i'd just wait until next summer.

If you really dont feel you can wait consider asking school about retainers like these - www.bodyjewelleryshop.com/online_store/piercing_retainers_434.cfm?gclid=CLbyzaHmqasCFYUJtAodQRFH3Q (the ones with no ball) they are practically impossible to catch on anything and are also next to invisible.

Plese can you tell me more about these retainers loobylu? I've never seen them before. Are they like pierced earrings but plastic? They sound a great idea if they are.

Amazed by your ethnocentric comments in 2011...

My first

@Feenie, whether it's 20 mins or 2 hours my point is that it's minimal. My daughter does about 5 hours of physical exercise a week as a bare minimum. This is done through swimming, cycling, ballet and football. This does not count walking to school, playing at playtime or general playing. I do not believe that her earrings are a significant health and safety issue when she is doing any of these issues. A significant health issue is the potential infections risks associated with the taking out and putting in of her earrings for PE. Bottom line is, either schools totally ban ear piercing or else they allow parents to choose whether they want their kids to take the earring out or not.

Butterymoon have you consulted a doctor about infection? If you had you would know that they don't recommend leaving studs in for long periods of time and suggest regularly sterilizing earrings to prevent infection

And my point was that PE at schools is not 20 minutes per week.