When I decided to get my first tattoo last September I did not, I repeat, did not tell anyone in my family. I knew they would either try to talk or guilt me out of it. So, I got it done before anyone could tell me no. I received a text from my mom about three hours later asking me if I had gotten a tattoo to which I responded yes. The next text that I got was "Are you kidding me?" and I can't remember my response, but I'm sure it was sarcastic and involved the use of "LOL." In November I got two more tattoos that I attempted to hide from my family, but I am not a sly fox and mom found out about them in about three days.
Almost everyone I meet has one or more tattoos, and many people who do not are just waiting until the day they are no longer under their parents' control. By the way, threatening to make your child pay for all their expenses just so they won't get a tattoo is not very effective. As soon as they are independent they're going to get that tattoo regardless of your views. Tattoos are not signs of rebelling, tattoos are a form of self expression.
It's been over a year and now I have five tattoos. I always thought my family would judge me for my tattoos, and I know some of them do, but what bothers me the most are the people I don't know that are upset by my tattoos. I have always been told that tattoos would affect my chances of getting hired in the future. People would tell me that tattoos are permanent (duh) and that I would regret them when I was older. I have heard the explanation that tattoos ruin your beautiful skin or even the extreme "That's Satan's mark on your body," which honestly I laughed at. The thing is, these tattoos are on MY body, which means the ink under the many layers of my skin isn't hurting anyone. If anything, I'm like a walking piece of art which is awesome.
