To not understand why parents hate their kids getting tattoos

[lailamaria]

Obviously this applies to adult children but it's something i've come across a lot and never really understood it, is it because parents feel some sort of ownership over their kids bodies or is it something different.

This isn't a brag or anything but my mum's never been bothered, she has 2 tattoos herself with extremely sentimental meaning (although i think people should get tattoos whether their sentimental or not) and for my sister's 18th she even paid for her to get one as her birthday present.

I understand not liking tattoos on yourself but demanding your adult children don't get them or even talk them out of getting them I think is rather rude when their paying for them themselves with their own money. My aunt used to ask my cousin to cover hers up just because she hated it (it was a flower on her back so it wasn't like the tattoo was offensive.)

I'm not trying to judge truly I personally just find it strange

Small and covered by normal clothing, fine. My mum hates them, so does my aunt and many of their friends, they think they are ugly and the men criminals and the girls sluts. That´s basically it. Totally different generation.

Really? Experience and this thread would say it's the exact opposite.

On this page alone of the thread there are examples of misinformed, judgy, classist posts where people can’t just say that they don’t like tattoos but feel the need to underpin that view with a horrible attitude

You’ve summed up what I was trying to articulate in my head to answer @ChiefWiggumsBoy‘s post.

Don’t like tattoo’s - fine whatever, genuinely doesn’t invoke any response from me. Feel the need to expand and make derogatory comments on my character because of your dislike, yes that’s going to spark a fairly vehement dislike of you for thinking you have any right to make those assumptions based on nothing more than a picture on skin. Makes a person a roaring twat in fact, but that’s not based on anything to do with their appearance - just their attitude.

My parents hate them and made it very clear we'd get way more grief than it'd be worth to have one. Apart from a brief rebellious phase in my teens I agree they're bloody awful and will be as strident with my own kids in putting them off.

I did once hear a 60-something man in a café ask the waitress words to the effect of "what's a pretty girl like you ruined her body with tattoos for?"

Regardless of our differing attitudes to tattoos, I think we can all agree that we hope she told him to fuck the fuck off, and having so fucked off, to fuck the fuck a considerable fucking distance further off.

I've never been a fan but would never try and stop my kids from getting one. Their body, their choice.

I hate the way they make skin look dirty. I just can't see why anyone would mutilate themselves with permanent art work.

Poor, faded or very detailed tattoos. Some look really good. My DH has nearly 10 and they all look sharp and clear, and really well done. Not a particular fan of them, don't have any. But they don't all look bad.

I don't like the super cliched ones like start, hearts. Or hyper realistic, like somebody's face on your back, personally.

I don't want my gorgeous darlings' perfect skin spoilt by some fashion crap and have done my utmost to convince both dch that tattoos are a bad idea, from the ink ending up in your brain (as per a study) to prejudice at job interviews and the fact that they can't be undone.

I got some very good advice on here when DD was 15 and her mate got one (abroad) and DD wanted one - do it in henna, and draw it on paper and stick it next to her mirror for two months to test if she still loved it. It quietly came down after a couple of weeks. I told her to get a special necklace instead, which she still wears and adds to occasionally. Both my dch are late 20s now. One defo hasn't got one, the other - if she has, it's well hidden! But I don't ask.

When my second DS was 16, he asked if he could have a tattoo for his birthday. He expected me to say no, but I didn’t. I agreed that I would pay for him to have a tattoo, and sign any paperwork if necessary due to his age, providing he told me what he wanted tattooed (no restrictions) and that he still wanted the sand thing six months later. He’s now 24, and still not decided what to get 😂
Tbf, I’d have one myself, if I could come up with something I still wanted 6 months later
Maybe, we will go and get them done together one day 😂