How would you react if you found out your child got a tatoo?

Parent to a toddler- I hope to have a good enough relationship with my son to think he would tell me when he wanted one or was planning on getting one. (Call me crazy, but I dare to dream big.) I really don’t have a problem with tattoo’s and I have a few myself. My biggest concern would be him regretting what he got later on down the line. But I don’t think it would really be a big deal either way. Just one of those things you have to learn the hard way. I wouldn’t freak, I’d just make sure he took care of it and didn’t pick up any disease from the place he got it.

Non-parent.

It depends. The ideal situation would be that they were over 16, got something small that didn’t refer to anyone by name (even MOM) in a hideable place and went to a parlor that passed an inspection by the health department. Tattoos may no longer be for life, but they expensive to remove. Disclaimer: I have a small tattoo on my lower back that I didn’t get until I was 31 from a well-known parlor.

@aprilsimnel Sadly, that rarely happens. ((sigh))

Parent to a toddler.

I’d hope that my daughter would do her research first. I would want to know she took the decision VERY seriously and understood the long-term consequences. I would want to know that she went to a clean place to have it done. I would want to know where she got the damn money for the tattoo.

Otherwise, I’d think it was pretty neat. As long as the tattoo was something artistic and interesting – not just a lame boyfriend’s name.

Or an ugly portrait of some dead rockstar or something…

Parent of 10 and 14 yr olds
I have no problem with them getting tattoos at the age of 18. I have many, so it’s something they have grown up around. I never have told them getting tattoos is “cool”, I have stressed that it is a personal decision and isn’t something to consider lightly. My only problem would be if they walked into a dirty parlor, chose a piece of flash off the wall, and got it above their ass crack.

My mom was FURIOUS when she found out I got one, and I was 20! It’s small and it’s very meaningful to me. She didn’t speak to me for almost a year while being away at school. It was ridiculous. She eventually apologized about how she reacted and got over it. I wouldn’t mind if my child got one, as long as they were old enough and as long as they didn’t go overboard.

@mangeons – True. I think I’d be more worried that my child could get an infection before I’d worry about his or her future job prospects.

I remember when Johnny Depp was dating Winona Ryder, he got his upper arm inked with “Winona Forever”. I thought, This is not going to end well. When they inevitably broke up, he got the “na” lasered out. Now it says “Wino Forever.”

No one wants that for their kid.

I would not be happy…..

When I got my second tattoo (about four months ago; at my age now, 21) clickie! I just HAD to show my mom..because I swear, she’s the only person I just can’t keep anything from… she told me this “Hannah, I grew you in my stomach for nine months, gave birth to this beautiful being, and you have to go and mess it up!” I ran away crying! she later apologized, and told me that she is not happy with it but accepts it. So I guess what I am trying to say is that what is done is done, and it really hurt that she made me almost regret something that is on me for the rest of my life (bad feeling). I would be understanding with my child, as long as she or he knows that their must be some special meaning to the tattoo and that it will be on them for the rest of their lives- no turning back! I’d hope that they ask me to go with them too! I’d be right their, holding their hand. oh, and i hope they’re over 18 when they get their first one! hha.

I’m only 23 myself…but I have 7 and my parents don’t care one bit (they each have 1 also), my 19 year old sister already has 2. My mum is getting annoyed that I keep tattooing my arms…other than that she doesn’t care and I doubt I will when my kids do it either.

I flipped out when my oldest daughter got one, because it was on her arm. My youngest has a tattoo but it’s in a spot normally covered by clothing. That didn’t bother me. This helped me deal with it…teeheehee

Wheras tattoos are not for me, my stepdaughter, whom I personally raised, graduated and moved in with her birth mother, recently got several… One on the back of her neck… I hate it, but.. Did not say anything negative as she has the right to do what she wants to her body…. As for my fifteen year old, she can’t have tattoos as long as she lives with me and hopefully never!!!!

My parents took me for my first tattoo, I was 17. They thought it would teach me a lesson, and I’d never get any more. I now have 8.
My parents still flip out on me, and I’m 22 and married. I remember when I got my wrists done, I came home and told my parents (I was 19) My mother was furious.
If my child got a tattoo without telling me, I’d be more disappointed than anything. I would hope he’d want me and his father there with him. Also, I’d know of the cleanest and best places to go, so I would assume he’d ask me my thoughts first.
I have no problems with tattoos. Sometimes you regret them, but it’s just a tattoo. It doesn’t hurt anything.

The good news is, that like Lasik surgery, the cost for tattoo removal has dropped significantly over the last 10 years.

