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

[Synesthesia]

I've wanted tattoos forever and my parents have always tried their best to dissuade me from getting any, to the point of threatening to kick me out. The summer after I turned 18, I decided I wanted a tattoo to memorialize that I was going away for college and to try to remind me to stick to my values (I've been straight edge since I was 14 and wanted something to kind of rebel against the traditional college lifestyle). I told my parents I wanted to get one and told them what I wanted (the Minor Threat sheep) and they were actually okay with it, a lot more okay with it than I expected. My dad has 4 tattoos, so he kind of gave me the whole "It's going to hurt soooo much, it's your funeral" speech to discourage me, but ended up saying it was my choice. My mom has always been into art, but not tattoos, so she was a little more hesitant. She ended up being okay with it because she said it was "cute" enough. :D My mom actually went with me because she was worried about me passing out on the drive home, and she did better than your average mom. The place I went to was 2 levels, the first floor was like the lobby and the tattooing happened upstairs; she waited downstairs and wasn't your typical mom hovering over the artist. They both were happy with my second one I recently got. I'm not sure what's caused them to change their minds, but it seems like they've slowly come around in the past few years.

[Colored Guy]

I guess parents are the hardest ones to break the news to. My mom barely blinked, my dad had no real opinion but I got his vibe of disgust.

I was pretty much very bad news in those days anyway. I was going off in a bad direction but got my shit together in time.

Rob

[Amok]

Today at a family get together my dad saw one of my chest tattoos, all he basically said was "I knew you'd get one" and "I suppose your arms will be next" and that was about it. I thought he'd freak out but it wasn't a big deal at all. My parents are old and pretty traditional so this was a shock to me. I didn't tell him I have 5 others though, and he saw the smallest one hehe.

I'm happy cos now I can start getting more visible tattoos. Then again I'm 33 with my own family, maybe I should grow a pair and just do whatever the hell I want, but I am trying to be conservative for my family and in-laws sake.

[Colored Guy]

Today at a family get together my dad saw one of my chest tattoos, all he basically said was "I knew you'd get one" and "I suppose your arms will be next" and that was about it. I thought he'd freak out but it wasn't a big deal at all. My parents are old and pretty traditional so this was a shock to me. I didn't tell him I have 5 others though, and he saw the smallest one hehe.

I'm happy cos now I can start getting more visible tattoos. Then again I'm 33 with my own family, maybe I should grow a pair and just do whatever the hell I want, but I am trying to be conservative for my family and in-laws sake.

Most people are fairly conservative. They go with the flow. I've always said that a person who would get a tattoo will do almost anything.

My wife comes from a real stick-up-the-ass type of family. I'd say that none of them have ever been arrested, shot, divorced, had a drug addiction, been in a fist fight, etc.

Tattooed people are far more interesting than the unadorned. I've long since given up on what other people think about my tattoos or anything else, but it took a while.

Rob

[Boxing Gloves]

My parents had already told me they wouldn't care if I got tattoos, unless I got something on my face or the like, so I told them about my first one. My second one was a christmas present from them, but my mom hates anything I get because they look "mean." My dad just asks me things like, "does it make a face when you flex that muscle?"

[polliwog]

They were in Italy. Came home to a tattooed daughter. (I'm 27, though, so...)

[Colored Guy]

They were in Italy. Came home to a tattooed daughter. (I'm 27, though, so...)

What the hell are they gonna do about it? You are the same person with or without the tattoo.

Rob

[polliwog]

They just really, really don't want me to get another one. "Why don't you design a t-shirt instead?"

[Born Without a Face]

I was fortunate to have a tattooed mother who supported me in my choice to get tattooed. She even took me on my 16th birthday to get my first tattoo of an eagle on my bicep. The artist's name was Tasili. I have no idea what ever happened to him.

