Why I won't go to the mall again...

[cynatnite]

We haven't been out much for quite a while and the kids had a little money to burn. They asked to go to the mall. I don't care for it that much, but I didn't see a reason to tell them no.

For a while all was fine. In a gaming/DVD store was a lady talking to two other people. I heard her telling them how horrible the Clinton family is. Apparently they poured syrup all over the place. They trashed the WH. :eyes:

After that we went to the first level and went to a small boutique. Two women were there with a toddler. I thought it was cute that one was feeding the little girl ice cream. Then to my surprise, they had brought the baby to get her ears pierced. I'm not exaggerating when I say that girl couldn't have been much over two. No way was she even three.

What made it even worse was that the mom held the baby down while the ears were pierced. The toddler was screaming and pulling at the earrings. It was a horrible sight. I wanted to go over and yell at that mother 'what in the hell is wrong with you!'.

I've got two daughters. When they got their ears pierced they were old enough to understand what they were getting and wanted it done. They were five and six years old. My granddaughter is four and my oldest daughter doesn't think she's ready for ear piercing.

This was just awful. I told the kids we were leaving the mall. I'm still pissed :grr:

[bdrube]

1. The REAL America.

As Bill Hicks would say God (If you're there?) help us all!

[walldude]

5. Just bought 2 Bill Hicks DVD's

man I miss him...

[otherlander]

2. Back in the city where I used to live

a lot of Hispanic babies had earrings. Weird.

[Berry Cool]

4. So you met two creepy people at the mall.

In and of themselves, not necessarily a reason not to go back, nor emblematic on their own of all of America. Just a part of it that's very unpleasant.

[cynatnite]

6. Well, it was really crowded and noisy...I did buy Jon Stewart's book

The crowd and noise didn't help my mood much.

[Withywindle]

9. Not an uncommon Latina thing

My Brazilian relatives were kind of scandalized Mom didn't do it with me when I was a baby. I've still got a couple pairs of eensy-weensy baby-sized earrings my grandfather sent, never used.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

3. That is too much madness.

A two year old.

Does she think it's a Chatty Cathy doll?

[Warpy]

7. The mall tends to attract people with more money

than people who have to shop at big box stores and they still think they got a tax hike from Clinton and a tax cut from Stupid. They don't do math well enough to know both of those are lies and wouldn't understand it if you tried your best to show them. They like Pox News and talk radio because they reassure them they don't have to do any more homework for the rest of their lives.

They are mostly middle managers who majored in something useless in a liberal arts college. They haven't cracked a book (unless it's a romance novel) since they left school.

I know people who had toddlers' ears pierced on the theory that the kids would forget the whole experience when they got older. I have a lot of memories from that age, taint necessarily so. I do agree that waiting until the kid can understand what's going on is much better.

The bottom line is whether you'd rather see them than be them. If it's the former, then pity them. They're incredibly limited human beings.

[sanskritwarrior]

16. What the hell?

I shop at Wal Mart and Dilliard's.......this post is sublimely surreal........Are you being serious or sarcastic? I admit I'm a bit obtuse at times, but you really think what you said in the first part is true?

I am a typical American, I shop at Wal Mart for DVD's, and cheaptacular furniture. I shop at the Mall for clothes, I shop at Whole foods for food......None of those are mutually exclusive and you use a might broad brush if you try and say they are............

[Raine]

18. The "mall attracts people with more money"

hmmmmmm :shrug: the mall by me attracts teen-agers who got nothing better to do than jaw with their friends.

EDIT: Clarification

[northzax]

19. this post is very strange

i would argue that most people who 'majored in something useless at a liberal arts college' as you so quaintly put it, a:read more than you think, and b: are more liberal than you think. mock all you want. i admit my sample size is more limited, but every single perszon i know who meets that description (including myself) is lliberal, and we don't hang out in malls.

[Kali]

8. ooooh baby ear piercing

could get as hot as circumcision!:popcorn:

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

10. I had this British friend we called "Skin".

Skin's stepdad was completely against circumcision. He took Skin to the doctor. Skin got his nickname when he got his back.

How it was accomplished, I never asked. I have my limits.

[ncrainbowgrrl]

11. got my ears pierced at age 5- my grandparents had me for the day.

My parents SO would not have allowed that to happen...

But, once it was done, what could they say (at least in front of me, anyway?!)

I was really girly as a kid and wore earings a lot. Stopped wearing them around age 14-15, but the holes are still there more than a decade later... if I wanted to, I could put a pair of pierced earings on now and not have a problem.. (not gonna happen, though... unless someone paid me a whole heck of a lotta money!)

[GenDem]

12. I try to go as seldom as humanly possible.

When my daughter was about 12 she wanted her ears pierced. I took her to the mall, warned her plenty that it stings (my little girl does not have any tolerance for pain, whatsoever, even now as a 19 year old) Well they sat her on a stool--practically out in the concourse(is that what the halls are called in malls?), squeezed through the first lobe, and she proceeded to scream blue murder. Some lady DID waltz over and proceeded to scold me. I was then forced to defend myself.

It wasn't a good mall memory for me.

My daughter ended up with one pierced ear that day.

I say wait till their older.

[cynatnite]

14. I was six when I got mine done...

my daughters were five and six...

When I was little, my mom, my aunt and I talked about it. They told me exactly how it would be done, showed me their ears and gave me the earrings they had when they were little. It was the ice, the needle and all that. This was over 30 years ago. I remember it hurt a little.

With my girls we did about the same thing except the earrings from my aunt and mom are put up. They are very old now. This time we went to a jeweler and had them done. They flinched a little and that was it.

If I had worked at that store and the toddler was acting as she was I think I would have refused after seeing how she was reacting. I couldn't have done it.

[Solo_in_MD]

13. Baby earpiercing is common in certain ethnic groups

We were asked when one of our daughters was a newborn why her years weren't pierced...

[magellan]

20. My best friend is Mexican-American

She and her sisters all had their ears pierced as infants/toddlers. I don't agree with it at that age myself (I had mine done the year I entered high school), but when discussing cultural traditions of body mutilation, there are far worse.

[The Witch]

15. But you were on the MALL with me :)

I left you in front of Congress, dear.

[cynatnite]

17. Awe, that's wonderful!

Thank you so much for reminding me of that! If there is a protest during the summer, I'm going to try to get to it. :hug:

[Cobalt Violet]

21. "mom held the baby down while the ears were pierced"

That's abusive. I see people do the same thing with forced haircuts. A very, very dangerous thing to do. I don't believe in pinning a kid's head down for any reason that isn't medically necessary.