My wife and I are apparently the last remaining suburban couple without tattoos.
Over the weekend, I took the girls to the beach for the first time this year and mistakenly thought I had stumbled into a biker convention. Now that the revealing summer clothes are out, I can’t believe the number of people sporting something I once associated with meth dealers and crack whores.
When did tattoos on 30- and 40-something suburban parents become as common as McClaren strollers at the playground?
There were all kinds of tattoos on display. On the women, everthing from demure flowers on ankles to full-blown tramp stamps. On the men, everything from Celtic crosses on the upper arm to elaborate fantasy scenes once found only on the side of 1976 Chevy vans with porthole windows. God knows what the bathing suits were covering up.
The funny thing is, these were minivan parents. There were tattoos in close proximity to stretch marks and 38-inch waists. This doesn’t seem to be another example of the dreaded “hipster parent” trend, where parents dress their kids in Sex Pistols t-shirts and ink, pierce, drug and mosh themselves to extreme in order to prove they’re not Dockers-wearing, Maroon 5-listening, golf-playing drones.
The Rutgers University Health Center recently studied the trend of body art and piercing among adults.
“There is a kind of cultural curve that has passed,’’ says study author Walter Hewitt. “People who drive Volvos are now considering piercings. They are so mainstream now that no one even comments any more.’’
My wife and I are far from prudish, but I just can’t shake the feeling that maybe it’s not the best example to set for your kids. What do you say when your 11-year-old daughter wants a tattoo? Let’s go get one together?