I work right next door (at a mall) to a place that sells jewelry and peirces ears. Their only requirement is the baby has to be 6 months old. I'm sorry, but when we have babies, aren't we supposed to PROTECT them from hurt and pain if at all possible? Most parents would rather take a bullet than inflict pain on their little baby. (I'm not talking about needles for immunizations here either).
I hear tiny infants screaming so hard, they loose their breath. 'Oh, it only hurts for a minute" the parents say, 'they won't remember it". "Oh, how cute". SO WHAT!! Why would you deliberatly cause your baby to have avoidably pain, even for one minute, just for 'vanity' sake??? What the heck does an infant need jewelry for anyways??
I'm not talking about doing for 'religous' or 'ethnic' reasons either, (i'm not even gonna go there). This one of the countries where wierd things are done to alter it's citizens.
I'm talking about mostly young parents, who think it would be 'cool' to have their baby get a peircing.
Children aren't play things to dress up and put jewelry on. I have several ear piercings, and let me tell you, for months, i couldn't even sleep on my side because the back of the earring jabbed into my head, and it was sore for a long time. I have even see parents hold down a toddlers arms, just to get the piercing done. I have called DCF (dept of children and families) but the person I spoke to was nOT on the side of children. You would be put in jail if you stuck a pin into your child anywhere other than the ear, but because it's 'ornamental adornment' it's OK?? I will never be convinced it's a loving thing to do to your child. i think the age should be over 5 or so, when the child has a little more understanding of the process. It's not gonna hurt any more or less if you wait.
I know I'll get some low ratings and bad comments from people who HAVE done this to their babies. Some of you why dissagree may disconnect . I don't care. It's not the first time, it probably won't be the last. my heart just breaks each time I hear another one crying it's eyes out.
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Comments: 67
But I am afraid as long as they have no respect for the life of the unborn, they will have no respect to a baby's rights to 'life,....liberty....and the Pursuit of Happiness....cause they aren't doing for the child, they are wanting to show off and have others say ..'how cute.'
Sometimes we should just shake our head and leave stuff alone.
Who really cares?
We should worry about real problems
In Italy, girl babies have their ears pierced soon after birth - before they go home. It's the thing to do and everybody does it...
I do not agree with circumcision for tiny boys either- but it is routinely done in many clinics...
So I guess this is a case of freedom of choice for the parents...
I guess I could debate this without any real personal feelings either way.... or commitment...sorta a grey area....
IF I agreed..then I would have to bring up my opinion on having to hold my child down to get a shot...that always made him sick...
If I disagreed...then I would feel helplessly responsible if I heard a story of a parent doing it with a safty pin at home....
so doing such things....within an enviroment of social saftey( IE...people just like you keeping an eye out) keeps it on the fence for me....
If reading some of the disclaimers out there people ahve to sign when getting such things done doesnt deter folks....not much would....lol I am one of those who actually argued signing the disclaimer..when I had to take my son in for shots....
so I feel you passion....
It reminds me of when I was little and our pet dogs would have puppies. My Dad always docked their tails with a big knife when they just a few days old and they would yelp and cry. It broke my heart and I begged my Dad not to do it every time.
Dad (who doesn't have a mean bone in his body) claimed it didn't hurt them, and they wouldn't remember it at all in a few days...... yeah, right...... let's just say, I'm never doing it to any of my puppies and I wouldn't get my baby's ears pierced either (if I had one).
A lot of things are done....for various 'reasons'...but that doesn't make them right just because a lot of people do it.
And some nurses seem to get pleasure out of giving little babies their shots.....they smile and grab the baby roughly and then jab the needle in.....grown ups are in a lot of ways, cruel...I say if it's not necessary to inflict pain, then it shouldn't be inflicted
I totally agree with you. I am 26, and I still don't have my ears pierced!!! I don't wear high-heels or makeup either.
Why should I put holes in my body, pinch my feet, and clog my pours, just for the sake of vanity? I only wear clothes because I live in a cool climate, otherwise, I'd probably move to a nudist colony.
You hit the nail right on the head, with this one.
I was putting it in the context of all Robyn said, not just the fact that is is done.
You brought up another good point. It's not just ear piercing, and the people who do things for pleasure or money are sick!!!
Where in the bible? I'd like to look that verse up!
Please don't get me started on ownership! I could go on all day. When my husband and I got married, I insisted on matching wedding rings, samd width, etc. to show equality, and that we'd both have one. I see single ring couples, and wonder. (we both work in computers, so it's not dangerous for us to wear rings).
A ring comfortably fit on our fingers doesn't cause either of us any pain, but holes in our bodies? Not a chance!! We discussed ear piercing once, and we both agreed with my initial comment above, and with what Robyn said.
Question.
I read above that it's done in Italy before the little girl even leaves the hospital. Do the parents have the choice NOT to have it done, if they want?
Also in Deut 15:16-17 and in this one it mentions the slave girl too.
Even then..as slaves they had a choice and were old enough to make a choice based on love and knew they would have their ears pierced. A baby has no choice in the matter, no say....
Thanks, Leah, for asking.
Ok, so Katrina, if you had blocked bowel and had to have an enema, would you enjoy that? But you would have it anyway, right? So does that mean that it would be OK for someone to give you an enema just for the heck of it, when you didn't need one, and say, "Well you'd have it if you had an obstructed colon, so it's ok for me to give you this one for fun!"?
I've had Novocaine injected into my mandibular joint, which was very painful and numbed half my face, to have my teeth worked on, because I needed it. I let someone put me to sleep and cut open my torso with a knife when I needed surgery. And yes, I've even had painful vaccinations. But if someone wanted to do ANY of those things to me -- ANY OF THEM -- without my consent and for non-medical reasons, they would be guilty of assault, and I would be legally justified in using force against them (even lethal force) to protect myself.
