I was walking through the local mall the other day and heard a baby crying. Screaming, actually, a tone which any parent would recognize as a kid in pain. Naturally I looked around to see what was happening and I saw this young mother with her young, perhaps 6 months, child in an earring kiosk, having the kids ear pierced.

It occurred to me that, if she had swatted a misbehaving toddler on the butt, half the people in the place would have reported her for abusing the child, but because she's having it's ear pierced, nobody looked twice. It seems like the only one who was unhappy with the whole process was the child.

Now, I'm not a big fan of body piercing or tattoos or even ostentatious displays of jewelry. So I want to know if there are others out there who consider this kind of thing to be abusive. Do parents have the right to "mutilate" their children for decorative purposes? When does it move beyond decorative and become disfiguring?

My kids once expressed an interest in getting tattoos when they were around twelve or thirteen. I told them when they were old enough to live on their own and could afford to have it done they could do it then. I wouldn't pay for it, nor tolerate it. They're old enough now, and living on their own, and neither of them seem at all interested in getting tattoos now. What happens in 15 or 20 years when this little girl grows up and decides she really doesn't like having her ear pierced, or wearing earrings? Can she force her parents to pay for the surgery required to eliminate any scarring?