I don’t have any tattoos, neither does my husband. Neither of our parents had/have any. I think they can be beautiful, interesting and even funny…but I don’t love them. I don’t love the permanence or the way they look when there are years under that ink. I would probably discourage our children from getting tattoos (just as I have all my godchildren, who are happy with their decisions to wait awhile.

In college many of my friends had their sorority crests or name put on their ankles or backs. They all hate those tattoos now.

So, would I be happy? No. Would I kick them out of the house? Probably not. But if my daughter came home with a tramp stamp on her back/butt…she’d break my heart.

I would make my child show me the design (which would have to be an original design by my child or a friend – I think a tattoo should be personal and unique to each individual’s body, not somethign picked off the wall that tons of other people have) and then wait for at least a year (probably more) to get it – and if, at the end of that time he or she still wanted that exact tattoo, I would not only approve (given that the design wasn’t huge or in a very obivous place), but I would go with!

I designed two tattoos when I was 17 years old and I was going to have my friend do them (in his house). I decided that I should wait to see if I really wanted them. Well, almost 4 years later and I still want the two I designed but I am SOOO glad that I did not let my friend do it in his house! He told me he was licensed, blah, blah, blah but just didn’t want to do that as his regular job so he only did it on the side for friends – I came to find out later, after we stopped talking because he moved, that he actually learned how to tat in prison. Now, because I’ve waited, I can save up the money to get a very well done tattoo at a respectable and clean establishment.

It’s just a matter of getting the money though… ;)

Has augustlan seen this? ;)

I’d flip out if they were under 18.

Non-parent here.

I’ve wanted a tattoo since I was nine years old, but since I could legally have it done without parental permission, I’ve never had the extra cash. So if I had a kid who got a tattoo, if they were of legal age, I’d be jealous. XD Unless it was a crappy design, in which case I’d pick on them mercilessly.

If they weren’t of legal age, I’d be all the hell over the tattoo artist/parlor for inking them. And the kid… I don’t know. I’d have to have more details about the situation before I could say what I think I’d do.

My son is 17, and he got a tatto without my permission a few months back. He had showed me the design he wanted (in honor of his deceased father), and asked me to take him, but I told him to wait until he was 18.

I said that not because I have anything against tattoos, but because I wanted him to take the time so he’d be absolutely certain. I also had hoped that he would have researched different artists and found someone specifically for this piece.

But he and his friends found someone who doesn’t check ID. Thankfully, because he planned out the design and had pictures to bring with him, it turned out fairly nicely. One of his friends wasn’t so lucky, and now has an odd looking tattoo on his chest.

if the kid shows up with a tatoo, I won’t be mad, I’d ask him to take me to the place he got it to see if it was clean and stuff, I’ll make him realize that is something that will be with him forever, and of course, I will not ground him, he owns his life, not me…

I wouldnt mind my children getting tattoo’s. Personally I have no problem with it, although I do not have any. However, I would want my children to be old enough to understand that the tattoo will be with them forever, and to give thought to any consequences of their tattoo choice later in life, since there are still many professional fields who have professional appearance policies specifically banning visible tattoos.

Ie: a rabbit smoking a joint holding a shotgun may not be wise on the back of your hand or somewhere not easily covered (besides how do you explain that to your grandchildren!?!?!)

“besides how do you explain that to your grandchildren!?!?!”

Very carefully.

As the mother of the OP (who is only 13), I say “Mangeons… don’t go getting any ideas!”

We have always told our kids that should they want a tattoo, they’ll have to wait until they are 18 to do it. I have no problem with temporary artistic license at a younger age (dying their hair, piercing their ears multiple times, etc), but tattoos are permanent (or might as well be, given the procedure to remove them). Should they want one when they are 18, I would strongly encourage them to go to get something meaningful from a reputable place, and to make sure they could cover the tattoo in the event they ever felt they needed or wanted to.

All that said, their father has several tattoos, so I don’t have an issue with tattoos in general, but getting them underage would piss me off no end. I’d have to open up a can of whoop-ass on the idiot who did the work!

Haha, auggie, I like you. :)

Who doesn’t like auggie? Hell, I lurve auggie!!

Aw, shucks. I lurve you guys, too :)

Lol… You know I don’t like pain! I might get one when I’m older, but now, at the last moment, I’d freak out and punch the tatoo artist in the face. xD

I’m picturing the cute happy monkey punching the guy who does all of my friends’ tattoos in the head. It’s HILARIOUS.