Why does your desire matter more than your child's comfort?

I recently became aware of an online campaign which called for a minimum age requirement to be implemented with regards ear piercing and I, for one, am all for it.

I normally subscribe to the ‘Live and let live’ school of thought, especially when it comes to parenting, but this is one of the few issues that really gets my back up.

When I see an infant with studs pierced into her tiny lobes or hoops hanging from her delicate little ears, I can’t help but inwardly recoil.

At what point in a parent’s thought process do they look at their cherub-cheeked tot and come to the conclusion that the addition of gold loops would be necessary? Was their child not beautiful enough to begin with? 

The incongruity of the child’s small features against the jewellery's stark metal always leaves me questioning the parents’ motives and I’ve rarely come to any other conclusion other than vanity.

I am at a loss to understand why a parent would think their six-month-old child would need jewellery in the first place, but the mind boggles ever more at the fact that once they get to that point, they then go one step further.

They actually inflict pain on their baby in order to meet their standard of beauty.

In my opinion, the justification that 'It’s only a pinch and they don’t remember it' is perhaps one of the most vacuous arguments you could offer when debating the topic.

If it’s just a slight pain they won’t remember, then why do we refrain from hurting our infants on a daily basis? They’re not going to remember it, so why not do it at least once a day?

Because it’s cruel, unthinkable and unnecessary, that’s why.

But if the pain results in something pretty or aesthetically pleasing , then it’s OK? That, whether the parents want to accept it or not, is vanity.

Put it this way, if your child’s potential school principal asked you to pinch your little one a couple of times in order to secure a place at the nursery of your choice, you’d be both flabbergasted and disgusted.

And you’d most definitely say no.

Because nothing is worth hurting your child for, right?