I guess it's no different to any other type of parenting choice... people weigh up risks and make a decision that is best for them.

Did I pierce my ears for myself? No I didn't. I did it because I had it done when I was little I don't remember it and I've never ever ever thought to myself I wish my parents hadn't put me through such awful mutilation... not once. I sat with my friends at 6, 10, 12 and saw how terrified they were, how some got infected because they played with them with dirty hands etc and the rejections.

I just asked my daughter in a very unbiased way if she wished I hadn't got her ears pierced (now keep in mind we've never talked about it before) and her response was "no way!" I said but would you have preferred to choose it for yourself. To which she replied "Mum you know what I'm like with needles/pain... if you didn't do it I don't know that I ever would have."

So maybe I'm just lucky but that is why I did it because that is how I felt too.

So not all mothers do it out of their own selfish reasons. I know I didn't. And can I just say I've heard mothers say the opposite too... I have a gf who said she wasn't going to get it done because she wanted to take her to get it done when she was old enough to feel and remember the pain so she wouldn't go nuts and get herself pierced all over in her teens. And I know this isn't the case as I know plenty of people who never had their ears pierced but went on to have many piercings.

Just because it is not something you would do please don't make assumptions about another persons reasons for why they make the parenting choices they are. I am not a monster nor am I ignorant or sadistic.