So I’ve Got a Few Tattoos… Like Every Other Mother I Know

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So I’ve Got a Few Tattoos… Like Every Other Mother I Know
July 20, 2011
by Carolyn Castiglia
Babble

I live in New York City, home of the hipster, the punk, the thug. We’re all tatted-up, pierced-out freaks — even the mommies. I’ve never taken count, but I bet on any given day in New York — and in any other major city, really — you’re likely to see more people with tattoos than without. Tattoos have — ironically — become ubiquitous symbols of individuality for men and women of child-bearing age.

Though I’ve always felt like the type of girl who is kick-ass and vibrant enough to rock a colorful sleeve, the reality is I’m more hippie than hardcore. I’ve got two tattoos, done thirteen years apart, both inked as a rite of passage during times of great change in my life. Neither piece is uber-obvious; one is on the inside of my left forearm and the other is in-between my shoulder blades, which is maybe why I never get sideways glances about having them. Or as a friend said to me today, “You have tattoos? I never noticed.”

Also, I live in Park Slope, Brooklyn, a neighborhood filled with city-dwellers who’ve moved out here (to the “country”) to raise children after years of partying in Manhattan. I know three other mothers in the immediate vicinity who have many more tattoos than I do, and another who when I asked, “Ever get any weird looks for being a tatted up mom?,” replied, “Not in Park Slope.” Investment banker dads hide biceps emblazoned with the Yankees’ emblem under their button-down shirts, and even the most normal-seeming stay-at-home-moms cover “tramp stamps” they got years ago with flowing tunics.

Having one or two tattoos is commonplace for women nowadays, even in small Midwest towns (or so I imagine). But being covered in tattoos is still seen by some as intimidating or grotesque. My friend Erin Carpenter, who just moved from Long Island to small-town Pennsylvania, says, “I have a sleeve, and my entire back done… and I’m six months pregnant. I was in Gymboree buying myself cute baby clothes, and the cashier who was about 60 asked me how I’ll feel when my daughter ruins her skin too. I said, ‘Well, your skin was ruined by time, but you’re clearly handling that with as much grace as I’m about to handle this.’ Then I smiled.”

Paula Pickreign, who lives in Syracuse, NY, told me she gets judgmental looks from people all the time because of her many tattoos. “I get looked at like I either stole the child from some wholesome mother or that I am obviously a horrible mother who lets my children stay up all night, drink beer, eat nothing but candy, and draw on the walls,” she says. “I don’t get it, but I guess that’s upstate New York.” Carpenter adds, “People in New York City are much more open minded. In Pennsylvania I’m pretty sure everyone thinks my kid will be the Antichrist.”

I never really gave any thought to being a tattooed mom or worried about how my tattoos might affect my daughter — until the other day when she drew all over her body with blue pen. “This is never gonna come off!,” I complained silently to myself. Then I realized that’s exactly how my mother felt when I came home with my first tattoo… and my second. I can’t wait to get my third!

How do you feel about mothers with tattoos? Are you one? Has anyone ever been rude to you because of your ink?