The mother of the child has insisted that the girl requested the ear piercing as a birthday gift, and that she never forced her into it. After the episode in the store, the girl had the one earring removed and did not get the other ear pierced. But since returning home, she has asked about trying again, and her mother has said they need to wait.
Is getting your child’s ears pierced abuse? Not really. If you want to know what real abuse is, call your local CPS – or just read the newspaper, for that matter. But getting your child’s ears pierced by an unlicensed store associate is a bad idea, and a mistake made out of ignorance by many moms – myself included.
Many years ago (before I knew better), I had my first daughter’s ears pierced. She was 8 months old. People kept mistaking her for a boy – despite her pink clothing – and so I got her ears pierced so people would know she was a girl. I was happy with my decision until one of her earrings disappeared during the night, and all I can guess is that it fell out and she somehow swallowed it. That scared me enough not to put any earrings back in until she got older.
So when she was 5, she told me she wanted them pierced and I agreed. And where did I take her to get it done? Wal-Mart, of course! The first piercing went fine, even though it hurt and she did shed a couple of tears. But on the second one, the gun got locked in the closed position around her ear and got hung up and stuck there – and the more the associate trying to pull it free, the more my daughter cried and the angrier I became. If someone had been walking by that scene at the time, I probably would have agreed with them that it was child abuse. After we finally got my daughter free of the contraption, I said never again.
Of course, this was right about the time I started learning about professional piercing studios, the use of the needle for piercing, and the dangers associated with piercing guns. So, I wrote an article about it and started spreading the word. But here it is – almost 10 years later – and the piercing gun is still widely used and still just as dangerous as ever. And there are still scores of moms and kids who are unaware of the risks and assume that since it’s such a widely used method, it must be safe.
This is Where We Come In – Take Action!
Tiffany Apel has already gotten the ball rolling by initializing two petitions to ban the piercing gun – one for the state of New Jersey and one for Ohio. Tiffany explains why by saying, “When I did my piercing apprenticeship and learned all about the dangers of piercings guns, I was upset because in 6th grade my ears were pierced that way at a mall. While I know my mother didn't knowingly put me in harms way, I thought to myself how can I stop other mothers and fathers from exposing their children to the same danger? The best answer I came up with at the time was to educate as many people as I could about the dangers of piercing guns, but then I wondered how come the health department hasn't stepped in? Probably because the public doesn't seem to care. So I wanted to show them that the public of today cares more then the public of 1984, when I was brutally punctured at that mall kiosk and almost passed out in the arms of a 16 year old girl with no first aid training.”
Tiffany has done a great thing here, but she needs people to sign the petitions in order to attempt to have the laws changed in those states, so if you live in Ohio or New Jersey, please sign!
Are You On the List?
But, that leaves 48 states that still need to be covered on this issue. I created one today for my state of Indiana. Will you start the ball rolling for your own state? If you have created a petition for your state, please email me with the link and I will add it to the list.
