choices

Babies don't choose who they are born to. They don't choose if they are dressed in Gap or Wal-mart brand. They don't choose if they are breast fed or formula fed. They don't choose if they wear Pampers or Huggies. Girl babies certainly don't choose if their parent pastes little bows to identify the hairless wonder as a girl.
All of these choiceless acts are relatively harmless (except perhaps the family they were born in to and formula feeding). What irks me though is the choice of parents to pierce their little daughter's ears. I witnessed two baby girls in two different stores being traumatized over it. I recognize that piercing only hurts for a short time but there was plenty wailing and gnashing of teeth going on. The suckers barely soothed them. They looked frightened and distressed, and I had to wonder if it was really worth it. I wanted to cry for them. I thought the mother's must have felt slightly horrified as they held their girl's head tightly. Is it that important that everyone knows they are a girl at 6 months old or that their pierced ears will look so darling? I think kids are already growing up too fast. I see high heeled shoes in the kid section, mid-riff tops for pre-teens and hooped earrings on toddlers. I suppose it's a personal decision for each parent but it's not one that I support. Why not wait until they are begging you for pierced ears? They will promise to take care of them and clean their ears every single day. Then they'll regret the choice several months later when they have a massive infection from not cleaning them. The earrings will be stuck to their ears and it will be excruciatingly painful to remove the earrings. My mom can attest to my own process of ear neglect at the age of six. I don't think I re-pierced them until I was a teen. I don't even wear earrings now. Go figure.