Discover Yahoo! With Your Friends

Explore news, videos, and much more based on what your friends are reading and watching. Publish your own activity and retain full control.

To get started, first

YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

Would You Let Your 10-year-old Get a Tattoo?

By Lylah M. Alphonse | Shine from Yahoo! Canada – Fri, 20 Jan, 2012 11:11 AM EST

Chuntera Napier and her son Gaquan show off the tattoos. Would you let your 10-year-old get one?

When Chuntera Napier's son told her he wanted to get a tattoo in memory of his brother Malik, who was killed in a car accident two years earlier at the age of 12, Napier was touched.

"My son came to me and said, 'Mama, I want to get a tattoo with Malik on it, rest in peace,'" Napier told WSB-TV in Georgia. "It made me feel good to know to know that he wanted his brother on him."

But the problem is that Napier's son, Gaquan, is just 10 years old. And when someone at school noticed the ink on his arm, Napier was arrested for child cruelty and for being party to a crime.

Acworth, Georgia, police Chief Mike Wilkie said that while he sympathized with Napier and was sorry for her family's loss, police had no choice but to arrest her after confirming that the tattoo was against the law. The tattoo artist in Smyrna, Georgia, is being investigated.

"We hope they can find something that can sustain them through that loss, but this is not the way, and it is illegal, and it was something we were bound by the law to investigate and to prosecute," Wilkie said.

Napier, who has an armful of her own tattoos paying tribute to Malik, said that she didn't know it's illegal to allow a child under the age of 18 to get a tattoo. She spent last Tuesday night and Wednesday morning in jail, and is now out on bond.

[See also: 10 illegal baby names]

"I always thought if a parent gives consent, then it's fine," Napier said. "How can somebody else say it's not OK? He's my child, and I have a right to say what I want for my child."

Gaquan was with Malik when he died in 2010 after being hit by a teenage driver, and the tattoo on his slender upper arm is small and simple: His brother's name, his old jersey number (3), and the letters R.I.P. He told a local TV station that he wanted the tattoo "because it represents my brother."

"It's not like he's asking me if can I get him a SpongeBob," his mom pointed out. "He's asking me for something that's in remembrance of his brother. Well, how do I tell a child no?"

@YahooShineCA on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook

All Comments

Top Locations Kitchener Edmonton Mississauga Calgary Burlington Vancouver Ottawa Montreal Chatham-Kent Toronto

498 comments

Ssegawa Kalemaza • Dubai, United Arab Emirates • 3 months ago
I must be foolish enough to accept that Idiocy and i don't think somebody have the good reason to put a Tatto on his body unless if hi is not a Idiot.
Cuneiform • 3 months ago
NEVER!!!! ONLY idiots would encourage a 10 year old to do this!!
pjuldyl • 3 months ago
she got arrested, told off maybe for bad judgement, but not arrested, even thought the sentiment was nice, she still should have told him to wait
Gratiana • Kitchener, Ontario • 4 months ago
If this is illegal what about the stupid show “Toddler Tiara”???? I have seen girls crying and begging their mother’s to stop “fixing “ their hair or making them go on with the pageant show. How come no one notify the police in these cases? Even more….we can see them on TV !!!
- art 4 months ago
  I agree,leave the woman alone,she didn't mean any harm,& how about the Toddler Tiara,being put through all that bullsh*# for a friggin' trophy....Now those mothers put their kids through alot.....
- Stephen J 4 months ago
  I agree the show is ridiculous..and probably more pedo bait than anything else..but, done up hair and makeup isn't permanent..and that is sending them in the direction of what?..becoming respectful perfectly behaved women..the tattoo kid is being set up to be a tatted up gang banger..
- Cassandra 4 months ago
  Thank you for assuming that all children of his colour are tatted up gang bangers. I am a respectful girl, and my "Brother" is a respectful business man. He's of colour, we both got tattoo's at 13, neither of us are gang bangers. Though your comment does make me think about how you were raised. Just because you have a tattoo does not make you less of a being. I have 4 tasteful tattoos that pay tribute to people that were in my life. Your comment makes me sick Stephen J.
More

