ear piercing

[Anonymous]

19:19, while you're singing your round of kum-by-a, may I ask you to please get off your "tolerance" high horse long enough to recognize that what OP was objecting to was the sight of a mother obviously putting her own "cultural" beauty preferences ahead of the fact that her 3 year old was SCREAMING through the procedure? That is what was termed "disgusting."

Not the actual ear piercing. Oh, no.

[Anonymous]

I don't get the cultural aspect of piercing a baby's ears either. you can just say, "NO", as opposed to inflicting pain on your child.

in my culture, male circumsion is the norm, a MUST, really. (i'm jewish). but i didn't circumsize my son. i couldn't see putting him through something painful just b/c my culture/religion dictated it. i'm his mom. my job is to shield him from unneccessary pain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a cultural thing, too, to slice off the clitoris of young girls in some parts of the world. Not equating this procedure to ear piercing in terms of long-range consequences, obviously.

But the "it's their culture" to permanently change the bodies of babies and young girls before they have sense enough to give consent doesn't hold water with me.

If it's so cultural ... ask them when they're older if that's indeed what they want.

I was thinking of this scenario when the screaming 3 yo had to be held down to get her ears pierced. You can't always hide behind the "cultural thing". There should be some age limits for ear piercing as it does get infected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you ever met an adult woman who regretted having her ears pierced as a young child or infant? I haven't.

Wow. Do you say the same thing about male circumcision? I know of no guy who complained in adulthood about that. Yet every three months or so, there's a long debate about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:19:19, while you're singing your round of kum-by-a, may I ask you to please get off your "tolerance" high horse long enough to recognize that what OP was objecting to was the sight of a mother obviously putting her own "cultural" beauty preferences ahead of the fact that her 3 year old was SCREAMING through the procedure? That is what was termed "disgusting."

Not the actual ear piercing. Oh, no.

Several follow-on posts are commenting on the ear piercing itself.

[Anonymous]

Not to get into too much of a tangent, but my DH was circumcised as an infant and he complains about it all the time. He really wishes his parents had not done that.

[Anonymous]

My dad did his residency in family practice in a public hospital in southern California. He said, given their patient base, they pierced the ears of every new baby girl, circumcised every new baby boy, and clipped every frenulum, all before the baby left the hospital. It totally routine, then and there.

(He wouldn't let me get MY ears pierced til I was 13, then he insisted on doing it himself. No trip to the mall with my friends, no siree.)

[Anonymous]

I think acceptance of ear peircing is cultural. I am african american and no one I know even second guessed whether they will get their daughter's ears peirced. Girls get them peirced and boys don't (you know unless they decide to later). Usually girls ears are peirced by their first birthday. Years ago your pedicatrician used to do them. That's who did mine and I am 30. I have boys, so I don't know if the mall locations are the only options these days. But my only objectios would be having an untrained teenager doing it and the hygenic nature of the procedure given it is a mall store. But if I had a daughter I would peirce them bfore her first birthday.

[Anonymous]

I think it's ludicrous to poke holes in a babies ears, even for cultural reasons! Let them decide later in life if they want holes in their ears!

[Anonymous]

Mother's who have their babies ears pierces is like saying, "check out my pretty baby!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mother's who have their babies ears pierces is like saying, "check out my pretty baby!"

15:09 here - you got it right exactly. Little girls wear earrings to look pretty and boys don't.

[Anonymous]

My little girl, 4, is the most beautiful child in the world, and was the most beautiful baby ever. She does NOT have her ears pierced. No one needs earrings to be pretty/beautiful. That is absurd.

(and yes, I am biased about my daughter's beauty, she takes my breathe away, and I wish all mothers felt the same way about their daughters.)

[Anonymous]

I think some families do it so everyone will know their girls are girls.

[Anonymous]

My sister puts gigantic-ass bows on her daughter's head so everyone knows she's a girl. Because, you know, it would be horrific if a complete stranger at Harris Teeter made a mistake and said something like 'aw, isn't he cute?' about her daughter.

I should tell my sister about ear piercing!! Would they do that at Harris Teeter, or just the super Wal-Marts?

[Anonymous]

Give me a BREAK! I never knew this was such a hotly debated item.

We got our DD's ears pierced at 11m at a reputable jewelry store in Alexnadria. I had mine pierced at a very young age and never regretted it. Our 2.5yo still wears the very tiny pearl earrings that we got them pierced with. If she really REGRETS them, she can take them out and let the holes close up. I didn't do it because I wanted everyone to think my child was beautiful, I did because I wanted to and think she will like them. I also didn't do it because it was a cultural thing. They did them so fast that DD didn't even cry between each ear and afterwards only cried for about 30 secs.

I can see how it might be harder on a child when they are older and that's why we did it so young.