Today, I saw a young child coming out of one of the court rooms in the Harris County Criminal Justice Center. He was with his brother, who was a defendant. I suppose that's largely irrelevant. Anyway, the older brother was 18. The younger brother could not have been more than 12 or 13, but was covered in tattoos. His arms were covered. I could see paw prints on his neck. He had tattoos on his legs (why he was wearing shorts and not pants in court, I'm assuming, was not much of a concern for him).(Photo caption: this is NOT the child I'm referring to but the picture still works)
Now, I don't mean to judge (and when people say they don't mean to judge, it really means they do mean to judge, but don't want to sound like a jerk or a d%&k or a bi%ch for doing so. I mean, really. Has, in the history of people saying "I don't mean to sound like [insert derogatory noun here or "judge"]" and not sounded like what they were trying to avoid or sounded like they were judging? You're not fooling anyone. You are a jerk, or at least sound like one when you're saying what makes you sound like what you don't want to sound like when you say that. Just act like an adult and say what you want to say. You're not really sugar coating anything by saying you don't mean to sound like a jerk. Just say it. If you're coming up to the plate, you might as well swing the bat.) {hope you're still with me, I'm still on the first sentence of this paragraph} but where do kids get tattoos at the age of 12? Middle school? Toys R Us? Baby Gap? (I don't know any more kids stores, so just let that Baby Gap joke slide).
Now, I don't have a tattoo. And I don't judge people who do. But, at the age of 12, tattoos are a bit much. I realize kids grow up much faster in this age than we did (boy, did I just sound old as hell) even a few years ago, but 12? I think you should at least be able to drive yourself to the tattoo shop (Legally, I mean. I'm not endorsing hot-wiring cars, people [no, that was not racially motivated]) to get a tattoo. On another side note, do people still call them tattoos or does everyone call them "tats"? I'm unsure. And, honestly, I'm ok with that.
If you're old enough, go right ahead. It's your body, and you're free to do almost whatever you want to it (this is not an invitation to debate abortion, people). But 12? To have at least a dozen visible tattoos? Call me old fashioned, but I'm going to judge that kid. And his mother. Let me at this moment point out she was also a tattoo aficionado and was barely contained by her dress (was that a semi-polite way of calling her a skank and bad mother?)
5 comments:
Wow you really tried hard to keep this from being to racial. Good job.
That said, holy crap, have you been to municipal court? Last time I went, there was a good number probably wouldn't get past the no shirt, no shoes policy at Mc Donald's.
Fung, I in no way, shape, or form mentioned the race of this child. That is irrelevant. I suppose this was more about bad parenting than tattoos, in reality. But I didn't intend to bring race into this, and I don't think I did. So, in a way, thanks.
Little Colin got a Tat for his first birthday. It was of Oscar the Grouch.
@Jen, did not undercover any racial undertones of any kind in the blog, but hey, I'm Black so we don't even look for those kinds of things
@Vik, tatoos are in fact getting out of hand, if not already. Like you, no problem with adults doing bc it is their choice if they want to get a tatoo on their face or neck or legs; but children having tatoos is NO NO. Why don't you just give your child a loaded gun and tell him to walk into the corner store while pointing it and everyone in sight and demanding their belongings. Setting your child up for failure is judge-able.
"I don't mean to judge" That excuses my judgment right?
Thank you for writing this.
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