pierced ears.

[insurance]

why do parents of young babies have there childs ears

pierced.I read it is against the law untill the child is old

enough to ask for them to be done themselves.it really

gets to me.(I fell slightly better now I have got that off my

chest)

[Le Chat]

I quite understand how you feel! As a former Beauty Salon owner and 'ear piercer,' I refused to pierce the ears of any child who wasn't old enough to ask me to do it. Piercing the ears of a baby is not against the law ,although I think it should be. I think it looks really common and is one step away from a 'baby tattoo' - perish the thought!!

[jills]

I agree with you both, it's just such a chav thing to do. Apart from that, how easy would it be for a baby to catch the earring on something, a sleeve, a toy, a teddy, ripping it's ear etc?

[tracymort]

eeew yeah i can't stand it! Apart from the chav aspect shows a total lack of respect for their child imo.
Unfortunately respecting children is a rare thing these days, just look a the disgusting programme bbc 3 are making with Gina Ford (i won't even start on whats wrong with her) but it's a big brother style programme. Thats not fair on children.

[Greedyfly]

I had mine done at six weeks old!  - it doesnt bother me now, still have them and many more piercings. Im not sure I would do my children though.

[Greedyfly]

Bearing in mind im 21 now, I can not stand the word chav - that winds me up. The only thing that is 'Chav' is the damn awful word!

[woofgang]

I beleve that there used to be a superstition that ear piecing protected a child's eyes?

[jills]

I used Chav as it's preferred nomenclature these days but in Scotland the more common (in every sense of the word)  term is Ned.  Peircing a small childs ear is neddish in the extreme (better Greedyfly;-) ??)

[Flanker8]

In my area it is pikey (no racial overtones before somebody boringly points out that pikey is a word used for Irish travellers blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda) as opposed to chav, and yes it is as pikey as wearing a baseball cap with a hoodie. And trouble is, it is pikey see pikey do, so when the child who has had her ears pierced then has her first child (usually at 12), another pikey will be welcomed into the fold of garish cheap gold hoop earings.

[FP]

I used to work in a primary school and have seen a child's ear lobe ripped open by her earring during an innocent playground game.  Not only do I think they look 'common',  they are downright dangerous on young children.  Children should be left unadorned - they are naturally beautiful.  Please don't turn them into 'mini adults'.

[insurance]

thank you all for your replys.I am glad there is some 

sensible people out there.

[Solarjunkie]

Out of curiosity, I once asked a mother why she had her baby's ears pierced - her answer was that it was "so she had the choice when she grows up"!!

Funny that, with my unpierced ears, I feel that is exactly the choice that I have!

She also went on to say that her baby had her ears pierced at 8 weeks, and they healed very quickly with no problems, whereas her four year old daughter's had all kinds of problems as she wouldn't leave them alone. So I suppose she had some kind of point.

[jills]

yes, whereas I'm sure if she'd left the poor kids alone, and let them get their ears pierced when they were old enough to make a chocie, they would have healed just perfectly.  Her reply just shows the stupidity (and chavishness) of these people.  If you did that to a dog, the RSPCA would be on your back for cruelty.

[Dom Tuk]

I believe that the reason that it is better to do it when the child is very young and will recover more quickly from the pain and trauma. In the asian subcontinent wearing of ear rings is in the culture and hence parents prefer the piercings at a very young age (few months old). I think the same goes for circumcision. Young boys will recover much quicker from this extreme trauma than if it was done at a later stage. However i cannot see it becoming unlawful.

[tracymort]

Actually young boys don't recover frm the trauma of circumcision. considering it's performed when the young mind is developing at a tremendous rate. a lasting impression will be made. Trauma and stress (including leaving babies to cry it out grrrrr) can cause many mental health problems later on. Trouble is people tend to lack foresight and don't realise how you treat a baby can affect the rest of it's life.

[nrmatth]

I also don't agree with this practice.  Kids have so many things they believe in when they're groing up, how do I know my daughter won't decide that a piercing is a type of self mutilation.  I don't feel that way, but I try to look at the many possibilities.  I don't want to make any choices for her like that until she understands herself enough to know how she feels about it, and she can make the choice.  Besides, I'd much rather she beg me to have her ears pierced when she's older than ask me for permission to pierce something else since her ears were done before she could really appreciate them.

[Sonyaone]

I am a mother of a 16 month old girl and I've wanted to pierce her ears for the longest time, but never have. I work in a pediatrics office. I feel there is nothing wrong babies having their ears pierced. I work with seven different provideres and not one has said anything on theirs ears being pierceredat a young age. I feel, that if doctors remove foreskin off of a newborn boy's penis than we as mothers can pierce are daughters ears. it dosen't affect them as far health wise, if the site is keep clean than I feel that their is nothing wrong. It also could be a cultural thing aswell. :)