Abuse or Adornment?

[Ownedfyre (mm1)]

ok. I had my daughter's ears pierced when she was four months old. She cried for a minute then fell asleep. Never had a problem. No infections, no issues. She is now six and loves to change her earrings often. I did not do it for attention. I did it because she is a girl. And because I didnt want to wait til she was old enough to say STOP after the first one was in. Just wanted to get it over with. Abuse? hardly. She is my world and I love her more than anything else in my life. Would I do it again? yes I would. It actually never occurred to me that people would see it as abuse. Because I don't see it that way. I am not tryng to sound angry. I just believe that as a parent it is my right to decide what is and isn't right for my child.

[Thorne]

ok. I had my daughter's ears pierced when she was four months old. She cried for a minute then fell asleep. Never had a problem. No infections, no issues. She is now six and loves to change her earrings often. I did not do it for attention. I did it because she is a girl. And because I didnt want to wait til she was old enough to say STOP after the first one was in. Just wanted to get it over with. Abuse? hardly. She is my world and I love her more than anything else in my life. Would I do it again? yes I would. It actually never occurred to me that people would see it as abuse. Because I don't see it that way. I am not tryng to sound angry. I just believe that as a parent it is my right to decide what is and isn't right for my child.

I'm not claiming that it actually is abuse, just that it could be perceived as such. And though you may not have specifically been doing it for attention, I can't help but feel that some form of bid for attention has to play a part, at least subconsciously. After all, the baby doesn't really understand that her ear is pierced, she's not trying to blend in with her friends, she's only interested in eating, sleeping and pooping, not necessarily in that order. And doing it just because she's a girl doesn't make sense to me, either. Aside from being stereotypical, who's to say whether pierced ears will still be popular, or even acceptable, five or ten years down the road?

Of course, being masculine and not exactly a fashion leader, perhaps my perceptions of this ritual are flawed from the start. It's just that I can't help feeling that deep down inside, whether they want to admit it or not, mothers are doing this for their own reasons, which may or may not have anything to do with their child's ultimate welfare. I'm not saying they're wrong, but I'm not sure they're right, either.