Notes to Strangers (#2)

TO: The woman who subjected her toddler to 15 minutes of terror at the ear piercing store...

What were you thinking? Perhaps you had a conversation with this small (4 or 5 year old) girl that pierced ears were nice, or maybe she even thought she wanted them.

A trip to the (generic) ear piercing shop can be harmless, I suppose. But, after the first ear was pierced, your little girl cried out from the pain. Then, it was clear that her fear of having the other ear pierced was enormous. Each time the attending associate would come near your child, she would cry and jostle within your tight grasp, avoiding contact with the piercing tool at all costs. She begged you to let her go; to have the experience end.

You would have none of that. We watched the coaxing and the bribing of the little girl at your mercy go on for more than 15 solid minutes - accented every minute or two with another attempt and another sob of terror and attempt to pull away by the child.

Dad (I'm guessing it was Dad) was there, looking helpless (though I don't know why he did not intervene).

Society today gets on parents for spanking their children for obvious discipline. Yet here, (unless I'm not privy to a new method of discipline for something this child had previously done) a child is subjected to much deeper emotional abuse from an activity that should be wholly voluntary, and certainly not traumatic.

What were you thinking? Clearly your daughter no longer felt the need or desire to have her ears pierced, so why was it so incredibly important to you? I honestly don't know.

Footnote to the woman attendant at the piercing store that day: I was almost tempted to ask you, after the fact, what the store's policy on such matters was. You handled the uncomfortable situation with the utmost professionalism, not interfering or intervening. But I wonder what you thought of the experience, and how many other similar experiences you must have seen.