Many times in a parent’s life, they are faced with decisions they want to make for their babies. Sometimes, parents make choices for their kids that can impact them as adults.
When it comes to “beauty,” many parents try to push what they want for their daughters onto them.
Whether it’s fashion choices or haircuts, what mom says usually goes.
Lately, there has been a debate over piercing young girls’ ears.
Many mothers decide to get their daughter’s ears pierced at a young age, usually when they are still infants.
However, not every parent agrees that piercing your daughter’s ears is the right thing to do.
Piercing a baby’s ears has become a hotly-debated issue among parents. Some feel it is problematic because the baby cannot consent to the piercing.
Even celebrities have been shamed for piercing their baby’s ears.
Hilary Duff’s Instagram was flooded with negative comments when her followers noticed that her daughter’s ears were pierced.
“Should’ve waited until she’s older to decide for herself,” said one comment.
Now, one mom’s experience has added a new dimension to the earring debate.
Amelia Kibbie, wrote an article on Mom.com about her friend who chose to pierce her young daughter’s ears.
Amelia’s friend decided to go get her five-month-old daughter’s ears pierced.
“When it was my turn to hold her, my eyes fell on her cute little ears. They were pierced with diamond studs! Furtively, I checked to see if they were real, not just stick-on gems or something. Nope, they were real. Someone had shoved a needle through this baby’s earlobes,” Amelia said about seeing the baby’s earrings for the first time.
Other moms in her friend group quickly chimed in.
The group of moms quickly condemned the earrings and thought it should be the baby’s decision when she was older.
Amelia felt uncomfortable about the earrings but also didn’t think it was right to start judging the mom.
Still, others in her friend group called it “child abuse.”
One said:
“I mean, it’s basically child abuse. What’s next, is the baby going to get a tattoo or something?”
However, Amelia said that she did some research.
After realizing that her friend was from a different culture, she looked into the traditions and realized many mothers give their babies jewelry when they’re young — including earrings.
She decided her friends calling the earrings “trashy” was something that was done in haste and misunderstanding.
She also thought it meant that her friends were looking down on the mom, who is Cuban and Mexican.
Clearly, it was a cultural divide.
When Amelia brought up that earrings were part of some families’ cultures, her friends still disagreed.
“What if Elena grows up and she’s a huge tomboy, and she doesn’t want earrings? Then she’s got these scars on her earlobes. It should be her choice when she’s old enough to understand that this is a lifetime thing,” said one friend.
However, Amelia had the perfect response to shut one vocal mom down.
“But you circumcised your son, right?” Amelia asked the mom.
The mom was confused by Amelia’s question.
“Well, yes. What does that have to do with anything? It’s more sanitary. Plus then he won’t feel weird in the locker room,” she said to Amelia.
Amelia pointed out to her friend that ear piercing and circumcision aren’t so different.
“Yes, but he didn’t get to make that decision, did he?” Amelia said.
Talk about an epic mic drop, right?
Amelia said that her comment ended the conversation right then and there.
While piercing a baby’s ears will continue to be a hot-topic issue, this mom certainly shed new light on this debate.
Amelia’s story proves that we shouldn’t be so quick to judge other parents, especially when we don’t have all the information.
h/t: Mom.com
