Abuse or Adornment?

[Thorne]

Tayler and I both thank you Thorne and you do raise a point - My reason for doing it was entirely aside from me and I explained it to her why early so she could choose to keep them or not.

I got my ears pierced after long amounts of begging to my step monster - I was given it at Christmas at 13 - the gift was the permission, I had to pay for it and take care of them.

Turns out I'm allergic and had a great swollen red ear - nice for a 13yr old starting Gr. 9 lol. I thought if I did Tayler's early, she would build a natural immunity to it and could choose later to keep them or not.

As it turns out, she has no reaction to them and as she said, has another set and another one single on one ear and is ecstatic that she can wear any cosmetic jewellery that Arden's or Claire's has to offer.

For the record - she's a tomboy but loves buying and trying earrings - that goes to ponder....by my action, have I created a fetish? hehe - I truly don't think so as when I got my navel pierced, the gurl ripped me a new one about safety, dangers and did I really think it all through lol

I'm glad that she's happy with her piercings, and that she's smart enough to worry about Mom!

I'm curious about your reaction, though. What are you allergic to, the piercing tool or the metal of the earring posts? The brief description you gave ("a great swollen red ear") sounds more like an infection to me, especially since you have obviously gotten more piercings.

But it does show that things can go wrong, and a small child, especially, might not be physically capable of handling a massive infection or allergic reaction. At least the mother I saw didn't try to do it herself, but took the kid to a "professional" (a 20-something clerk manning a kiosk in the mall).

so.... to speak to Tayler's post.......do you think you should have been given the choice?
or is it just a matter of your parents did what they hoped is a good decision for you, as did you of yours?
if given the choice, for yourself only; to turn it all back to the day....... would you choose differently?

I honestly don't know the answer to this. As I said, my wife and I were following the advice of the pediatrician, a man we both trusted. My parents were doing the same. I haven't had any need (or desire) to keep up since then so I don't know the current thinking, but if the choice came up now I would probably have to say no. After all, as Tayler said, a baby has a 3-second attention span: he gets over it quickly. As a grown man, I doubt that I would want to place my "manhood" under the knife unless absolutely necessary, medically.