Kids 16 and under with tatoos? Mostly girls. WWYD?

[Papa Deuce]

I just came back from a WDW trip yesterday. One day was spent at Wet N Wild.

I could not believe how many young kids had REAL tatoos. I mentioned it to the 2 girls we brought on the trip with us. They are 14 and 16. They both went on to tell us that they thought that at least half the girls in their classes had tatoos.


Obviously some unethical tatoo parlor doesn't care about the laws and is tatooing without an age ID check.... ( I think in PA the age is 18 to get a tatoo. I know that 30 years ago I tried to get a tatoo and the place would not give me one because I was too young, they said ).

What I am not getting is how this place can stay in business - the one that DOES give tats to underage kids. The girls I took with me to WDW told me which tatoo place is giving the tats to all these young kids.

Surely "SOME" parents must be quite angry. I know if it was my daughters getting tats at ages 14 - 17, I would be all over trying to get that place shut down. I would call police. I would call the health department. I would call my local state rep. I would call the local business license department..... you get the idea.

WWYD if your underage child came home with some tats?

 

[imabrat]

I'm 16. I have a tattoo. I got it for my 16th birthday actually, as in PA you have to be 16 with parental consent.
It's a gold ribbon for childhood cancer, in honor of my battle and a friend I lost to brain cancer right after her 16th birthday. My experience with cancer will never go away, and I wanted something to remind me that I can get through anything.

I just try to remember that these days, a tattoo CAN be removed. If you can sit through a tattoo, you can sit through it's removal. And, the problem with most young kids with tattoos - they're most likely getting the tattoos from a "black market" system. Friends of friends who do it in their basement.
That's JMO.

 

[Papa Deuce]

I'm 16. I have a tattoo. I got it for my 16th birthday actually, as in PA you have to be 16 with parental consent.
It's a gold ribbon for childhood cancer, in honor of my battle and a friend I lost to brain cancer right after her 16th birthday. My experience with cancer will never go away, and I wanted something to remind me that I can get through anything.

I just try to remember that these days, a tattoo CAN be removed. If you can sit through a tattoo, you can sit through it's removal. And, the problem with most young kids with tattoos - they're most likely getting the tattoos from a "black market" system. Friends of friends who do it in their basement.
That's JMO.

I figured 16 might be OK with parental consent.... but I doubt these are being done in basements... at least not the ones I saw at Wet N Wild... they were incredibly ornate, and many were taking up their whole arms or stomachs.

 

[imabrat]

I figured 16 might be OK with parental consent.... but I doubt these are being done in basements... at least not the ones I saw at Wet N Wild... they were incredibly ornate, and many were taking up their whole arms or stomachs.

Well, not exactly basements, but not in an ideal establishment, or a tattoo parlor at all. I know several people who've had "tattoo parties" in their own homes. I also know how some of my peers can get their tattoos, "Oh, my brothers friend does them for cheap..", or "Oh, so-and-so's step dad does them at Who'sandsuch place by XYZ". I would never do it, I'm too paranoid about Hepatitis or worse. Mine was done by a very respectable parlor, and everything was opened up and disinfected infront of me.

Tattooing isn't something that is really regulated. In PA, you have to be 16 with parental consent and 2 forms of ID, or 18 with no parental consent and ID. That's just about the only standard we have, last I heard tattooing licenses weren't required.
Don't forget, some parents will enable their kids and change their birth certificates just so their "perfect child who can never do wrong" will get what they want.

 

[racetrack18kb]

I talked to DH about this. He has quite a few tattoos and neither of us have a problem with any of our kids getting one with our knowledge. We hope that we have the open communication with our kids that if they want to get a tattoo, they can come to us and have a discussion with us about it.

But if a tattoo parlor decided to give one our children a tattoo without checking for id, we'd have a problem. There are new tattoo places popping up around here....some of them, we know nothing about.

I guess what would bother us the most would be the fact that our child felt that they couldn't come to us with their idea of having a tattoo.

 

[tasha99]

Maybe the kids got their tatooes with parental consent. I said no to tatooes and a tongue piercing, but I did allow an eyebrow piercing and a nose piercing for DD. Every family is going to have different limits.

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

Usually it's eighteen no matter if you have parental consent...i've never heard of a place doing it with consent. If they have consent then it's fine

 

[browneyes106]

Here in New Mexico. Anyone under 18 must have parental consent. I had a few friends in high school whose parents constented for them to have tattoos. One of my friends parents were ok with him wanting a tattoo but they made him wait until he turned 18.

