My name is Mollie, and I am 16. All my life I have been interested in various forms of body modification. For as long as I can remember, I've had various tattoos planned out for the minute I turn 18 (obviously, many of which have changed...though I've stuck with one for over 6 years, a tribute to Ian Curtis across my hips). I've always pressured my parents to let me get pierced...my lobes first when I was 5, emergency surgery because of the gunned lobes going awry at the age of 6, and then by the age of 11 having 4 holes in my lobes and a cartilage piercing. Now, I was the only 11 year old with more than one hole in each ear, so I give my parents some credit for allowing that. I also hate them (okay, not hate) for indirectly introducing me to the endorphin-and-adrenaline-filled world of piercings. Now that I am 16, I only have 2 holes in each lobe, a standard helix on my left ear and a rook piercing on my right. I also have a navel piercing. My parents are absolutely disgusted by the fact that I constantly request new piercings...I constantly get horrified looks followed by frustration and the inevitable "absolutely not." Now, I'd understand such reaction if I was asking for some kind of large-gauge irreversible facial piercing, but getting such reactions for my requests for tragus, daith, and Ashley piercings? I admit, even attempting to achieve success in my quest for an Ashley was bound to lead me to failure, but still...my parents know that I aspire to have a career in entertainment and won't be covered in facial jewelry that will tarnish my chances of becoming an award winning screen actress. This brings me to my topic: why are parents so reluctant to sign a piece of paper?
At A Glance Author spuget Contact [email protected] IAM spuget When N/A
If it wasn't for Washington State Law forcing me to count the days until my 18th birthday to legally acquire my preferred adornments, I'd have these three piercings already. Since my parents have to legally allow me to get them, however, I'll be waiting until November 20, 2008. I've attempted to have a discussion with my parents about their apprehension to sign a waiver...seeing as that's all they'd need to do anyways...but to no avail. Without giving me a clear answer, I get cast aside. I work in a job where visible and out of the ordinary piercings are the norm, and I'm definitely the least "modified" in the workplace. My parents know this and know that I'd like to fit in a little better as well as feel better about my self (being a teenaged girl, you know...ugh), but yet they won't do one tiny thing for me. I'd pay for everything, I'd drive myself to the shop (and them as well, if they so wished), I'd never, ever complain about soreness or anything. On the contrary, I also partially understand their reluctancy; I'm begging to pay to have a needle shoved through me, for goodness sakes. But still--they allow me to barrel down the freeway in a 2,000lb hunk of steel with highly-flammable gasolene and a temperamental cooling system (it's a 30 year old car) every day, but they won't let me get a small, aesthetically pleasing and discreet piece of jewelry added to my own body? What are they afraid of?
In reality, I guess I, like many others my age, am just frustrated with the fact that I have to wait to get something I feel so passionately about. The times are different from the 70's my parents grew up in. Times have changed and I think I've earned the opportunity to make myself happy, just once. I'm not a poor student, I work hard at my job and make all my own money, I go to a rigorous, liberal arts, college-preparatory academy and I haven't fallen below a 3.0 grade-point average, like the majority of my peers--a true feat. So why, dear parents, why won't you accompany me on the drive to Seattle to sign a waiver and allow me what I truly want most--to have an autoclaved needle shoved through my flesh? It doesn't hurt you in any way, except you may get a hand-cramp from using a pen instead of a keyboard for the first time in months.
Would my parents rather be appalled when I stroll into the house during Thanksgiving break of my freshman year in university covered in tattoos and piercings that I know I'd later regret because of a binge trip to the local tattoo shop? Or would they rather see me that same day looking almost identical to when I had left, maybe a little thinner or with a different hair color or one new piercing or small tattoo, than the former? For parents out there, let us underaged and interested teenagers let loose a little bit. Chances are, your son or daughter wouldn't have ended up infected and in the ER last month because of a shabbily-done DIY piercing or your newly-inducted college student wouldn't have come home with a large tattoo of Gerard Way's face (gag me) across their forearm and various rejection scars from poorly taken care of facial piercings (along with some cheaply-done ones that somehow survived, yet look angry and scarred) if you would've let them get that one piercing they'd wanted a year and a half ago.
So, in closing, parents out there: most likely if you or your teenager is on this site, one or both of you are pretty educated in the topic of at least simple piercing procedures. A piercing isn't life-threatening (when properly taken care of and done by a credible piercer) and it isn't going to completely ruin your child's body if they decide that maybe they don't want that eyebrow ring in 6 months...yes, there may be a small dimple, but will they look like Frankenstein? No. That dimple likely means something to them, and I think it's time that that is acknowleged. Everything that happens in life should happen as it was meant to and shouldn't be regretted, right? Just let us be us and get something special every once and a while. Trust me, you won't spontaneously combust. Okay, you might not spontaneously combust.