Dropping the Bomb, how your parents found out about your first tattoo!

[Hogrider]

I have a daughter and get asked by people who, you can tell, don't like tattoos "what are you gonna do if she wants one?" Um....really? Like you think I'd be against it? I have 15 and counting. What the hell do you think? I'd rather her consult me and go somewhere good than to some crap hole and not tell me. I don't know if they're implying that as a parent my mind would change or since because she's female I'd be against it? I dunno. Weird assholes who think they can control people. They weird me out sometimes.

Tell them that if your 15 year old daughter approaches you about getting a tattoo, you'll sit down with her, smoke some weed and talk it over! :-)

Be sure to take a pic of the look on their faces.

Then tell them that when you need parenting advice from a judgmental ass-hole, you'll call them.

[JeffK]

Haha, it blows them away more that a guy who looks like I do doesn't drink or do drugs. No judgments, just not my thing.

[ironchef]

Haha, it blows them away more that a guy who looks like I do doesn't drink or do drugs. No judgments, just not my thing.

Same here. I look like a straight up square, yet I have a partial body suit! haha! I occasionally smoke cigars in the summer only and don't touch the spirits in any way. People can't believe that I have tattoos!

[JeffK]

Well for me it's kind of the flip. I look very much like I do everything but don't touch anything. Not "Straight Edge" I hate that title, and I'm not against most, just not for me. I usually get a weird look when going out with my daughter because she's all in pink and crap and I'm all in black with metal shirts and tattoos. It's fun that way though. Luckily she looks like me so people don't think I kidnapped her.

Anyway, another note about my dad, he respected me much more that I just went and did it and told him even if he was against it. He'd rather me have not lied. Another important thought for some.

[Colored Guy]

How's this? My son shows me a tattoo he got maybe a month ago.... hiding ink from me? And it wasn't his 1st, everything else I saw right away or was there when he got it.

Rob

[Wavey]

I didn't hide anything from my Mum. Her words were "Your skin, your money".

My girlfriend, has out right told me she doesn't like them. It's not like I hid my love of them from her, or my intentions to get a lot more. It's caused some tension as of late.

[tatB]

My girlfriend, has out right told me she doesn't like them. It's not like I hid my love of them from her, or my intentions to get a lot more. It's caused some tension as of late.

This doesn't sound good.

[Wavey]

This doesn't sound good.

Nope I can't see it ending too well. She told me she finds them "repulsive", so yeah. Not good. I also have a massive obstinate streak and do resent someone telling me what I can and can't do with my body and money, so I don't think that helps the situation too much either.

[Mark Bee]

Nope I can't see it ending too well. She told me she finds them "repulsive", so yeah. Not good. I also have a massive obstinate streak and do resent someone telling me what I can and can't do with my body and money, so I don't think that helps the situation too much either.

That's a shame. I hope it works out for you.

[Wavey]

That's a shame. I hope it works out for you.

Thank you Mark. Whatever will be will be I guess :)

[Hogrider]

This doesn't sound good.

There's not a whole lot of middle ground with tattoos. You either have them or you don't. And most people either like them or they don't. My wife likes my sleeve, but I had my back outlined last week and it's taking her a while to get used to that (me too).

[EmmaB]

I'm 35 and only started getting tattooed last year. I feel lucky that my husband has been very supportive so far, especially for someone with no tattoos nor interest in having any himself. Like many tattooed people I suspect, I started off just wanting one tattoo; now I have three big ones and can't see myself stopping any time soon. He's been with me all the way, and the only reservation he's expressed so far is that he really wouldn't want me to get a chest piece.

I will never tell my dad, but I told my mum after Christmas dinner when we'd both had lots of wine. She was shocked but not in a dismayed sense, I just think it totally confounded her perception of me, particularly the fact that I could sit for hours under the needle - she has this idea of me as someone who can't handle physical hardship/pain. I don't think she knows what to make of it all but that doesn't matter, I suppose. The main thing is she's not disappointed in me, which I had been childishly worried about.

[youthcrewalex]

well i was 14 and i walked in the house when i got home and showed my mum and she tried to wash it off haha!

my parents have now accepted it and my dad has even asked me to tattoo him when i start :P

my missus just dosnt want any on my face... thats the deal breaker haha!

[jitterbug]

I'm 33 and still haven't told my mum I have several tattoos. She's very old fashioned (she had me at 46) and has a very negative attitude towards them. I think she has seen the one on my back but chooses to ignore it. She'll probably find out soon because I intent to get more and know she'll probably cry and carry on about it.

[Eskimette]

My mother was in the hospital high on dillota (im very sure I spelled that wrong) pain killers for a herniated disc when she first saw my tattoo..and i went with a big fat piece...not something small.lol. She thought it was moving..lol.

[Dan S]

My mother was in the hospital high on dillota .

Dilaudid.

Good stuff.

[joakim urma]

I don't remember the reaction on the first one but.. now as I'm up to 20-something tattoos each new one gets less and less negative reactions. At first it was like "Why are you doing this? You are destroying your body! It is ugly"

Now it's more like "Hmmpf.. another one.."

I guess that's a good thing. It has been mainly my mother who has been negative about the whole thing and I kept telling her that she will have to accept it, that I will cover my most of my body and that's that.

[keepcalm]

Great stories in here! I'll add mine since I enjoyed reading this thread so much.

I was 22 when I got my first (a small ibis on my ribs), and I hadn't told anyone I was getting it, not even my boyfriend at the time. Obviously he saw it shortly thereafter, and the following summer, he went with me to spend time with my family at our lake house. (I don't live anywhere near my parents.) I knew mom would see it once I was in a swimsuit, but my then-boyfriend (now ex-husband) was a bit of an ass and preempted me, saying, "keepcalm has something to show you." Well jesus. Mom made the "I'm disappointed and I disapprove" face and didn't say much else. Dad said nothing, really. Mom has since -- ONE time -- expressed some vague interest in seeing it closer up and/or touching it (people are always touching!). Otherwise, it's never discussed (for good OR bad).

It then took me five years to decide on the elephant I got on my hip/top of thigh last year. Only the outline was done when I ended up at the lake house again with family. I managed to hide it from mom as it was only for a couple of days. Now it's done, and by the time I am in a swim suit in front of my parents again, I'll also have a ship and a lion on the back of my left and right shoulders. Whoops, haha! Three at once might be a bit much for dear old mom, but I'm 28, and she knows what she can do with her opinions. :) Dad, on the other hand, seems to have a non-opinion. My extended family members are more outspoken on my tattoos than my parents have been! In fact, I have one cousin who told me she is living vicariously through me because her father (my uncle) would kill her if she got a bunch of big tattoos. He even gave ME a stern look when he saw the ibis! #YOLO, amirite?!?! (<-- just kidding about that last bit ;))

[Eskimette]

Dilaudid.

Good stuff.

lol

thaaaats the word - yes..it helped with her back pain and my tattoo transition lol

[tattooedgirl]

I have a friend that is 33 and his mother still does not know that he has as many tattoos that he does. I believe he is up to 7 and they are all rather large, no small ones. His mom would be so upset if she found out, so he hides it from her.

[else]

My Mom has known that I've gotten "a few" new tattoos recently, but yesterday at my sister's graduation the legs made their first public debut.

My Mom's jaw dropped when she first saw them!!

She asked a lot of questions the big one was "are you going to get more?!?!"

Later, my husband asked "What did your Mom think?" I told him that I thought she'd been a little bit horrified - my brother piped in from across the table "A whole bunch of other people's mom's were horrified too!!" LOL!!

My Mom eventually said she thought they were "nice" and "colorful"...

which I think means that she kinda hates the tattoos but loves me anyway.

[ben stone]

who the hell wants a tattoo their parents LIKE??????????

[tatB]

who the hell wants a tattoo their parents LIKE??????????

the children of super cool parents

[ben stone]

yeah ,fair enough

[VCarter]

Both my parents like the tattoo I currently have (a pair of ballet slippers on my rib cage) as well as the ideas I've been tossing around for a few others I want to get. Then again, my parents are pretty freaking cool.