“Crystal’s Soapbox,” published each Thursday, is a column by conservative Texas mom Crystal Arcand who loves to rant about issues that relate to her kids….and yours.
You know, not too long ago there was a big hoopla about a dad that let his seven-year-old get tattooed. There was talk of child endangerment and parents had proverbial cows about poking that poor baby with needles. “What kind of parent would do such a thing?!” everyone asked hysterically.
Then somehow the parenting world had been anesthetized to it by the time the Tattoo Barbie had come out. Sure, some were against it, but they still sold, and a lot of parents doled out the logic of “letting them try it” before kids made a permanent decision. It was touted by some as an opportunity for discussion.
And yet, there is no discussion about ear piercing. The discussion always seems to be centered on whether silver or gold earrings are preferred during the six-week healing period after the initial piercing. I’ve never heard getting your ears pierced compared to getting a tattoo. But it is like getting a tattoo. It’s a permanent alteration to the body. The effects of it last forever. Just like a tattoo.
Well, kind of. You can have a tattoo removed. You can’t remove earring holes. Sure, they can grow closed, just like mine did. But the scars are still there. It drives me crazy. I wish my mother had talked to me about the permanence of it before I got my ears pierced at nine – I wouldn’t have had it done.
The other day while I was in the grocery store I saw a baby with earrings. She couldn’t have been more than six months old. Did she tell her mother that she wanted holes in ears for the rest of her life? Or did she try to tell her, “Hey, Mom, y’know it hurts to try to sleep with these tiny metal spikes poking me in the neck no matter which side I sleep on, because I’ve got them on both sides, so no thanks, anyway.”
Oh wait, she didn’t. Because she’s a baby. She had no choice or say in the matter.
Why is it okay to poke a baby with needles as long as it’s in the ears instead of the hip or somewhere else? Is it the lack of ink? The precious metal? The gems? Oh, it’s cute, right? It’s totally okay to inflict pain on infants as long as they’re cute when we’re done. It only lasts a little while, right? Newsflash: tattoos don’t hurt after the healing is over, either.
Let’s get a grip and stop hurting babies that don’t understand what’s going on for the sake of “cute.” Buy a freakin’ hair accessory already.
