Today, the Mamas of Mamarazzi are not their usual snarky selves. Instead, they want to hear readers’ thoughts about today’s topic. So, click over there to read more and then come back here and voice your opinion.
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It is very common in hispanic cultures for babies to wear bracelets. The clasp is made in such a way that it is IMPOSSIBLE for a baby to get it off.
Pierced ears on tiny children really bother me.
Hmm, maybe it has a safety catch and is ok for little ones? Dunno, I confess I wouldn’t put a bracelet on a kid that young but it’s not something I have thought much about.
I’m with Smalltown Mom on the ears though.
Eva’s worn bracelets since she was a year… always has a bangle or 2 bopping around her wrists… currently she is sporting a koa wood and a jade… actually, they made quite good teethers in a pinch.
She’s also had her ears pierces since she was 2… but that was because we wanted be able to tell her that, for her second birthday, we disfigured her.
I didn’t put jewelry on my daughter until she was 3. She was my brother and sister-in-laws flower girl and they gave her a little necklace with her name engraved on it. We did the ear piercing when she was in 4th grade.
Hispanic and Portuguese people I know have their little baby girl’s ears pierced at a very young age. I always worried about their little earlobes getting infected or getting the earrings pulled.
My daughter is half Mexican, and in keeping with her father’s family’s tradition, her ears were pierced at around age 3 months. I took very good care of the piercings and we had no problems at all.
She was given a ring for her second birthday by a Mexican friend of the family, and a necklace/bracelet combo on her third by a godparent. Her little fingers were so chubby that the ring never fit, but we still have it as a keepsake. It’s just a cultural thing. That bracelet on Salma’s baby probably came from a godparent or someone close and has some special meaning.
Not my daughter, but I’m a horse-faced Episcopalian from the north east. Our kids don’t wear real jewelery until they’re in high school.
Whoops, I can’t spell! I’m like Porky Pig, except with typing: Jewelery–Jewelry–Jewry–uh, uh, … trinkets!
I really don’t understand the piercing thing of boys or girls (I saw a picture in the news recently of a toddler boy with a pierced ear). Really, what’s the point? Why not wait until they ask for it?
Re the bracelet. It’s probably not on elastic and hands are usually chubby, so I really doubt it’s going to be a choking hazard. I know of a mom from a playground I went to who’s intent was to make necklaces and the like for little ones. Don’t know how that’s going. I don’t think the North American culture is going to shift enough to consider it.
I cringe on jewelry on babies–hard, pokey metal. I mean really. I can’t even stand sleeping on earrings–why would anyone expect a BABY to?
I’m a believer that girls shouldn’t wear jewelry on a regular basis until they’re old enough to take care of it. That said, I respect the fact that other cultures jewel their babies as a sign of their femininity. Is it something that I would do? No. Am I so concerned that I’m going to cross the grocery store to wag my finger at a mom with a bracelet-adorned kid? No. I’ve got bigger fish to fry.
Yes, the ear piercing is definitely a Spanish/latin thing. I think pierced ears on little girls are cute, but maybe that’s because I moved to Spain when I was five.
I wouldn’t pierce my own daughter’s ears, though. Not because I have anything against pierced ears on infants but because I would want a negotiating chip for when she was a teenager.
As the parent of an 18 year old girl and 29 year old boy, there are plenty of piercing negotiations beyond the basic one, believe me. Ear cartilage, eyebrows, noses, navels…just wait.
It’s completely unnecessary. Another perfect example of the wasteful, spendthrifty culture of Hollywood.
Linda said, “It is very common for babies in hispanic cultures to wear bracelets”.
So? I don’t think something being common in certain cultures is a valid excuse. In some Muslim cultures girls are circumcised, does that make it right? NO.
Making children wear jewelry is completely wasteful and silly.
I was more focused on the fact that the kid is 1 and still using a binkie and a bottle. My son was using a sippy cup by 8 months and stopped using a binkie by 3 months. I didn’t even notice the bracelet! haha!
As a Hispanic woman I wanted to share that we often put bracelets on our children for religious purposes. The jewelry is usually given to the baby by the godparents. It’s frightening that some of you think that this could be compared to female circumcision. Seriously???
Now, as a therapist for children, I hope that those of you who feel it necessary to take away binkies and bottles are ready for when your kids eat dirt or glue (pica) because they have an oral fixation.