Sally Redux

Certainly puts the ear piercing in perspective.

Both horrible.

linz3112

My niece had her ear pierced before she was one!! I felt so sorry for her and it just made her look silly as the earrings were too big for the size of her ears!

Saying that her Mum used to drape her in gold necklaces too - Like a little version of her mother!

She is 8 now and doesn't wear or want to wear earrings!!! She also doesn't wear the horrible necklaces now so at least she hasn't got her mother's sense of style!

Lorna at Vicenza

You have mentioned it. Doesn't mean that we have to or want to discuss it.

Personally - I wouldn't and didn't have my daughter's ears pierced when tiny.

Alan2005

child abuse dressed up as tradition by religious mentalists.

SAW 04

Somewhat Pikey

Clematis

Personally I don't like it...

The4BellsLondon

I wouldnt do it, but having spent time in Spain, it's very common there. Tradition is that the mum finds out the sex of her baby during pregnancy, then if it is a girl, the maternal grandmother buys the first set of ear rings and the baby's ears are done in hospital . . . .

jimf

Thats the word I thought of also when I read this thread. I'm amazed its legal to inflict this sort of pain and mutilation on children.

Almost Canadian

This thread demonstrates the level of hyperbole on this site.

How can ear piercing be mutilation? It was my understanding that, if one doesn`t use the holes, the body covers them up. Mutilation suggests something rather more.

I appreciate that there may be objections to the pain involved. Each to their own isn`t it? A bit like criticizing those that have "vegetarian" children that are quite clearly too young to appreciate the pros and cons of being a veggie.

Tangram

Agreed. A little strong I think. We didn't let our daughter due to it looking cheap and reports from my mother (a retired dinner time school assistant ) of the number of them ripped out accidently at play time.

iaink

My kids would probably go for it just in order to demand band aids to stick on the wound


As for male circumcision, it appears the religous mentalists were onto something with regard to the health benefits after all. In fact, it seems to me that most, if not all of the seemingly bizaree religion based mandates can be traced back to some sort of logical reason long since lost in the mists of time or rendered irrelevent by other changes in society. Its just become part of the dogma of those societies, but then I guess religion will always seem illogical to those faithless heretics out there, but if the religous mentalists are right there will be hell to pay come judgment day Or not...

Almost Canadian

Trouble is: I suspect that there have already been 144,000 more worthy people than I am die. That`s all the room that is available (if the book that sets out the "rules" is to be believed) so there is no point in continuing to play by those rules

ireland2canada

Piercing a kid's ears is just nasty, it looks stupid and there is a high possibility of the ears being harmed when the earings are inevitably torn out. On top of that, you are physically changing the appearance of the child before it is able to understand what is happening or able to decide for itself. What is next, dying a toddler's hair? Tattoos for 8 year olds?

That said, I'm not sure about some of the comments about inflicting pain. I have multiple piercings, it doesn't hurt that much.

dbd33

Ahem. We don't chop ears off because, if left unwashed for years, they might go manky. There's no excuse for chopping bits off one's children, punching holes in them, binding their feet or otherwise fashionably distorting their bodies.

Alan2005

Actually I agree. Toddlers can get uppity at times, so you may as well give them a black eye. It heals up just fine so it's hardly a problem - and really it is no different from feeding them veggie sausages.