"Personal Parenting Choice" semi vent

[sandals]

I don't get it. What is with all the "It's a personal parenting choice" comments I keep getting when I talk to people about circ. Or, better, "parental rights"..."it's a parental right issue." Why do people hide behind this? Does it make them feel powerful to be able to do this to their kids? I must have missed the memo about gaining the right to mutilate once my son passed through my birth canal. I wonder what other "rights" I supposedly have now

[~member~]

THat's why there needs to be laws that protect our children. Children in this society are seen as objects that can be owned, not as separate human beings.

[Lila]

They're trying to avoid confrontation. That's all. To them, especially if they're cut or they've done it to their children, they feel the need to be defensive or to avoid the subject all together. It's a cop-out.

[GoodMomma]

I hate it when people say "it's a personal decision" Then why not leave it a personal decision.... and leave the decision up to the person with the penis in question?? Doesn't make sense. :

[New Mexico Beach]

I used to think it was a parental decision and that we chose not to circ. But after hanging around here I really believe that it is a choice that the child, and only the child, should make himself.

[kldliam]

Parental rights always makes me think that they think that their children are PROPERTY. I just counter with what about the child-right's??

[nd_deadhead]

As a parent, I'm not as concerned about my rights as I am about my responsibilities. I have a responsibility to make sure my sons are safe, warm, and well fed. I have a responsibility to teach them the rules of our society. I have a responsibility to educate them. I have the responsibility to teach them to get along with others.

Some parents think they have the "right" to spank their children; I believe I have a responsibility to discipline them gently and positively. But they are correct, I guess - in the US, at least, they won't be arrested for spanking their children. Is that what makes a "right"? The fact that something is not illegal?

ETA: When my kids get their drivers licenses, I have the right to limit their access to a vehicle. But this is more of a responsibility - to keep them and others safe.

For anything I can think of as a "parental right", I can come up with a responsibility to match.

I can't think of any way that circumcising a baby is a responsibility.

[MommytoB]

There are 'some much things that are a 'true Parental decision' to be able to make but removing a normal healthy part of someone's body is not something parents should end up making especially when it deals with the private. Why are parents saying when Kids get older "no one should touch your penis or play with your penis but they allow a doctor to perform a traditon of hacking off a part & isn't it true that they end up having to get the child a 'erection before the circ ? Why would someone be at some horror if someone came up to use females & cut off our normal healthy (can cause infections and cancer ) boobs but no one actually goes crazy over circumcision.

I would love to help to get it 'banned for 'good' and the only true 'medical reason for cutting if any child or 'adult had frostbite, gangrene, or foreskin cancer. Otherwise if a adult wanted to get a circ in his lifetime' he could go to a 'cosmetic surgeron ' and urologist should only 'allow' to do 'adults '

[BamaDude]

Originally Posted by nd_deadhead

ETA: When my kids get their drivers licenses, I have the right to limit their access to a vehicle. But this is more of a responsibility - to keep them and others safe.

That's an excellent example because it's temporary; You might be able to transportationally hobble your kids by denying them access to a car when they're 16, but once your kids turn 18 they can legally buy and drive as many cars as they want no matter what you say. This is their right as an adult.

However, a child who has been sexually hobbled by circumcision will remain so even after reaching legal adulthood, or at least until such time as he decides to undergo the lengthy process of foreskin restoration.

[blsilva]

I hear this all the time from my brother, and it drives me nuts. Smme tings should not be a personal decision. Strapping a child down and amputating a sensitive, healthy and necessary part of his body while he is awake and able to feel the pain and terror of the experience is not a personal choice. It is torture, and would land the people responsible in jail in any other circumstances.:

[Greenie]

Originally Posted by blsilva

I hear this all the time from my brother, and it drives me nuts. Smme tings should not be a personal decision. Strapping a child down and amputating a sensitive, healthy and necessary part of his body while he is awake and able to feel the pain and terror of the experience is not a personal choice. It is torture, and would land the people responsible in jail in any other circumstances.: