We have all probably heard the tales of people hiding their tattoos from their parents, usually because they know that their parents won’t agree with this kind of body decoration and they simply just don’t want to hear lectures about it. Yet, some people decide to risk showing tattoos to their folks, and some parents decide to react to it in a different way than expected.

Like in today’s story, a 19-year-old got a tattoo, which seemed meaningless to a parent of his. This parent decided to teach him a lesson by getting tatted themselves. However, let’s just say that, in the end, the person who learned a lesson wasn’t the son. 

More info: Reddit

How should a parent react to a seemingly meaningless tattoo that their child gets?

Image credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo) 

The author doesn’t like that tattoos have become mainstream and people are apparently getting plenty of tattoos that have no deeper meanings

Image credits: Fidellio (not the actual photo) 

Image credits: u/Psychological-Fix350

So, when their son got a tribal armband tattoo, which, in the author’s eyes, had no meaning, they got the same one tatted to make the son ashamed

Probably everyone knows that a tattoo is a permanent or temporary mark made by inserting a pigment through skin ruptures. Well, to know what it is is not the same as being a fan of them. And today’s OP is one of those people who aren’t a fan. They explain that it is because they are seemingly everywhere now, in comparison to when they were a child and tattoos were a sign of rebelliousness. 

Well, the OP isn’t that far off by saying that. Back in the 20th century, tattoos were associated with non-conformity, and they were usually seen on individuals who were deemed as outsiders or members of certain subcultures. These groups got tattoos as a form of self-expression to differentiate themselves from the mainstream.

Yet, this didn’t stop tattoos from slowly integrating themselves into fashion and popular culture. It was mainly due to the fact that various celebrities started getting them, making tattooed bodies more prevalent in the media. 

And with the rise of tattoo popularity, more people started getting them without real meanings, just for fun or as a way to decorate their bodies, which the OP really doesn’t like. So, when their son expressed a wish to get a tattoo, they warned him to get a meaningful one. And that if he didn’t, they would get a copy of his tattoo for themselves as a lesson. 

The son didn’t take their parent’s threat seriously, and they went on and got a tribal armband tattoo. This kind of design, as the name suggests, wraps around a person’s arm like a band. There are plenty of types of tribal tattoos, like Polynesian, Maori tribal, and music tribal, to mention a few. 

Image credits: Budgeron Bach (not the actual photo) 

Even though today’s original poster assumed that his son’s tribal armband tattoo didn’t really have any deep meaning, it doesn’t mean that all of these tattoos are meaningless. For example, tribal armbands, for some, can mean a personal connection to their Indigenous roots. Solid armbands can represent the loss of a loved one. At the same time, it can also simply be a tattoo that is nice enough for a person to get as a decoration for their body and doesn’t carry any serious sentiment. 

From the information that we’re given in the Reddit post, we can assume that the son got the tattoo because it looked cool to him. But what we know for sure is that this type of reasoning seemed meaningless to the OP. So, they kept their promise and got the same tattoo as their son. Now, the 19-year-old isn’t as excited to show off his body art, which made him call his parent a jerk. 

This prompted the parent to write a post on Reddit to ask if they actually are the jerk for doing it. And what the internet users decided was that, yes, they were a jerk. They pointed out that getting a tattoo just to prove a point about meaningless tattoos was not only stupid but a contradicting lesson as well. 

Well, let’s just say that if the OP wanted consolation from netizens, they didn’t get it. But maybe while trying to teach their son a lesson, they ended up learning a lesson on what it’s like to be viewed as a jerk not only by your child but by the internet as well. And maybe they won’t react this harshly to the son’s next tattoo if he ever decides to get another one.

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This made the son call their parent a jerk, and people online fully agreed with this sentiment

Image credits: Hirsh Philippe (not the actual photo) 

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