I had not even thought about that, Sally! What a great idea!! Maybe I'll drop some hints!

A statistic I heard a while ago said that one out of FOUR adults aged between 21-30 years of age have at least one tattoo.

Twenty five percent.

So,getting a TAT is not even rebelling anymore and they're ugly as hell!

Tell him to get his ears pierced, then he could hang somethin purdy!

What a cow some of my family/friends had when 33 years ago I allowed my 6-year-old daughter to get her ears pierced! I told them, "I'm going to be saying 'no' to plenty of stuff in years to come. This is small potatoes."

Can you imagine??

B2y, so funny! I remember having to wait for my 8th birthday to get my ears pierced. It was a HUGE deal to my dad. He was one of those people who said "if God wanted you to have holes in your ears you would've been born with them".

My oldest son's girlfriend, she's only 20, has her ears pierced BUT she has those big, round things in them that stretch the holes out to about an inch in diameter ! Boy, is she gonna regret that someday .

Yeah....the jokes on her 'cos they'll look like that naturally if she gives it enough time!

He stopped by to pickup some of his mail this evening. Didn't say a word about the tattoo and neither did I. Unless he brings it up I'm not going to say anything. I'm feeling better about it now......and sort of embarrassed that I reacted so much to it! I'm glad I know about it, though. I always prefer to think before I speak.....and this is one of those times it'd be a good idea.

I'm sorry, but doesn't this define what a mom is and does when dealing with an adult child? Sure sounds like good, solid, common sense adult parenting to me. Over reacting to the situation? I don't think so. I would more concerned had you not reacted and felt the way you did. As parents, our job is to set standards acceptable within society, but more importantly, within our own families. You sound like a great mom to me!

Tattoos or "body inking" is so common place now most companies, including police departments, have incorporated guidelines within their personnel and hiring polices.

However, regarding the core subject of this thread, I don't know of any company which wouldn't consider a full sleeve arm tattoo extreme. If accepted, the individual would be required to wear long sleeve shirts all the time at work and no portion of the tattoo visible.

Then again, we all must keep in mind regarding situations such as this, our silence is interpreted as approval.

Thanks, Craig. And everyone who's given me their opinion on this. I've thought about it alot and am very relieved that I've had a chance to process the information and work out much of the "shock" before DS tells me - if he even does. He might go ahead and get it without even talking to me. Which is fine. He's an adult and doesn't need my approval or permission. But, I do hope he talks to me about it before he does it.

What I plan to say to him is this. I'm going to ask him to start out small....maybe a small tattoo on his back or upper arm. Just to see if he can 1) tolerate the pain and 2) see if he likes having a permanent drawing on his body. I won't say anything negative about it....just ask him to start small and then, if he still wants it after he's gotten the smaller one, then go for it.

There are so many other things he could be doing.....drugs, crime, etc. that a tattoo seems rather tame. He's a good person. Works hard and has a good heart. And he loves cats! That's gotta count for something!

Thanks, everybody, for letting me talk this whole thing through and for letting me know I'm not a "crazy Momma".

I swear that is one of the top three reasons I fell for DH. You did a good job raising a hard working, law abiding citizen he will make the decision that is right for him.