So is the only reason it's not OK to hurt me for fun because I'm an adult?
But as it goes today, I haven't worn earrings since 92 and the wholes are closed never to open again unless I go get them pierced again and I won't do that.
Mom didn't like that I had it done when I was 15 but I did it myself. It was a done deal and she couldn't stop me from wearing earrings after that. But it was my choice. And for what? So 39 yrs later the whole would all be closed and I would never put another earring in my ear again??? And I still have all of them. What a waste of money! LOL
Poor babies.
I don't know how you could possibly misunderstand what I was saying. I'll try once more to enlighten you so there is no mistake in what I was saying. The fact that women are allowed to murder their unborn, even to have failed abortions in some instances have been carried out with a baby lying in a bowl until it dies from lack of care and love and anything that would be given to a dying dog in order to relieve it's suffering, affects the way society in general views children and their care, their feelings, their needs, their emotions, their entire lives as children. If people are willing to murder the unborn, women are more than willing to have their unborn killed in the worst possible ways and feeling the worst pain imaginable, then society as a whole will not view the born child as worth as much as an adult.
Allow me to hold you down while a big bruiser does painful things to you and see what lawsuits would come my way. Not only that, but so would formal charges. But, the child is not even allowing it. The children are being forced to endure all kinds of pain and agony just because women have been granted the freedom to murder their own offspring.
Don't put words in my mouth or meaning or feelings in my writing that are not there. If you read some of my articles, and some of my responses to those who advocate the murder and or mistreatment of children, you would have no doubt where I stand on the law sanctioned murder of the unborn.
Reasons I did it:
She wanted them. I told her it would hurt. I don't remember much from when I was two but I do remember that I was young enough that I wouldn't mess with the earrings once they were in and had them long enough that it was habit to always take good care of my ears. When I got them done again when I was older I was able to get right back into the habit of caring for them properly, which I knew I wouldn't have done if I hadn't done it before. I also know that I was the type of child that didn't care how much something hurt if the end result made me happy. My ears became infected soon after they were done because I was allergic to the cheap metal. Once my ears healed I insisted on having them done again. My daughter is similar to me in that way.
She really loves having them. I will allow her to get them done more, within reason as she grows up if she continues to take good care of the ones she has. As for other piercings or tatoos- it will be decided on when the time comes.
I think it is something that is different for each person and family. People in my family have always done it- it's like a tradition. I don't think there is a girl in my family without holes. There are worse traditions...like the one that i was forced to go through when I gave birth to my sons.
I think every family handles it differently. I do see your point though Robyn - at 6 months old it is being done for the parents vanity.
I CAN imagine that if you said to a two-year-old little girl, "Do you want to get your ears pierced so you can be like mommy?" she would say, "yeah." But that's a far cry from a child wanting her ears pierced, and willingly undergoing pain in order to accomplish it. That's just responding to the perceived desires of the parent, while not really having any concept of what those desires are or what will be entailed. Sorry, but what you claim happened just doesn't make sense.
I didn't get my girls ears done. Only out of respect for my husbands wishes. Otherwise hers would be pierced. She is eight and has wanted hers done for a long time now.
I think this is one of those issues that people need to agree to disagree.
A hypothetical scenerio for you:
An afternoon at the neighborhood park.... Two 3 yr olds on the swings.....one child falls off a swing, scraping a knee...a little bit of blood, nothing major, but the kid is screaming like a banshee and doesn't stop even after the booboo has been checked and tended to. They end up leaving the park with the child still wailing. Another kid, same sort of swing accident, same amount of blood, but this kid just goes to Mom or Dad or whoever to get it wiped off and then continues playing...
The point being, not all kids are going to be really hurt by an ear piercing, if it's done correctly. Some are only going to be startled by the clicking of the piercing pliers, and will scream bloodly murder because of that. Some won't even flinch at the sound, much less cry in pain.
And that's just what happened when I was present when a 6 month old baby girl had her ears pierced. Nothing at all. Nada. Zip. Zilch, No Reaction whatsoever. In fact, the little cutie slept through the whole thing! :o)
I know.....I know.... I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it, either.
But that's the way it really happened.
She never cried when she got her immunizations, either. (it amazed the doctors and nurses, lemme tell you! *lol*)
That was 22 yrs ago....and the baby is a Registered Nurse now. :o)
I just called the aforementioned RN and asked her how she felt about having had her ears pierced when she was a baby.
She said she couldn't remember the event, of course, but that she does remember all the way back to when she was about 4, and was always so happy and proud when people noticed her "pretty little earrings" and that when she started school at 5, and was one of the few girls who had pierced ears, it made her feel special. :o)
Oh, and I just remembered that I had a friend when I was about 10 who's mother had gotten her her newborn daughter's ears pierced in the hospital before bring her home. Talk about getting it done "professionally"! *lol*
It has been decided by some in authority that the pain of the needle for a convicted murderer is too much pain and therefore, it is cruel and unusual punishment. This is a debate going on in courts across this country.
And yet, some people still find it acceptable to put a hole into the ear of a tiny child so they can see it wear earrings before the baby is old enough to talk and be able to say. "That hurts." As Spock would say to Kirk, "That's not logical, Captain."
And I say, it's not only not logical, it's wrong.
So to sum it all up, because children can have varying pain thresholds, piercing a baby's ears doesn't hurt, whether the baby screams in pain or not...
And the story about the baby sleeping through the procedure, and then as a small child feeling so special because of having it..... I'm going to be polite, and not say what impression I get of that story.
I'll just say, some people have 'agendas.'
The longer you leave piercing holes in, the harder it is for them to grow closed. By the time the kid is a teenager and has an idea of what they want, the holes probably won't close anyway. At least not without noticeable scarring.