My parents had it so easy.
They didn’t have to worry too much about my brother and me in the whole scheme of things.
But today, it doesn’t matter how well you raise your kids. It doesn’t mean a hill of beans what socio-economic category your family falls into. It’s irrelevant whether your kids are on the Dean’s List or in detention, whether your kids want to be doctors or ditch diggers, whether they aspire to live in the White House or the Big House.
All kids today are at risk of succumbing to the type of behavior that, two decades ago, was reserved for only a tiny fringe of society.
Otherwise known as ”body modification,” tattoos and body piercings have become mainstream in today’s society. It is no longer a question of whether our kids will get tattoos and body piercings, but when.
During my freshman year of college back in 1984, my dorm mate shoved a needle through my left earlobe and into a raw potato just so I could wear a tiny gold stud. That night while dancing to Duran Duran at the bars, I sported my new asymmetrical ears with confidence. The tiny third earring seemed to scream, “Hey you! Look! I’m not the geek you think I am! I’m cool!”
Despite my elevated fashion status, I still didn’t get many dates, and that third piercing is now just a lump of scar tissue.
That was about as daring as we got back in the mid-80s. But today’s kids consider a third earring to be child’s play. They are going for the big guns ÔÇô elaborate tattoos on skin both public and private, and piercings through every pinchable flesh imaginable: tongues, navels, eyebrows, lips, nostrils, and nipples, to name a few.
Tattoos and body piercings are commonplace and completely accepted in today’s society. Why, take a walk through any neighborhood park. I guarantee you will see at least one mom pushing her toddler on the swings with a barbed wire tattoo around her arm. Next time you hit the grocery store, look to see if your cashier has a bull ring through her nose. Does the bagger have one of those giant rivets through his ear? Yup, thought so.
Last year, I was at my daughter’s indoor soccer game. As I leaned over the rail to get a better look, the moms on either side of me struck up a conversation about their upcoming birthdays.
“Well, when I turned 40, I got my lower back tattoo and . . .”
“Oh my God, me too!” the other mom interrupted. “What does yours look like?”
“I wanted to keep it really classy, so I had the tattoo artist make a design with butterflies” the mom said proudly.
“Oh wow, mine is a really cool Asian symbol, but I’m not really sure what it means.”
As the two moms went on to complain about how their jeans waistbands irritate their belly button rings, I decided against telling them about my third ear piercing.
With everyone and their mother (literally) mutilating their bodies these days, what will our kids do to set themselves apart? And, what do all these people think will happen to these tattoos and body piercings once their skin gives out?
Does a “Tramp Stamp” (i.e., lower back tattoo) that says “Juicy” end up looking more like “Jeewillickers” after it becomes distorted with stretch marks, age spots and spider veins?
Will it make grandma look sexy when her blouse lifts up out of her elastic waist pants as she bends over to touch her toes during morning calisthenics at The Happy Acres Retirement Village? Maybe grandpa will stop eating his rice pudding long enough to wheel his chair over and slap her on the tush. Grandma might wink at him, because only she knows that that under all that half-chewed rice pudding his dentures are hiding a tongue piercing he got when he was 18.
Wow, that’s hot.
So what am I saying? Should we give in and buy our kids gift cards from “Needles R Us?” Should we accompany them for their first bolt-fitting and take them out for ice cream afterwards? Should we pick out tattoo designs for ourselves to fit our parental lifestyles? (I might start with a nice frying pan with eggs on my hip, or maybe a laundry basket on my ankle.)
No, I don’t think we should embrace the body modification trend anymore than we should start keeping badgers as pets, but I do think that we should keep trying to talk some sense into our kids.
Like, tattoos are permanent. Piercings are scarring. Both are painful. And if they really want to be different, they should leave their bodies unaltered and be true non-conformists.
I think you take a very close minded view on this. If you look at the generations before you, they would have though you a slut for wearing skirts above your ankles or tight jeans. Does that mean you are a slut? No it doesn’t. Its not about the appearance but its how you carry yourself. If somebody truly wants to look a certain way (ie. get piercings or tattoos or any other body modification), you shouldn’t tell them not too. Does that mean they are a bad person or influence? No it doesn’t. That’s also why there are laws preventing kids from getting piercings or tattoos until they are 18. If the child is raised correctly, they should have a good idea of who they are by the time they are legally allowed to get them, and can then decide for themselves. You’re not going to force a child to study something in college they don’t want to, they choose that… and in my opinion, that choice will impact their lives much much more than a piercing or tattoo.
You’re right, Mike, freedom of expression is a good thing . . . but how did you know my jeans are tight?? I’m working on it!
I have 2 tattoos one on each forearm. Livestrong right A bibilical verse left. I think society has changed how it looks at body art (if that what some call it) through the media. Look at the lohans and hiltons and russell brand. I think it comes from folks wanting to connect to their social idol and whoever…body piercings are a bit much and in my opinion just a fad with most……zman sends
Conformist is a good one.
I am someone who has ink. A system that has helped me everytime is the “one year staring at it on the mirror” system: you think you want it permanently? Put a picture of it on the mirror or somewhere you will see it every day for a calendar year. (Yes I mark it on the calendar.) You will be amazed what you get sick of very quickly. This might work buckets and tons for teenagers who are acting on spur of the moment impulses anyway. 🙂
For piercings? I wanted a vertical/industrial ear piercing because I thought they looked cool. Then I googled the healing time and the pain factor. Learned it takes 6 months to a year, and that most people who have the piercing never have the pain go away. That was enough for me 🙂
~H
Love the mirror idea. I resist looking at my own worn out body in the mirror most days, so I certainly would’t want a tattoo to draw even more attention to it! Middle-age . . .grrrrr.
Yeah, it’s pretty effective. I was 27 when I got my Piglet tat, the first pic went on the mirror when I was 25. So much for celebrating quarter of a century!
When you asked: ‘what will our kids do to set themselves apart?’ I muttered… Pray that they realize how ‘conformist’ it is and will stop wanting to do it. 🙂
Dagny
Yea – and if that doesn’t work, walk them down to the park and show them the moms with the tattoos & piercings . . . who wants to be like a mom? Ew! True dat!