Circumcision Decisions – Mum’s Share the Reasons For and Against Circumcision

We thought we would ask normal everyday Mums why they made the decision for/against circumcision for their sons.

We have Mums that had their sons circumcised, and Mum’s who didn’t – here are their stories in their own words – we thank them very much for sharing such a personal matter.

If you want to anonymously give your opinion – we have set up a question on Ask Stay at Home Mum about Circumcisions:

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‘I wanted my boys to look like their peers, not their father’ – By Jillian

I suppose I’m not a typical ‘advocate’ for not circumcising my son.  But I’ll tell you how I arrived at my decision.  My husband is circumcised – and I like the look of a circumcised penis – it’s neat and tidy and has a lovely ‘face’ lol.  But back when my husband was circumcised, it was the norm.  MOST boys were, but that was 30 years ago.  When I was pregnant, we sat down together and talked about whether or not we would circumcise our son.  We weighed up the pros and cons – and saw how passionate people are about the subject.

We decided that when our son grew up – most of his peers, WON’T be circumcised, and let’s face it, boys don’t really compare what they have to their father, they compare it to their mates.  We thought that he might be teased because he was different.  The statistics, when Isaac was born, was that only 5% of boys were being done.  So we thought we would leave it be, and if he asked, we would explain to him why we chose the decision we did.  Plus I suppose it’s easy to not put your child through the pain – although these days the ‘bell’ circumcision seems pretty harmless.  

Of course, if my son got an infection or it needed to be done medically – I would have it done in a heartbeat.  When he is old enough, I’ll have his father teach him how to clean himself properly to avoid any potential problems.

I’m happy with my decision and hope he will be too when he grows up.  A lot of my friends have had their sons done – they have their reasoning too.  But as parents, my husband and I can only make the decision that we think is right at the time.

‘Thanks to Circumcision, they picked up a medical problem that would normally be overlooked’ – By Kellie

I chose at five weeks old to have my son circumcised for a few different reasons. Firstly, I do believe it is cleaner and easier for the child to care for as growing up.  Secondly my husband is circumcised and I wanted my son to look the same as his daddy and thirdly my husband got a lot of infections has a child and sadly had to have his done a lot older there fore going through a lot of pain.

When it came time sadly my son had a problem that would not have been picked up if he had not gone to have the procedure so we had to wait till he was 6 or so months old then take him and they had to realign it as the urethra hole did not line up during that time, and he got a lot of infections BUT now at age 5 has had no problems since the circumcision.  I’m pleased I got it done.

“My Parents Pressured Us – But I’m Glad We Didn’t Circumcise Our Son”

“When I was pregnant with my son my husband and I did a lot of research about whether or not we should circumcise him. We eventually came to the decision not to. I never realized that this was such a sensitive topic until we told my parents that we decided not to have him circumcised my parents looked at me like I said we were going to give him a sex change after he was born.

My father said that we had to have him circumcised that not doing it would be wrong. When I asked him why his answer was that an uncircumcised (intact) penis was unnatural.”

‘I think an uncircumcised penis looks much better’, by Sonja

When I was younger, I was very pro-circumcision. My main considerations were perceived cleanliness and aesthetics. Four boy cousins were born into traditional country families and were all circumcised at birth. My first serious boyfriend was also circumcised. I had the view that you would want a boy child to be the ‘same’ as their dad. Another aunt bucked family tradition and did not circumcise her boys as they had been so hard to conceive, and she would not take even the slightest risk with them. She also expressed that they were too precious to inflict such unnecessary pain upon. This was the first I had considered that as an idea. It also seemed that more and more people were moving away from it.

As I got older, I had a couple more circumcised boyfriends. Then I had a wonderful lover and saw and experienced for the first time in the flesh an uncircumcised man. I thought it was a beautiful penis!

When I finally had a son, some 20 years on from the birth of my boy cousins, circumcision had become much less commonplace and well and truly drifted out of my consideration. My husband and I never even had a debate about whether we would or not, despite the fact he is ‘done’.

I have thought of it as an option only when it has been brought up in forums and had the reaction, “my god, do they still do that? Why?” I thought maybe it would just be something done due to religion. I have since asked my husband about the idea of ‘being like Dad’…his response was that they should be like no one but themselves and they are perfect as they are born (he’s a keeper!). I’m not a believer in removing something from our bodies that are perfectly healthy. Plus I could never inflict such unnecessary pain on my darling baby boys (immunisation is bad enough!). I do also think my boys are entitled to one day have the full pleasure of what they are born with. And…I think uncircumcised looks better!

‘I got mine circumcised because I was worried about problems later on’ By Robyn

I had both my boys circumcised when they were babies.  I felt that it was important to have it done.

Although I am aware that there is a very small chance of complications from the procedure itself I was more concerned about problems later in life.  I personally know three people who have had to have circumcisions done at 15, 15 & 50 and the complications and pain suffered by them far outweighed the prospect of possible complications at the 10 and 3 weeks I had my boys done.

Is circumcision necessary?  No, but for me, there was no question.

The Stay at Mum Team thanks the Mums that volunteered their stories!

If you wish to contribute your story – please email it through to [email protected]