[misfitsmidget75]

My first tattoo was a Social Distortion skelly on my arm. I got it on my 18th birthday. The next day I was walking from my room in my parents house to the shower with no shirt on. My dad saw it and commented on it saying "Wow that's pretty cool! Aren't you afraid it's going to wash off?" When I told him it was a tattoo he responded with "That's stupid..." And walked away! My parents have become more accepting of them now but they still make a comment every time they notice a new one. By now though, I imagine they have realized I'm not stopping anytime soon!

[MadeIndelible]

I haven't showed my mom my most recent tattoo. It's on my leg and easily hidden by pants. She's not so much worried about the tattoos as she is with money nowadays.

My dad reacted positively when I told him about my tattoos. He even sent me a picture of one that he saw in Hawaii on a recent trip. I asked him if he ever thought about getting more tattoos (in addition to the one he stick and poked on himself at 15), and he said he has, but he has too hairy a canvas now. It reminded me of that wolf that Hooper did on a guys chest. Thomas has shaved the dude's chest, but you could tell that the tattoo would be totally covered if the guy didn't keep up with the shaving.

[Bexter]

Ha, great thread. I want to tell you all about my brothers tattoo. He was still living at home at the time, and I wasn't.

He got a bunch of stars on his ribs and told me about it, but didn't tell my mum. Anyway, a few weeks later, my mum rings me all worried about him, saying that he is really body conscious because he's always hiding his body around the house. Ha ha ha.

I was just like "I dunno". Eventually she found out! I don't know how she took it because I wasn't there, but he's covered in them now so I assume she's gotten used to it.

Good job, makes it easier for me!

[MRCL]

I just showed them my first one. They knew I wanted a tattoo since I was a lil kiddo, always covered in those bugglegum tats. I bought books and magazines long before I got my first tattoo, so they knew it was inevitable and its not a question of "if" but "when". Interestingly enough my father, the more conservative of my parents, was the most interested in the tattoo. He later went on to state that tattoos can be cool and all, but he doesn't like tats on the chest (for whatever reason). We'll see how he'll react to my recent chest tattoo lol.

[MadeIndelible]

My first tattoo has really grown on me.

[MrToby]

I got my first tattoo whilst I was living in New Zealand so my parents had no idea for ages. When they eventually came over for a trip a few months later they spotted it on my inner arm and the first question was "Is that real?" For some reason that question still amuses me. But I kept a relatively straight face and answered yes. I don't think either my parents were particularly happy but my Mum reacted worse than my Dad. She eventually came to me about three days after she'd first seen it and apologised for not talking to me about it and basically ignoring it. I'm not sure she's ever really gotten used to the fact that I have tattoos. My Dad on the other hand now looks through some of my books and seems pretty interested in the purely artistic side of it.

[Chris Parkinson]

Luckily for me my parents went with me to get my first tatto, which by the way was this on my calf:

They were both pretty accepting because it has meaning, and at the end of the day it is my body. Hope that helps!

Chris.

[Chemical Burn]

I got my first one when I was 17. I was sitting at the kitchen table with my auntie and asked,

"Would you mind if I got my nose pierced again?"

"You're a big girl now, you don't have to ask me these things."

"Can I get a tattoo?"

"If you can find someone who'll do it."

I had it before the week was out. Hindsight being the wonderful thing it is, it was a terrible, godawful idea and I wish she'd told me 'no' or I'd had the sense to wait and go to someone good/actually think about what I wanted. That said, I found the artist again a few weeks ago and I got away pretty lightly considering some of the other work he deemed portfolio-worthy.

[sophistre]

Unrelated: @Chemical Burn, I think I recognize you from another forum. Haha.

On topic -- I don't have my tattoo yet; my appointment is for April. My mother is progressive and supportive of decisions I make as an adult, but she's always been a little bit squeamish about body modification in general...she's just a product of her generation, I guess. The other night I sat around writing a little thing about being tattooed. It involved my mother, and on a whim I sent it to her. I thought maybe she'd identify with the self-ideation aspect, since she's moved across the country and remade her own life twice now.

