First off, this is not a rant. I do have some strong feelings on the subject, but I cannot hope to meet rant expectations, so I’m just throwing this out there.
What do you think about parents getting their infants ears pierced? I think it is a rediculous idea and their should be a minimum age to get ears pierced at most respectable establishments. Until the child is old enough to take care of their own piercings and choose their own ear rings, they shouldn’t have pierced ears. All I can see is that some people are so vain that they must turn their child into a fashion statement. Ok, what is everyone’s take on this? Am I wrong? Is there some noble reason for doing this?
I agree. I think it’s foolish. That is a child, not your pet poodle, not a fashion accessory. This is a person who may not appreciate the fact that you had extra holes punched in their body before they could even SPEAK to ask you not to.
I can’t even think of anything to compare this to, in western society anyways. (besides maybe circumcision, but that’s a largely hyperbolic path to walk down.) It doesn’t have many medical complications, provided you keep the piercing site clean, but it’s just not necessary and provides no useful function.
In India infant’s ears are often pierced at an early age-usually during the naming ceremony. It is a religious and cultural thing. Also infections are rare b/c people tend to take insanely good care of their kids. Due to some circumstances I don’t want to go into…I was named at about the age of seven months in my ancestral temple in Goa…which is when my ears were pierced. My sister got her ears pierced at the age of three b/c basically my dad was just waiting around for my mom to pop her out and recover before he moved us all to Quebec…so they named her and moved and didn’t get around to piercing her ears until three years later. But yeah, in many foreign countries it is a cultural thing. It’s not just a girl thing either-my father has both his ears pierced…although boys stop wearing them by the time they’re ten usually.
I didn’t get my ears pierced until I was 5 years old and getting ready to start kindergarten and I could only wear posts until I was in junior high. My daughter is only 4 but she likes to look at my earrings and is always asking me if I’ll take her to get her ears pierced so I told her I would let her get them pierced before she starts kindergarten. I can understand it if it’s a cultural thing but I really don’t like to see little babies with earrings because I think it looks ridiculous.
I don’t have kids, so maybe I’m completely off here, but is baby jewelry constructed to me more secure than the grown-up stuff? Every time I see a tiny child with earrings, I wonder if they can somehow get them off when Mom & Dad are distracted, and maybe swallow them. That would worry me a lot.
I got my ears pierced for the first time when I was 9; I don’t clearly remember asking for it but I was really excited about it. Didn’t get the rest of the piercings done (I have three in each lobe and two in the cartilege of my right ear) until college and beyond.
I think it’s silly. But for even more silliness I remember the story of a woman in northern Illinois or Southern Wisconsin or something (most likely a packer fan :D) who was cited by the ASPCA for piercing her PET DEER’S ears.
Yes, they do make earrings with locking backs, for that very purpose. Other than plain gold or diamond studs, though, and you might have to have them custom-made. No cheap/costume earrings come with the locking backs (I think).
As for the OP, unless it’s a cultural thing, I think it’s a bad idea. I think the child should be old enough to ask for it, and to take care of them.
Kinsey (3 earrings in one ear, 2 in the other, daughters 12 & 13, got their ears pierced when they were 11 & 12, oh, and my cats are declawed, too. )
ahhhhhh…always nice to know my culture is silly. i’ll partially agree with that but not really on this one. we injuns look damn skippy cute. they also put kohl on our cheeks and forehead. i should post some pictures but i wouldn’t want to offend das delicate sensibilities.
Body modification is a personal choice, to be made when a person is old enough to understand the long-term ramifications – or at least old enough to understand what’s being done to them (I was six when I demanded that my ears be pierced). This could turn into a serious rant, so I’m going to force myself to stop here, but there you have MHO.
My child’s ears won’t get pierced until he’s old enough to take care of them himself–cleaning, keeping track of his earrings, etc. Probably 12 or so. I dislike seeing babies or young kids with earrings. But if other parents want to have their kid’s ears done, I’m over it. It’s not mutilation, it’s not cruelty, it’s not an indefensible crime against all that is good and pure.
I certainly meant no offense. Sorry if I sounded that way.
Yes, I know in Indian culture, babies ears are pierced.
That’s different.
What I meant was here in America, white baby girls (who more often then not are named Madison or McKenna or some other uber-yuppy name) getting their ears pierced for no other reason that the mom likes it…that I think is not a good idea.
What’s the difference, in your eyes? Aren’t a baby’s ears getting pierced either way? FWIW, my ears were pierced when I was three months old, when my parents took me to India for my aunt’s wedding. But wait! If it was in INDIA, then it wasn’t at a “reputable faciliity!” Furthermore, according to my brother who was 7 at the time (now 26), I didn’t like it! Obviously, my parents are nothing more than uber-yuppies for whom I was nothing but a poodle, who had the temerity to raise me in such a barbaric culture that they had my EARS PIERCED. Good to know that dowry deaths, female circumcision, and honor killings don’t take precedence over minor add-ons.
Had my ears pierced when I was a baby, in my pediatrician’s office. Wore those gold/diamond studs, and later earrings that locked behind the ears (like Kinsey said). No infections, no problems.
I guess it is up to the parents to decide if and when will they get their children’s ears pierced. I will probably pierce my daughter’s ears(if I ever have a daughter), and I think similar to andros in this issue.
Whoa. Overreact much? Guess this somehow struck a nerve.
The ‘poodle’ comment that I made was to the effect that some people do it purely for aesthetic reasons. Not cultural. Would you give your baby a tattoo if you thought it looked good? Probably not, it’d hurt far too much. So there’s no comparing between ear-piercing and tattooing. Maybe dying the baby’s hair. Would you consider that frivolous and somewhat ridiculous? I would.
There is also NO comparison between ear piercing and genital mutilation of ANY type. But I don’t know where you got the idea that “dowry deaths, female circumcision, and honor killings” are less offensive than piercing an infant’s ears. They’re not even in the same class. That’s a whole other game, something like ‘crimes against humanity’ if you know what I mean.
leave me out of the ensuing flame war on this one. IMO ear piercing on babies is cute whether it be on lil white babies or lil brown babies. It’s an acceptable form of adornment where I come from so it doesn’t bother me. Yes it causes momentary pain but I’ve never heard of it causing loss of life or lasting mental problems etc. But yeah, I don’t see the difference either-how do you know that it’s not a cultural thing here in America now?
Female circumcision is practiced in India? Since when? I wasn’t aware of this-certainly not a big issue where I come from in India.
)