to not want 19 yo DD to get a half leg sleeve tattoo?

[BlueEmerald73]

DD is booked in to have like a half leg sleeve, I have no idea what it's called but it goes from her ankle to right up top but just doesn't wrap all the way around the leg. She is travelling quite far for it which is the part I do actually respect as she has chosen the artist considerably but I do think it's a bit of a permanent, big decision at just 19. It's consisting of a few things as well, such as a reference to her favourite childhood interest, etc. basically just a bunch of things like that going up her leg. There's also my birth flower in there, which is sweet but I would rather she wasn't getting a tattoo, especially if it has a bit of a reference to me.

I realise it isn't my decision and I would never try and stop her, but AIBU to be a bit sad about it? She's still a teenager.

This is an example of considering your offspring’s teenage underdeveloped frontal lobe and guiding them the best (and only) way you could. Well done, and thank you for this idea which I’ll be using if necessary as my nine yr old recently announced he will be getting a dragon covering his whole back when he turns 18…!

I think she'll get upset when she finds out some of his are over 40 and still getting tattoos and adding to the collections we started at 18/19

This made me really laugh.. ‘a bit naff’ 😂 is something my Nan would say.

You might not be inappropriate minority on this thread, but mumsnet isn't necessarily reflective of society as a whole. Ant thread that mentions tattoos inevitably brings out the same kind of posters. You've already had one particularly horrible person calling them chavvy. No doubt you'll soon get posts saying that they're common or lower class, that people with them have no morals, that they would never hire someone with a tattoo. I even once saw a poster on here saying they would refused to be treated by a paramedic with a tattoo. But I doubt most people in the real world actually think like that these days.

Every haircut I had in the 80s and 90s tells a story, but I'm glad they're not permanently attached to me.

I love the idea of a slowly fading ink!

I agree with you OP. I have told my teen DD I wish I didn't have mine (small ones on ankle and foot - also when 19)

I threaten to get them removed regularly, but haven't yet.

I do think that it's a mostly youthful decision to get a tattoo. I remember the heady feeling of getting mine, but decades later I wish I hadn't.

I hope your DS doesn't have anything to do with you anymore.

Smallish one on your back or similar - crack on. Can add to it over time if liked.

I didn’t say it was a bit stiff to dislike tattoos- we all have a preference.
I said it’s only on Mumsnet that people really give a fuck whether someone has a tattoo or not and would make a judgement based on it

I've heard dc say "you can just get them lasered off" but I gather it's not as easy as that sounds

I took my middle child to get her first official tattoo at 18 - it was her birthday present from her dad - I was fascinated and so when she went back I got one - I was 52!

I now have 4 - each one has a very personal meaning to me - reflecting my life and the people in it - I have a very large one on my back.

I get people don't like them - that's fine - I didn't have mine to please anyone else - it's my skin and they are beautiful to me.

You can go over old tattoos if you go off the ones you have done young

Calling them 'chavvy' is just a lazy way of generating a bit of attention on here - it speak volumes on how superficial some people are just to judge on appearance - but then some people are like that. I am of an age where I have zero fucks to give!

What a foot stamping, worthy of a 14 year old response! 😂
Sadder still because the op makes it clear that it's not so. Oh dear...

Just be glad she's put thought into it and it's not stars, butterfly or heart 😂

Can't say I would be over the moon if it was my daughter but she's an adult.

This all sounds very healthy. Wow.

I understand how you feel, but it sounds like she's sure about it. I had tattos young, and i do regret one of them because i put no thought into it and got it when i was drunk, lol

I would probably feel similar. I really dislike tattoos and this opinion appears to be “incorrect” but it seems to be the minority who don’t have them. A big change from when I was growing up. They don’t make people as interesting as they think

At 19 its absolutely her decision to make. Its her body and she is now an adult.

I personally do not have any tattoos. Ive seen friends rush to get ones done aged 17, drunk on a weekend trip to the seaside and instantly regretted it. They’ve lived hating it for 30 years, embarrassed and felt unable to wear certain tops as it would show. Only now going through painful tattoo removal wishing they had never had it done.

i saw a lady in the supermarket the other day who was wearing very plain mumsy clothes, who had sleeves on both her arms and they came up her neck. Looked completely out of place.

who you are when your 17 and who you are aged 37, 57…..are most of the time very different people. I know if i had of gotten one, id of regretted it the moment it was complete.

however, some tattoos are amazing pieces of art. The detail on them, colours etc are incredible.

dreading my kids having any done i must admit but what can you do 🤷🏻‍♀️

When I was that age I thought it would be fabulous to have a tattoo across my back. Thank god I never had the money.

Now I think they look terrible. I know various people with them and while I’ll occasionally appreciate the skill in the work, I think they are hideous.

I’m also going to use to tattoo=No Uni money approach. I’d fallen out of love with the idea by the age of 22.

Problem seems to be that people go BIG with tattoos from the off nowadays. Instead of a naff little dolphin somewhere it's covering half a leg in ink. I can understand that you're not thrilled, OP. Little you can do I suppose, apart from ask her to give it proper serious thought.

Better her leg than her arm though. Although if she gets addicted the arms might follow.

I do know a heavily tattooed 30 year old woman who's in the process of having all of hers removed, At great expense. but no 19 year old one thinks that's going to be them.

Personally, I would be devastated as I do not like tattoos but when they become adults there is little you can do but fill your eyes when they do something you don't like.

If however they were pleasing poverty at other times it would really annoy me and I would strongly say so.

Also - you can offer to pay for the design to be made up as a non permanent tattoo, so she can test it out first. It’s pricey but it may help…

Love your attitude ☺️. I’ll be still getting them in my 50s if I’m healthy enough. Sadly enough family history to suggest that may not be the case, but I’m going to own my body as long as it’s mine. There’s so many ways people can actually harm themselves trying to reach an unachievable ideal with their bodies that tattooing is simply not even comparable in terms of modifications.

Chavvy is an exhausting and out of date term. It simply means ‘I believe the way I live my life is above yours’. They believe they’re above judgement in how they look, act and live. But even choices they make that aren’t permanent can easily be looked down upon and they wouldn’t change it. Like wearing Birkenstocks….

Has she ever had a tattoo before? I have one on my ribs I had at 18. Within half an hour I felt sick from the pain.

I'd suggest she gets a small one done first to check if she's able to cope with the pain.

I've never had another one. Thankfully my ribs rarely see the light of day.

Also a daft amount of people comparing the old ideas of a crap drunken tattoo of the 80s/90s to the far more legitimate industry there is now. Tattoo artists take their work very seriously and with pride, those who do it badly or cheaply are very much scorned upon and blacklisted.

Not food stamping, I'm just someone with experience of having controlling, manipulative parents.