Very much to my surprise and amusement, it was the image of an aspiring doctor standing over my willed-to-science body some day hopefully far into the future, and looking at my future tattoos with amazement, that won her over. She said the whole thought just made her smile, and ever since she's been really positive about it. The email I got from her about her visit sometime this summer said that if she chooses those travel dates, she'll be able to see my "gorgeous" tattoo.

Who knew that the way to her heart was through the morgue? Hahah. Wild.

[Marwin3000]

I still lived with my parents when I took my first one. So I told them before I went out and got it. My father hates tattoos but he doesn't get mad. He just lets me know what he thinks about them. But like he says "It's your body, do what ever you like". My mother is not really fond of tattoos but she always tells me she likes them! So not really a bid deal telling them!

[Tesseracts]

My mother thinks my tattoo is great. My father think my tattoo is better than most tattoos, but he dislikes tattoos in general unless they are really simple and have no color, so that's the best I can get from him. He wasn't happy that I spent so much on it, but I used money I earned myself so it doesn't matter.

[polliwog]

"That's really pretty. Please don't get any more."

[cameroncrazie80]

I was 18 when I got my first one. I drew it up myself and told my dad I was going around to get it priced.

Came home late that night, after getting the tattoo of course, and first thing my dad says is "let me see your tattoo". He had a sixth sense that when I said I was going to get prices, that meant I was getting it. He was cool about it.

Being in a very outlaw biker gang in the 50's, 60's and some of the 70's but having no tattoos except some scratch work he did himself (VERY tiny and not in a visible place) I didn't think he's mind. He warned me my mom might be pretty mad, but all she did was kinda shake her head about it. But about 10 years later, she ended up getting one of her own.

[TahmidThrashCat]

My parents are very religious muslims, so it wasn't even a topic that was open for discussion as tattoos are so forbidden in Islam.

My older sister got a tattoo before me, and whilst i knew my parents hated it i was never around to see my parents finding out about it so i had no real idea about what sort of reaction they had. So i got my first tattoo on my back, second on my chest, and then my third on my forearm. During healing i was wearing a long shirt to hide it, and i kept bringing up the "Can i get a tattoo" and my mum would always say no, i brought it up once when i was in my mums room and whilst talking about it, she spotted the gap i had in my shirt (It had buttons down the sleeves kinda thing) and demanded to see my arm, she freaked out had a nervous breakdown, sent me out of her room, cried for a couple of hours and i could tell it was easily one of the most upsetting things in her entire life. This same ordeal happened (And to this day does) everytime i'd get a new tattoo and she'd "Find out" about it. I have a full sleeve now, entire chest and other tattoos here and there, and it's still something that plagues her, she can't stand my tattoos. The point is, even if your parents are only a little bit opposed to it, or completely opposed to it like my parents, showing them sooner than later is the only way to go. When i'm hiding tattoos i have this constant fear of them seeing them, and when they do know all about my tattoos at least i have a sense of relief.

[Faolan]

My dad and i share a tattoo artist and my mom drove me to the parlor and ended up staying for the whole session. The only time she cried about a tattoo was when i got one to represent my love for her.

[kvp521]

I told my mom within a couple days of getting my first, she likes them, but always urges me to think about it alot before getting any more. She doesn't want me to get anything that I'll regret.

My dad is super conservative; he still sees tattoos as part of counterculture and looks down on them as a whole. He's told me since I was a little kid that he'd never pay for college if I got any tattoos. I pierced my ear when I was 16 and promptly had to sit through a four hour lecture (and wasn't allowed to keep the piercing, obviously). The first time he saw the tattoos on my thighs was when I came home drunk and fell asleep on the couch in my boxers and he woke me up. I think he's more in denial than anything, he only brings it up when he wants to guilt trip me about something. Oh - and he hasn't stopped paying for college. go figure.