couples

"Piercing a baby's ears is no big deal. Really."

This week, the world’s been losing their minds over a celebrity baby’s pierced ears. I say, “so what?”
When the ruckus started two days ago over some famous babies’ ears, I failed to see why it was big news.

Blue Ivy, the two-year-old daughter of Beyonce and Jay Z, has pierced ears. So does Kim Kardashian and Kayne West’s little girl, North West. And she’s only one.

“It’s child cruelty”, say some, wagging their fingers. Not me.

You see, I come from Italian family, and my ears were pierced at three months.

In many families, it's normal to pierce a baby's ears at just three months

The piercing of baby's ears has cultural origins that some parts of the community are just not aware of. My parents didn't pierce my ears to be cruel. They did it because they had gorgeous gold 'sleeper' earrings they wanted me to wear. I still have those earrings and lots of photos of me looking like an adorable little Italian baby with my little pierced ears and some baby bling.

My ears were pierced early, at a time when I was too young to remember the pain. Now I have pierced ears and I love it.

I went to pierce my daughter's ears when she was eight months old. I was on my way out the door and just yelled out to my husband that we were leaving, I was getting her ears pierced and then we'd probably have lunch and he screamed out, "What?!?"

He completely overruled the ear-piercing, the only thing he has ever vetoed in the bringing up of three kids. He thought of it as causing unnecessary pain for our little girl and couldn't see the logic behind doing it so young.

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"But I really want her to wear the earrings I wore when I was a baby," I explained.

"I'm just not comfortable with it," he said. So I didn't do it. It's always been our parenting rule. Whomever feels the strongest about something to do with our kids, wins.

We've talked about it several times since. Caterina is now almost five and she wants pierced ears like mine. She sees me putting my earrings on and wants some for herself. But at five it's going to hurt like hell and she's going to remember it. Now I'm the one who doesn't want to do it. We've missed our window. She's going to have to get it done for herself when she's 16, or 18.

Babies have had their ears pierced for generations and it doesn't cause any long-term damage. These celebrity couples don't deserve the criticism they are copping as a result of this. It's just ear lobes. It's just something that's cute to do.

I fully support any parents who want to pierce their baby's ears. It's just not a big deal.

Do you think it's cruel to pierce a baby's ears? How old is the right age? 

Blue Ivy and North West were already super-cute before they had their little ear lobes pierced. Check out these adorable photos:

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