Kids Ear Piercing – For or Against?

February 28, 2014momstownParenting1 comment

Julie Cole weighs in on the debate to pierce your child’s ears or not. A hot button topic around moms.

I discovered yet another parenting “hot button” topic this week. In the past, I’ve been sucked into every controversial parenting topic possible. We’ve all beaten a dead horse talking about our stance on different types of vaccinations, circumcision, breastfeeding – the list goes on and on.
And now, the hot topic de jour is ear piercing for kids. It came up in a discussion with a group of moms. They asked my opinion and it turns out – I have one! They wanted to hear it, so, let’s chat about it.

I have three daughters who are tweens. None of them have their ears pierced. There has been some mild interest from one or two of them occasionally, but nothing more than that.
I must admit – I’m not a fan of ear piercing. And I quickly talked them out of it for a few reasons:

1. I kind of like my kids exactly how they are the day they arrive from my uterus. They just seem so perfect. Mother Nature is good that way. It’s the same reason I don’t circumcise my boys. If my kids want to alter their bodies, they are more than welcome to when they are older. They can have all the tats and piercings they want – on their own dime – when the time comes.

2. I worry about the notion of “beauty”, and wonder if putting holes in their ear lobes sends them the message that it’s OK if it hurts because it makes you “beautiful”. I also don’t take my daughters for manicures or pedicures. I don’t want them associating being made “beautiful” to be relaxing. I like them to relax by shooting baskets or walking the dog with the neighbourhood kids. Besides, I don’t enjoy getting “pampered” so, for me, it wouldn’t be the mother/daughter bonding thing that I think it is meant to be. Again, they can have all the spa days they can afford once they’ve paid off their student loans.

3. I have no cultural or religious reasons compelling me to partake in body-altering activities.
We have not delved into shaving or waxing yet, so I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. I honestly don’t care what other people do with their children’s ears, penises or toenails. As always, mama knows best for her own peeps.

Has your family gone through the ear-piercing debate? Any conflict between parents on the issue? What age did you do it and how did that work out?

Tags: advice, ages and stages, hot topics, Julie Cole, tough decisions

Hakuna Matata

I wanted my daughter to decide whether she’d like to have her ears pierced and when. She asked to have her ears pierced as her birthday gift. I wanted to have her pierced with gold or medical grade plastic so I brought her to Caryl Baker Visage at Markville Mall. I have heard so much about their Inverness system. Everything is sanitary and done professionally. Don’t go to stores where somebody touches the earrings before these are placed in your child’s ears.