Thanks for the advice Satan’s Maggoty Cum Fart.

Fellow NJ-ian here. I have definitely driven on frozen lakes when I was a stupid teenager. TBH they were more like tiny ponds though.

I’m a pretty progressive and atheist dad. I had it done to my kid at birth. I’ll tell you I was pretty dead set on not doing it to my kid until about a week before the due date. My Dad (soon to be grandfather, who is btw atheist as well) pulled me aside and said this (I’m paraphrasing d/t my own bad memory):

Just do it. I know you don’t want to, and I know it feels cruel now, but just do it. Think about your kid in school one day in the gym locker room and being teased mercilessly, for being different, about his genitals. Inviting that sort of bullying [about his physical sexual organ] can really mess with a young boy and create all sorts of psychological issues later. A brief moment of pain to prevent that? Just do it.

That reasoning really stuck with me in the moment. Maybe because I had my own issues with bullies and self esteem. I regret having it done a good amount when I’m reminded about it, but can’t change my decision.