Is piercing babies ears acceptable?

Remy said:
This was not unusual with Mexican American babies back in the 70's and 80's. I wouldn't have paid much attention to it prior. However, the children always appeared extremely cared for and loved.
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was common with Italian/Greek babies too - where I lived as a child there were large numbers of Italian/Greek immigrants and their girl babies had pierced ears.

Children with pierced ears was not a mainstream Australian thing then - that came with later generations.

Lots of girls had pierced ears by the time my daughter was a child - from memory she was 8 when we did it.
Grand daughter just had it done recently - she is 7.
 

I have no strong feelings about it. We have a Hispanic heritage in Texas where I grew up and most of the Mexican babies had pierced ears. A neighbor pierced mine when I was in high school and it made my dad so mad I had to let the holes grow together. The second time I had it done the same neighbor did it.
 

Pinky said:
It seems that it is "custom" for some nationalities, to pierce babies ears.
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Yes, it is. It is also the custom for some to give the baby golden earrings.

I remember an incident many years ago when a 5 year old in my mother's street was mugged at school by some older children who stole her gold earrings.

I had always considered it a worry that the earrings might get snagged on something and rip the ear on the way out but I had never considered that, like the original NIKE sneakers, the earrings might be taken from a child's ears by an opportunist.
 
I remember when I was 10, I had broken my middle finger, and my mother took me to the emergency room at the local hospital. I was very upset with the pain in my hand until I saw a young girl, about the same age as me laying on the table in the next cubicle. She was crying so loud and then I noticed her left eat, which was bleeding very badly. The nurse told me someone had pulled the ring out of her ear, and they had to stitch it up. That put me off from having pierced ears ever.

Also, when my mother was a young baby the "Ayah" a servant woman in India, (My grandfather was stationed there with the British Forces), took my mother for a walk to the marketplace. When she got home my grandmother was shocked to see Mother had her ears pierced and had strings in each ear???? She said they could be removed and have earrings put in their places. Poor old Granny immediately took them out and reprimanded the Ayah.
 
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Muskrat said:
Well…what about circumcision ?
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That is exactly what I was going to mention. The expression on my baby son's face after the procedure was of having suffered a horrible agony. I would say that it should be done only in the case of Phimosis, or inability to retract the foreskin to make proper hygiene possible. Something I suffered from until age 19 and which inflicted pain when tried to have sex.

 
My husband had to have it done when he was 20 because of infections. He said we should have both babies done when they were born. I must say when they were born the nurses bought them to me to be put straight on the boob and they were very contented, no sign of stress.
 
oscash said:
remember when I was 10, I had broken my middle finger, and my mother took me to the emergency room at the local hospital. I was very upset with the pain in my hand until I saw a young girl, about the same age as me laying on the table in the next cubicle. She was crying so loud and then I noticed her left eat, which was bleeding very badly. The nurse told me someone had pulled the ring out of her ear, and they had to stitch it up. That put me off from having pierced ears ever.
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Studs are certainly safer than sleepers or hoop earnings for children - or adults doing sports.

Of course one can wear different earnings at different times
 
oscash said:
My husband had to have it done when he was 20 because of infections. He said we should have both babies done when they were born. I must say when they were born the nurses bought them to me to be put straight on the boob and they were very contented, no sign of stress.
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My cousin Billy decided he wanted to be circumcised because he had heard that it would enhance his member. That almost led to castration when the doctor botched up the procedure and his member was slowly dying from lack of circulation. Nobody at the hospital wanted the responsibility of dealing with the problem, and his doctor had gone on vacation. My cousin's father threatened the doctor with death if castration had to be performed, and the doctor barely managed to avoid having to do it. However, my cousin was never the same again.
 
Since the child can't possibly know what's going on, it's clearly not something done for them. Piercing a babies ears is all about the parents (and most likely mother, I'd imagine). Quite why you'd do this to a baby is beyond me.
 
DebraMae said:
I have no strong feelings about it. We have a Hispanic heritage in Texas where I grew up and most of the Mexican babies had pierced ears. A neighbor pierced mine when I was in high school and it made my dad so mad I had to let the holes grow together. The second time I had it done the same neighbor did it.
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Understandable since parental permission was needed and should have been sought.
 
oscash said:
I remember when I was 10, I had broken my middle finger, and my mother took me to the emergency room at the local hospital. I was very upset with the pain in my hand until I saw a young girl, about the same age as me laying on the table in the next cubicle. She was crying so loud and then I noticed her left eat, which was bleeding very badly. The nurse told me someone had pulled the ring out of her ear, and they had to stitch it up. That put me off from having pierced ears ever.

Also, when my mother was a young baby the "Ayah" a servant woman in India, (My grandfather was stationed there with the British Forces), took my mother for a walk to the marketplace. When she got home my grandmother was shocked to see Mother had her ears pierced and had strings in each ear???? She said they could be removed and have earrings put in their places. Poor old Granny immediately took them out and reprimanded the Ayah.
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I was about to ask you what is an "eat" but then after reading the context, I finally realized it had been a typo. :LOL:
 
My mother envied women with pierced ears and at at the age of approx. 48 decided to do it. Went to this hairdresser who did them. She quaffed few beers in order to summon up the courage. Unfortunately, the pain and discomfort never went away in her case and she had to allow the punctures to heal shut.
 
Muskrat said:
Well…what about circumcision ?
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Outside of religious practices, circumcision used to be done with the goal of increased hygiene. As I recall that notion was abandoned, and so spares the many male infants an excruciatingly painful "welcome" at the beginning of life. Some thing with tonsillectomies, I had my tonsils removed at around age 5, but they were not infected or causing problems.
 
Nathan said:
Outside of religious practices, circumcision used to be done with the goal of increased hygiene. As I recall that notion was abandoned, and so spares the many male infants an excruciatingly painful "welcome" at the beginning of life. Some thing with tonsillectomies, I had my tonsils removed at around age 5, but they were not infected or causing problems.
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Yes, it was done under he guise of "hygiene", which is completely specious. 80% of American men are circumcised. That is approved ******* mutilation. One wonders why a God fearing nation would support this apparent mistake from the creator. We were supposedly created in his image, excepting a foreskin.
 
VaughanJB said:
Yeah, it's like crocodiles aren't a thing.

Still, for this thread it's off-topic.
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Not off topic at all. Simply a contrast between two cultural customs to put ear-piercing into a better perspective.
However, if indeed you still personally find my comments off-topic, or offensive in any way, despite my explanation, perhaps because you wear a lip plate, or someone in your family does, then please feel free to either report me to administration or to put me on ignore.
 

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