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A father is being bashed online after he called temporary tattoos on his 8-year-old son "absolutely trashy," garnering a lot of negative feedback with his post.
The Reddit post, shared to the subreddit "Am I The A**hole" by Redditor @Illustrious-Act-439, is titled, "AITA for saying I should have been asked before my son got a massive 'tattoo?'" The post has garnered over 6,000 upvotes since it was shared on May 5.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), there are two types of temporary tattoo decals—ones with a removable backing and ones with a backing that stays right on the skin, which ensures a barrier separating the skin and dyes in the tattoo.
Not every type of dye is known as being "safe" for skin though. A decal with an adhesive backing might protect skin, but there can be other ingredients in the tattoo that could lead to issues. The FDA has had reports of people having "reactions" to decal tattoos as well.
HealthDay reported that Spanish researchers found there was a loss of moisture in the skin when using transfer tattoos as opposed to skin without a decal. Also, it's a situation that can actually "damage the epidermis."
In the post, the father began by saying his son "thinks tattoos are cool," along with dinosaurs, UFOs and pirates. The boy's mother chose to do something the OP found "outrageous" by letting the child get a fake and temporary sleeve tattoo featuring dinosaurs, UFOs and pirates.
The child's father discovered the situation after the boy's teacher sent an email about the tattoo, believing it to be "too distracting." The original poster (OP) hadn't seen his son since Friday as the parents share custody of the boy each week.
The OP explained: "I went to his school and surprised him. He was wearing a sweater, and [I] pulled it back to see his arm. I asked him if [he] had any other tattoos, and he said yes on his side. I lifted up his shirt, and the sleeve runs to his side."
"His teacher was there, and I said it looked absolutely trashy and agreed with him," the OP said.
The father recounted that the boy's mother said that she "couldn't believe" he was making a "big deal" of something that's the "equivalent to markers." She also reminded the OP that she doesn't have tattoos, but he does.
The OP concluded: "I told her she should have ran this by me first. I would have told her to tone it down. When I gave him a bath, I tried washing it off, [and] it wouldn't come off. This isn't the cheap cereal box tattoo stuff."
Over 2,100 comments poured in over the AITA post, and people overwhelmingly felt the OP is the a**hole in the situation.
One comment received 23,800 upvotes on its own. "YTA [You're the a**hole]," a Redditor said. "Way to break the kid's spirit. Fake tattoos aren't hurting anybody, and the kid is happy. Why ruin that?"
The father replied back saying, "It looks trashy. I'm fine with changing hair color or wearing different socks, but a quarter body tattoo?"
While another Reddit user said that "fake tattoos on children are not trashy," adding, "Stop trying to put adult connotations on innocent happiness. Sounds like he had fun at his mom's house. Stop trying to make him feel ashamed of it. YTA."
Another Redditor believed the OP was at fault, and they thought the tattoo was "a fun and special thing" for the OP's son's mother to do for the boy, "and how ridiculous and sad for you to take that away from him. Do you think maybe he likes tattoos because you have them? How hypocritical."
Some pointed out that the tattoo sleeve was fake, and one user remarked that the child "loves it and seems proud of it." They concluded with some advice: "Stop raining on his parade. Seems you're just mad that his mom did this with him."
A user wondered if the OP was being "serious" about the situation. "Your son is having fun expressing himself in a harmless way and you drag him for it?" they asked. "The teacher is awful, too."
A Redditor insisted the OP let his son "have fun" and just "be a kid." They also don't think the temporary tattoo is "trashy," as the kid is 8 and enjoying himself. They wondered why his father would take "that small token of joy and happiness from him. One day he's going to grow up and the small things won't easily light up his world anymore. Let him enjoy it while he can. Are you that miserable in your own life that you need to make your child miserable too?"
Newsweek reached out to Redditor @Illustrious-Act-439 for comment.
This isn't the only viral moment involving tattoos. Tattoo artists told Reddit the strangest tattoos they've done or seen. An artist whose specialty is "purposely bad tattoos" has gone viral. In addition, a teenager's bad tattoo is leaving the internet shocked.
