Monday Teeny Poll
By Glinda
Last week’s poll about the Oscar telecast should have the Academy a bit worried, because hardly anyone watched the Oscars, and those that did weren’t all that pleased. A paltry 16 percent had anything positive to say about it. Perhaps they need to provide a little more excitement than people tuning in just to see if Jack Nicholson is still alive.
This weeks poll is inspired a bit by Oscar winner Diablo Cody and her prominently displayed tattoo. I was wondering what you thought about when and if your child wanted to get one.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:17 am
In my state, 21 is the age at which one can get a tattoo without parental consent. (At least that’s what I told my oldest son and he either believed me or I was actually right!) He went on his 21st birthday and got one on his upper arm. He was thinking, though, and made sure it could be covered by a shirt sleeve. It can affect job prospects, especially here in the conservative Midwest. He has gone on to get two more.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:20 am
The rule in our home was you can do anything as long as it isn’t permanent (i.e. no piercings, no tattoos); so we had a lot of lightning bolts and sports jersey numbers shaved into the hair (my son’s not mine) and that seemed to satisfy the rebellious side. I used to get my nails done at a shop where they did piercings on weekends and it used to flat out amaze me how many moms brought their 14 year old daughters in for belly button and tongue piercing. That just seemed a little creepy to me.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:17 am
All I can say is this: my father was in the military, so I’ve seen plenty of tats on old, wrinkled and sun damaged skin. It’s not pretty.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Good rule. That’s the one I plan on having when I have kids. I’ll let them pierce their ears at 12 (just regular piercings, though — none of those huge things that stretch your earlobes big enough that you can stick a finger through them.)
As far as hair goes, they can do whatever they darned well please. I’ll probably put up a token fuss though, just to make them feel like they’re rebelling.
But no tats or wacky piercings. I have a tattoo, and I have a navel ring, and I got them both well after the age of 19. If I waited, so can they.
March 3rd, 2008 at 6:25 pm
I think I was probably the only person ever peer pressured into getting her ears pierced by her mother who had finally decided to take the plunge. I was eighteen when she decided it was time to get holes punched in her earlobes, and she bribed me into coming along and having it done, too. I hate needles. I nearly fainted.
Tattoos were never an issue in my family. None of us seemed to want any. If I had a kid, though, and (s)he wanted one, I’d say fine. Once you turn eighteen and use your own money, you can do whatever you want to decorate your body.
In the meantime, I know I’d be the sort of mom who would do temporary tattoos with the kids.
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:08 pm
My aunt peer-pressured me to getting my ears pierced when I was 21. I am afraid of needles, so piercings were never going to happen of my own volition. Because of said fear, I’m not likely to get a tattoo, either, but if I did, it would so thoroughly upset my grandmother (and mom and dad and grandfather and everyone else in my family), whom I love dearly, that it doesn’t even appeal to me.
My parents just made it really clear that they think tattoos are trashy and that they would be disappointed in us for getting one. I have no doubt that would be just the type of thing that would drive another kid straight to the nearest parlor, but what can I say?
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:57 pm
If you are of legal age, working, supporting yourself, then what ever floats your boat. Just ask yourself one question, “Will I be so proud of this that I will want to show it to my daughter?” I took the plunge this year when all of my friends and family decided it would be funny to get me gift certificates to a tattoo shop. It’s pretty scroll work on my back, invisible in a business suit, decorative in something backless, and makes no political, religious, or idealogy statement or shows any preference for any cartoon character. My youngest sister had Mickey Mouse on her lower back and everytime she got pregnant, Mickey disappeared down the crack. My niece (other sister’s kid) has a lot of tats and many are visible and some obscene. She is now 23 and has figured out that getting a job is difficult when you put trash on your body. If getting a tattoo, get something beautiful, classy, and timeless, and coverable. It’s just like that little black dress, it can be tasteful or slutty, depends on how it fits and what it shows…
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Tattoos are not a big issue in our house. Both my husband and I are covered in them. But nothing below the elbow or above the neck, so they have never been a problem in the workplace for us. I do think that kids should wait though, until they are at least 18 before they get their first one. And they should have the money to pay for it themselves. That will give them plenty of time to think about what they want before they get it.
March 4th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Why has nobody said it yet? Unless you are Maori, tats are seriously passe. And what do you do now? Not everybody can afford to turn “Winona Forever” into “Wino Forever”.
March 4th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
If getting a tattoo, get something beautiful, classy, and timeless, and coverable.
With all due respect (I do come from the generation where tattoos=”I been to the Big House”), I would never put the words “tattoo” and “classy” in the same sentence.
March 4th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
As my dear Father-in-Law told my dear Husband, ” You get one body. Don’t write on it.”
March 6th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
I feel sorta silly saying that I wouldn’t want my kids to get tattoos till I’m gone… because really, its just that I wouldn’t want them to get them where they are visible. And why do I feel so silly. Well, I have one. Its very small (about postage stamp size) and it lives on my right hip where, even in the lowest rise jeans that I wore in 1998-2003 it wasn’t visible. Only the people that I want to see it can see it. And I don’t actually plan on telling my kids that I have one. Its not like anyone but their father will see it.
April 9th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
I actually did get what I consider adults-only tattoos; I got my eyeliner tattooed on, upper and lower. It’s NOT for kids, especially since it does fade over time (just fade; nothing awful), and needs to be renewed.
It’s not a bizarre color, or anything, and it’s not very heavy; if I want really striking eyemakeup, I put additional makeup on over it. I’m saving up to get my eyebrows put back on, since they’ve faded out.
I did it for myself, to make me happy. No one knows unless I say something, and it certainly doesn’t adversely affect my job.
It is absolutely imperative, though, to find an accredited practitioner - it’s not the same technique that’s used on body tatts; you really, really don’t want someone making a mistake!