 

[shortbun]

I don't know about our laws but I can tell you that there are lots of people now doing tattooing that is ornate/beautiful who do not work in an established business. At my compound, there are several people who do very nice tattoos. They all use fresh ink and new needles. It's an art form. I am not personally tattoed as I do not inflict pain on my body purposefully, lol.

 

[Christine]

Many of my DD's friends have them. They all got them with parental consent and then the tattoo parlors can do them.

Of course, my DD wants one but I won't be a part of it.

A few weeks ago when we went to the No Doubt concert and there were a ton of "over 30" women there with plenty of tattoos, I pointed them out to my DD and said, "See how bad they look as you get older" (they really did). She was just very quiet.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

If it is done with consent, it's fine by me. If not, I'd sue them to recover the cost of removal. Personally, I can't wait until this and the piercing fad have passed.

 

[daisax]

Removal doesn't return you to perfect, non-tattooed skin, for what that's worth. I know they're coming out with new, easier to remove ink, but at present, the best you can hope for is something pretty mottled looking. Not a big deal for a little thing, but a big ornate design on the back? Not that big an improvement.

I think showing girls what they look like on older women and driving home the point that they WILL be "that old" some day is the best way to discourage it.

 

[JEmaryland]

That reminds me of a girl I knew in high school who intended to get "Angel Baby" on her lower back, but ended up with "Angle Baby"!

 

[disney1990]

If it is done with consent, it's fine by me. If not, I'd sue them to recover the cost of removal. Personally, I can't wait until this and the piercing fad have passed.

Unfortunately, I think you will be waiting for a long time. Both of my girls (well over 18) have tats. I would rather they not, but it's not my decision to make.

Yes, lots of states will allow those under 18 to get tats if they have their parent's permission.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

I figured 16 might be OK with parental consent.... but I doubt these are being done in basements... at least not the ones I saw at Wet N Wild... they were incredibly ornate, and many were taking up their whole arms or stomachs.

I am also wondering...who pays and where do they get the money. Tatoos are expensive. My son the DAY he turned 18 got one on his arm. It was an Undjet Eye Egyptian Symbol. It was one color and not ornate in the least it cost 85.oo. This was 8 years ago. The ornate ones cost hundreds. How do young kids get all the money that it costs and even if they do do them in backstreet, basement establishments they still cost.

I am waiting till the ones with the tramp stamp turn like 85 and are in a nursing home....how stupid will that look hanging out of a johnny?

 

[Evil Genius]

OP why did you automatically figure that the tattoo shop is unethical ? Tattoo shops are worse than liquor stores when it comes to checking ID's. They take copies of whatever id you have. no matter what age you are. No id or consent form no tattoo. They are business owners just like everyone else. They do not want to lose their income/store any more than anyone else.

 

[bettyann29]

I think as long as they have parental consent its ok.. I would rather consent and take my child to a place where I can be more certain that there would be less problems, than for them to sneak behind my back and do it at a place that might not be as safe..

DD17 is asking for a Winnie the Pooh tattoo on her ankle.. Im thinking of taking her for her 18th birthday in October for it.. Technically by that time she will legally be able to do it herself, but its something Ive decided to do..

 

[Papa Deuce]

OP why did you automatically figure that the tattoo shop is unethical ? Tattoo shops are worse than liquor stores when it comes to checking ID's. They take copies of whatever id you have. no matter what age you are. No id or consent form no tattoo. They are business owners just like everyone else. They do not want to lose their income/store any more than anyone else.

Because as it turns out, they are. In PA, I have now found out, you can not give ANY child a tattoo to a child under 16, and the girls next door have told me that their 14 year old friends have them.

 

[Disney Doll]

I don't care for tattoos on anyone, man or woman. being a nurse, I have seen what they look like when the person gets older and the skin becomes more fragile and translucent and loses its elasticity and so forth...it ain't pretty.

I also hate all the facial piercing, other than ears.

But I am old-fashioned I guess.

 

[Pigeon]

I loathe tattoos. In my state, it is illegal to tattoo someone under 18 even if the parents give consent. If a child of mine came home with a tattoo, I would contact the police and report the place.

The child would be grounded for life, and she would be on her own once she hit 18. We would not fund her college education as we are planning to do. Our rules on this are crystal clear--no tattoos or body modification on our dime.