Heelychat, the forum for heelys, the shoes with wheels - View topic

Joined: 03 Jan 2007 Posts: 469 Location: Ol' Virginny

VA has strict laws. 18 and up or NO INK! A good friend of mine is a tat artist and his little girl (3) has a cute little ladybug on her shoulder but it's smaller than a dime. Hell... it's half the size of a dime!!

Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 1391 Location: UK

Maybe it is now, but when she grows older it'll either vanish or get stretched to nothing.. or get partially stretched and look like hell.

Also, didn't it HURT? I can't imagine a three-year-old getting a tattoo without screaming. Maybe he got her drunk first?

Permanent ink + growing skin = not the most sensible of ideas.

Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 1391 Location: UK

Well, since it's small I'd imagine it wouldn't be too hard to fix if the skin changes much. . . plus I think it would grow more or less proportionately. . . so when she's bigger it would just be a slightly bigger, slightly fainter ladybug. My little sis got a fair few tattoo's in her early teens, and although she's a lot bigger now hers don't seem to be ruined, just bigger and fainter.

As for it hurting, as many people with tattoos will attest, on some parts of the body they hurt like hell, and on other's you can hardly feel them by comparison. Since he knows the trade I'm guessing he would have done it on a more fleshy, less sensitive part, but I'd bet it wouldn't hurt much more than getting a shot at the doctors or a typical trip to the dentist. Kids can be incredibly brave if they want to be.

Funny you should mention alcohol as anaesthetic tho: just last week a neighbour's kid had a toothache and instead of giving her painkillers they gave her a little brandy to swill around her mouth. . . and apparently it works like a charm and is quite commonly done, although if I had seen it done before I hadn't remembered it.

Obviously you can't let them drink it because at that strength and with their low bodyweight it would be dangerous to have more than a few mouthfulls, but having one thimblefill to swill around apparently acted as a good painkiller until they could get to the dentist the next day.

And I bet there's a ton of things like that which happen every day all over the world which are in fact a lot less dangerous than our modern society thinks they are. We've demonised a lot of things to such an extent that we lose all perspective and forget how commonplace and harmless they are if done sensibly. Alcohol for instance: I remember as a baby my little brother was often given a nip of brandy in his bottle at night to help him sleep... and it's not harmed him one bit: he's a real high flyer in fact. Where I got mostly A's and B's in school, he got straight A+'s in all 10 subjects.

Maybe I'll get angry responses to this post but that just goes to show that what I said is true: things have been demonised these days. I'm not saying "give kids alcohol" - what I'm saying is, if they did drink small amounts, sensibly regulated in proportion to their size, it wouldn't actually hurt them. But since many adults seem to have trouble regulating their own alcohol intake, to the point where they go out and get into trouble with the law, I guess the blanket "no alcohol" rule might be best. That still doesn't mean it's the alcohol's fault that the people got into trouble with it, it's their own stupid fault for not knowing their limits Laughing

I tell you what the best solution would be: let everyone (adults and kids) prove that they can handle a given thing (such as alcohol) responsibly, and if they can, they're allowed, and if they can't, they're banned, whether they're 13 or 30, because I know some 13 year olds who can be responsible and some 30 year olds who can't.

Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 1391 Location: UK

Joined: 03 Jan 2007 Posts: 469 Location: Ol' Virginny

There is a new way to get tatts (it's for wuss's) that uses a spray on analgesic so you feel little to no pain. I also missed the size on her wee-lil tatt. The wife reminded me it's literally the size of a pencil eraser, ir really detailed for the size, and has a shadowed flight path designed to fade to invisible in the future. All she'll see is the ladybug which can easily be covered up or enlarged. Her father inks for a living so I'd almost put money on it that she'll end up with more ink at some point in her lifetime (although his wife only has a small pixie on her shoulder)

Joined: 09 Jan 2008 Posts: 191 Location: Texas

I might get a tat when I'm older, but my dad would kill me lol

Joined: 03 Jan 2007 Posts: 469 Location: Ol' Virginny

I got my leg tatt when I was 20 and my old man just shook his head in disapproval BUT he got over it pretty quick. I mean I was 20 afterall!! Lol.

Joined: 09 Jan 2008 Posts: 191 Location: Texas