Child Abuse???

[Lilith]

Would you call it child abuse to tattoo a 9 year old?

[IowaMan]

I'd have to know all the details of the story but if it was done in America, I'd have to think that it probably would be considered such. Certainly not something I'd ever condone of doing.

[dicksbro]

Ditto with me, IowaMan. I'd want to know the details ... but agree it doesn't sound very good.

[fzzy]

Unless it was a "cultural" thing that would make the child an outcast without doing it .... I'd have to say that yes, it doesn't sound like a good thing to me ... in fact, if you tried to tatoo my 49 year old person, I'd consider it abuse as well!!! :)

[scotzoidman]

I consider it abuse when I see infants with pierced ears, so yeh, unless you could give me an extremely valid reason for putting a permanant mark on a child...

[Oldfart]

I'm with Scotz here. Unless it says in 4 inch letters, " Don't give me penicillin or I'll fucking die!!!", or some such, I have problems with this.

If it's for half arsed beauty or trendy reason, then the parent or guardian needs to be tattooed with a jack-hammer.

[osuche]

Maybe not abuse, but *extremely* poor judgment.

[gekkogecko]

Always and automatically?

Wait...
1. What is the nature of the tattoo?
2. How much surface area does it cover (ie, how invasive was the procedure)?
3. What is the social context?
4. Most importantly, DID THE 9-YEAR OLD CONSENT?

[Pita]

A nine year old cannot consent to a tattoo, which is a permanent mark on their body (yeah, I know you can take it off with lasers) because that child will change it's mind over and over about what it wants before it reaches adulthood.

I say that if this child doesn't live in a tribe where every other 9-year old has a tattoo then it is child abuse and who ever did the work should be held accountable.

Sheesh!

[Jude30]

I'm going to join the poor judgment side of the argument.

[Scarecrow]

Until they are old enough to understand the full effect of such actions it should not be done. This includes peircings and body sculpting

[smithy020]

until i heard all the arguements and reasons, i'd have to hold judgement.

But if it was my 9 year old and they came back with a tattoo. i would be pretty pissed!!

[Lilith]

When I saw it I was truly in shock. I just was curious if I was the only person in the world who had a probem with it. It's cultural alright but not due to him being from anyplace where it is a custom. Now it makes so much sense why when my blouse was slipping of my shoulder one day and he could see mine he was so amazed I had one.

[scotzoidman]

Nah, when you, an adult over the age of consent, wake up from an all-night drunk with a fresh tattoo, that's poor judgement...no child of 9 can consent to anything in any civilized nation that I know of.

When I was 9, I probably would have thought a Batman logo on my chest would have been tres cool...4 decades later, I'd be pretty pissed at any adult who would have let me go with such a whim...

[maddy]

I'm going to venture to guess this isn't done in the same manner that yours is Lil, in that it isn't probably done by a professional in a sterile environment. Can you say what the tattoo depicts?

[Lilith]

a 2 inch initial of his first name and if I heard right it was done by a family member

[Booger]

I would call it a bad parenting choice not child abuse. I would agree that I don't think parents should let their 9 year old child get a tattoo. I would also have to say just because I don't agree with the parent choice dosen't make it child abuse. If a child wants a tattoo and their parent agree to let them have one I would say it was a bad choice but I can't call it abuse. If we start call abuse everytime a parent make a choice someone dosen't agree with we would have a lot of child abuse cases.

[maddy]

Interesting point of view, Booger. I would agree completely that it's a bad parenting choice. But having gone through two tattoos of my own as an adult, I would have to imagine there was some pain inflicted upon that child to get the tattoo. Maybe that's where the idea of abuse comes in?

Lilith with your justice system experience, what do you think a judge might say about it?

[Lilith]

I'm not sure and in this instance I have been stepping back and just sort of scoping out the whole scene. I see and hear things in my job that people would honestly not believe.

[scotzoidman]

I'm not sure and in this instance I have been stepping back and just sort of scoping out the whole scene. I see and hear things in my job that people would honestly not believe.Actually, I think I would believe it...I just wish I didn't have to... :eek:

I can see you're between a rock & a hard place here...I'm not backing down from calling it abuse, but whether it rises to the level of bringing children's services in is a whole 'nother...child abuse can take so many forms that don't leave marks or bruises (that show)... :sad:

[Lilith]

People are so incredibly fucked up. And they breed.

[Oldfart]

It is no more appropriate than sticking plastic boobs onto a nine year old girl who wants to look like Pamela Anderson.

[Jude30]

That's idiot parenting IMO. What ever happened to telling your kid no?

Some things seem really simple to say no to, "Hey, dad can I get a tattoo?" "No."

Hell I thought the grade school kids I saw at the pool this year with their lips pierced had complete morons for parents, but at least piercings can grow closed.

[scotzoidman]

People are so incredibly fucked up. And they breed.
And you're on the front line of dealing with the consequences of those two facts.

I feel your pain, really I do...

[Loulabelle]

I would call it a bad parenting choice not child abuse. I would agree that I don't think parents should let their 9 year old child get a tattoo. I would also have to say just because I don't agree with the parent choice dosen't make it child abuse. If a child wants a tattoo and their parent agree to let them have one I would say it was a bad choice but I can't call it abuse. If we start call abuse everytime a parent make a choice someone dosen't agree with we would have a lot of child abuse cases.

I think I'm in a agreement with you Booger. If a tattoo (inflcts pain, is permanent, has no function other than cosmetic) is child abuse, then so is child ear piercing and (dare I say it?) circumcision. A nine year old has more opportunity to refuse it than does a baby whose parents make either of the other decisions.

[Aqua]

Ear piercings can be removed and, in most cases, close up with little or no evidence they were ever there. Personally I don't think small children or babies should have their ears pierced. Circumcision has pro and con arguments, (anyone that wants to discuss that subject, please do so here (http://pixies-place.com:81/forums/showthread.php?t=3608&highlight=circumcision) ), but I'd say in general it's not done for cosmetic reasons.

My opinion on tattooing children is that is shouldn't be done. Now there may be places in the world where it's culturally significant and been in practice for years. I can understand that. When a guy in the USA just decides one day that, 'Hey, little Johnny's man enough to sport the family crest, I'm going to have my bro come over and do him with that homemade tat gun.'* Well, in my eyes that's abuse.


*Overdramatized to make my point

[Lilith]

That is exactly what happened.

[Aqua]

:banghead: