A mother's psychotic overreaction to her son's tattoo.

[Pugilist]

How something this unbalanced got published in the Guardian, I will never know, but read it and weep.

I look at him, sitting there, my 21-year-old son. I feel I'm being interviewed for a job I don't even want. I say, "But you're not. You're different. I will never look at you in the same way again. It's a visceral feeling. Maybe because I'm your mother. All those years of looking after your body – taking you to the dentist and making you drink milk and worrying about green leafy vegetables and sunscreen and cancer from mobile phones. And then you let some stranger inject ink under your skin. To me, it seems like self-mutilation. If you'd lost your arm in a car accident, I would have understood. I would have done everything to make you feel better. But this – this is desecration. And I hate it."

The comments are pretty choice too.

[irezumi]

hahahaha I had to read the choice parts out loud to my gf. that was hilarious.

[RoryQ]

I'm a big fan of mums in general, but that comes across as more than a little possessive-bonkers.

[David Flores]

Most stories of a mom's displeasure with a tattoo that I have heard usually include a bunch of yelling and a slap upside the head and then we move on. The new passive aggressive mom internalizes everything, and uses her blog as her outlet before she plays the I brought you into this world card. Who knows if this story is real, but hanging out at the playground it sounds about right for how some parents would treat their 21 year old.

[G.Uristti]

i hope its a "mom" tattoo.

i once showed my mother a new tattoo i had gotten, i was about 23 years old, she took a look at it, started crying and told me i was ugly. this article resonates deeply with me. the woman who wrote the article is a complete fucking moron.

[Hogrider]

This woman needs to see a shrink. First for thinking she gets to tell her son if he can or can't have a tattoo, second for here EXTREME over-reaction. What a controlling bitch. I bet he can't wait to get out of that hell-hole.

[David Flores]

I try to think what I would do in that situation, but it really is irrelevant because the kid is not even a kid he's 21 and I like tattoos and wouldn't have a leg to stand on even if I didn't feel that way. I guess I could look at if my son got a face piercing, but the only thing i would probably say is why didn't you get a tattoo and inform him that piercing is to tattooing as rollerblading is to skateboarding, just to give him a hard time. Then I would remember he was 21 and suggest we go get a beer.

[jade1955]

What made me laugh was the amount of replies that needed to be deleted because they didn't abide by the community standards.

[Doozer]

This article makes me even more thankful for my mom. Mine probably would have freaked more if it wasn't for 3 of my siblings already having tattoos :P

[CultExciter]

My mother told me, very sharply after she saw my first tattoo (I was 19), that "only rednecks and criminals get tattoos, and now I have to think of you as one."

Luckily, since then, she has realized that, even though she disapproves, I do take the effort to get quality tattoos that I am proud of.

However, the lady who wrote the self-important drivel in the article, dat shit cray.

[Pugilist]

piercing is to tattooing as rollerblading is to skateboarding

Brilliance.

[Delicious]

this makes me feel ill... somehow this woman made a mark on her son's body all about HER. her wants, ,her emotions, her fears... I feel so bad for her son. How would it feel as a grown man to go get a tattoo only to be ostracized by your mother and guilt-tripped by her because of something you chose to do to your own body? If my grandmother, my father, my stepdad, my mother hated my tattoo and were upset with me for what I put into my skin... It would break me. My dad may not like tattoos, but at least he respects my right to get them.

[TrixieFaux]

My mom hates tattoos, too. What can ya do? She still loves me. She told me she thinks they are trashy. I told her a tattoo itself cannot be trashy...the wearer can be, but I am not a trashy person...so, there you go. She also pulled the "get therapy" on me again this last trip when she spotted another tattoo. I had to tell her again that I am happy with my tattoos, happy people don't need therapy. She has a problem with tattoos. People with problems need therapy. So, yeah, she basically needs therapy to get over her problem w/my tattoos. Hee hee. My mom and I both have a sense of humor, so we can get into these brief debates and then we just go on. I know she will never like tattoos, but I do think she could stand to open her mind a little more. It is so shallow to judge someone based solely on appearances.

[Colored Guy]

Of all the crap I did in my mis-spent youth, a tattoo was the very least of it. My mom liked mine, but was a little taken aback with the 1st one.

CG

[heathenist]

My mom has never really said one thing or the other about my tattoos (she has a very small one on her toe), but she loved my Dietzel lady head when I showed it to her.

My dad on the other hand, if my tattoos are brought up when he happens to be in a bad mood he won't hesitate to tell me they look trashy and that I'll regret them. Of course I just shrug it off and say something like "Nah, I don't think so." Fortunately, I'm not too concerned with sharing the same opinions on everything with either of my parents.

[Amok]

it's the mother that needs to be removed, not the tattoo.

[jacobhh]

it's the mother that needs to be removed, not the tattoo.

I would still use lasers, though.

[smiling.politely]

"If you controlled what they did, you'd just pass on your own rubbish tip of imperfections. You hope the next generation will be better, stronger, more generous."

Thankfully, it seems that she at least succeeded at this goal, although probably not intentionally.

[johnathon cunningham]

i think its just a motherly feeling, be it a tattoo or a mohawk when your 13, they usually disapprove. with time and explanation they grow to understand.

when my mother saw my first tattoo she also cried and then told me to never tattoo my face, 6 years later she had me tattoo her and then went to have eyeliner cosmetically tattooed. so yea, they get over it.

[Tatanium2012]

My mother told me after i turned 18 that if i ever came home with a tattoo, i wouldn't have a home to come home to. well when i turned 18 i went into the navy and to her "surprise", i returned home after doing so with of course my first tattoos. she was pissed for a while then she became more pissed when i decided to make it my career, and now guess what. Years later after seeing the work i do and how more common tattoos have become, shes thinking of getting one now. moms are goofy, and a lot of times hypocritical, but they'll eventually realize, and i can't speak for all mas, that their kids aren't kids anymore.

[tammy]

obviously I have nothing against tattoos and my husband has a bunch, but as a mother, I would be sad if my babies got any tattoos....that being said, i would be sad if they pierced their ears, dyed their hair, get scars on their bodies because to me, they are perfect, little, soft skinned babies...my babies.

and even when they are hairy, smelly men, I will probably always think of them as these perfect, yummy smelling babies. Shit, i prolonged them getting their first haircuts for the longest time. @steve1461686340, @Lochlan, and @Barbie Doll can attest to that.

[Ursula]

I feel bad for anyone who has to be around that woman at any point during their day, be it at work, at home or because they are friends. What an ignorant fucking cunt. How about you get over yourself and realize that your children aren't 3 year olds anymore and there isn't shit you can do about it.

If she really loved her son as much as she claims, she'd have no problem over looking something so superficial and realize he's the same little boy she raised, and he's turned out the way he has because of how she raised him.

[Kev]

As we have yet to see the peak of the helicopter parent craze , I see a lot more of these blogs in the future. Where's Dear Abby when you need her?

[SStu]

at the risk of derailment . . .

[gougetheeyes]

C'mon, this is the only direction this thread can go in now.

"