One of the age-old debates that always gets talked about is whether children should be allowed to wear jewellery or not. Some kids like to wear jewellery for fashion reasons, others might wear it for religious reasons.
There are all sorts of pros and cons, and reasons when it comes to children’s jewellery, let’s explore them in this blog post.
Babies
Generally, the practice of putting jewellery on babies is somewhat controversial in developed nations and in terms of safety, it is never advisable for babies to wear earrings due to the risk of infection, traumatic tearing or allergic reactions. In some cultures such as in India, it is often customary for babies to have one of their ears pierced as early as a few days after birth.
Other types of jewellery such as bracelets and necklaces are also not a good idea for babies to wear as they are choking hazards.
Health Implications
As mentioned briefly earlier, it is not uncommon for children (or indeed adults) to develop infections traumatic tearing or allergic reactions to earrings.
Other types of jewellery such as bracelets, necklaces and so on can also cause allergic reactions to children. This is due to low cost items of jewellery which contain trace amounts of nickel or even lead, which are common metal allergy complaints.
Choice
Another controversial topic is the choice that a child has with regards to wearing jewellery. Quite often, parents will buy jewellery for their children to wear, and as they get older they get accustomed to wearing jewellery without fully realising that actually, they do not have to wear jewellery, or the jewellery that they have been given or made to wear.
Some cultures are required to make their children wear earrings or other types of jewellery in order to comply with local customs or traditions. For example, many African tribes wear jewellery in order to ward off harm or wrongdoing, and in Thailand babies are made to wear anklets with bells on them to ward off evil spirits.
Social Status
Wearing certain types of jewellery often defines status with people. For example, a wealthy person is more likely to wear a ring with a six figure value attached to it rather than a poorer person.
Parents may often adorn their children with gold or silver jewellery in a bid to show both their children and the jewellery they are wearing to people.
Fashion and Style
The fashion and style reasons tie in fairly closely to social status. If a child’s parents are wealthy, they want to make sure that their children look equally wealthy too.
But even if that was not the case, children can sometimes be encouraged by their parents to wear jewellery – especially at an early age – simply for the purposes of fashion and style.
Remember the bit I just spoke about where parents in Thailand make their babies wear anklets will bells? Well although in that case it was to do with tradition, people in the UK have started doing this but for fashion reasons.
