Why Not Tattoo?

Kids love 'em, but parents can point out that they're one form of foolery that won't go away

When our children are babies, we spend hours gazing at their perfect bodies and stroking, admiring and sniffing their fabulously pure skin. We worry endlessly about every rash, scrape and sunburn, never dreaming that one day they might want to pay a guy named Bucky to pierce or tattoo that very skin. Yet increasingly they do. Tattooing and piercing, once the preference of biker chicks and sailors on shore leave, are attracting ever younger recruits. Chances are that someday soon your 12-year-old--the same kid who cried real tears over getting a booster shot at her last annual checkup--will be bugging you...

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