Reply
Henri • Toronto, Ontario • 4 months ago
The artist was is one who should know the law of his trade and should warn the mother that it was against the law. There are so many laws out there that not even a lawyer could possibly know every law, letalone a normal citizen.
- John 4 months ago
  oh yes, not even the lawyers know all the laws, hmmmm, ,mmmmm
ROCKY • Mississauga, Ontario • 3 months ago
tattoo`s are caused by low breeding ... no self worth!
Mike • Edmonton, Alberta • 4 months ago
I saw a ten year old girl wearing a "porn star" t-shirt. I think her parents should be publicly flogged but they haven't done anything illegal.
- Lost in Translation 4 months ago
  Amazing, isn't it, who is allowed to reproduce? Maybe there should be some kind of intelligence test before you're allowed to have a baby.
- whatever 3 months ago
  wow! that's absolutely incredible! what is wrong with parents these days?
- boogiewoogie 2 months ago
  a t-shirt can be taken off,, a tatoo is forever and quite painful, maybe thats why its illegal for children and considered child abuse
TypingTornado • Winnipeg, Manitoba • 4 months ago
If anything the tattoo artist should be charged - not the mother (the tattoo artist should know the law). I would have thought the same thing - as long as the parent consents then it is okay. This isn't abuse... abuse would be if she forced the child to have a tattoo. Leave them alone. Focus on the real crimes out there... drugs, murder, etc...
- Benna 4 months ago
  I think you have a good point. If they're in the tattooing business, they should know the rules that govern that profession. I wonder if the Judge in this case will consider this.
- 0U812 4 months ago
  I am a tattooist, and although I have a consent form for people under 18, there is no law that says I can't tattoo whoever the hell I want, it should be up to the parent. In this case however, regardless of the morons on here, I would have probably declined the work, not because I wouldn't agree that he could have it, but because I wouldn't want people to know I did it.
- Adam 4 months ago
  Well said.
More

Reply
A Yahoo! User • 4 months ago
If anything the tattoo artist should be charged - not the mother (the tattoo artist should know the law). I would have thought the same thing - as long as the parent consents then it is okay.This isn't abuse...abuse would be if she forced the child to have a tattoo.Leave them alone.Focus on the real crimes out there...drugs, murder. etc...
- funluvin 4 months ago
  "Pass the blame" is not effective parenting. Just as the artist should have known the law, the mother should have as well, as pertains to her child. Agreed with the later part of the comment though.
- Jugga Juice 4 months ago
  I always thought that you have to be at least 16 to get a tattoo on your own. But if the child had the mother's consent, how is that child cruelty? In that case, they should make smoking under the age of 19 illegal too.
- 7653975860 4 months ago
  Smoking is illegal for kids under 19
More

Reply
james • Calgary, Alberta • 4 months ago
It's bullshit as usual. Ya, go after the tattoo artist. They are supposed to know the law, and inform the child and/or mother of the legality of the situation.
Aria • St John's, Newfoundland and Labrador • 4 months ago
Jesus Christ, if psycho mothers are allowed to pierce their BABIES' ears then this mother should be shown leniency. Do those babies consent to the piercing? It may not have been the wisest decision, but she's not a criminal.
Angela • 3 months ago
When I got my first tattoo...I was in the shop, and a man brought in his 16 year old son...non of the artists would touch the kid till he was 18. They said any artist that is worth something wouldn't touch him either.
ChrisM • Windsor, Ontario • 4 months ago
It sounds like he put some thought into this decision. His mother should not be arrested for giving permission.
lrod • 4 months ago
"Well, how do I tell a child no?"

Try "No."
Sandra • 4 months ago
I understand people's argument about this issue, however look at the reason behind it: The remembrance of his brother. This was not a malicious act nor a truly criminal one. Yes, the mother should have checked it out more thoroughly. The tattoo artist could have informed her that it could be possibly illegal. To waste tax payers' money on this frivolity is absurd. Give the mother a fine and call it a day!
Sandip • Wakefield, New Brunswick • 4 months ago
Who decides cruelty? Not long ago, I was at the mall inside a jewlery store. I watched two parents physically holding down a toddler as she screamed and begged her parents to help her as a woman was piercing her little ears. I thought I was going to vomit. How can anyone say thats not abuse??????????
c_bialon • Kelowna, British Columbia • 4 months ago
I agree most of us don't know the law when it comes to matters like this, but the tattoo artist should have known better and he diffenitley should be charged. I also believe it is a waste of time and money, the law should be chasing real crimanals. I wouldn't of let one of my kids do it until they were older. But I'm not his mother. And it was a nice jester on his part. He really loved is brother. It's done now so move on.
Iron Maiden • 4 months ago
Just because it was a nice gesture does not make it ok. This woman is an idiot for thinking its ok and legal to tattoo a 10 yr old. Im all for tattoos, I have my upper sleeve/ back, and lag done, but my parents told me "not until your 18" and Im glad I waited. Not to say this boy will regret getting the tattoo, but hes small and will grow which will effect his tattoo ultimately ruining it. Also for thoughs who are talking about piercing baby ears, earings can come out, and do not hurt. A tattoo and an earing are completely different things, and to compare the two is just idiotic.
billggg • 4 months ago
Moronic KGB nanny state laws. Don't these legions of bureaucrats have anything better to do? This kid obviously got some kind of upbringing that lets him want to honor his dead brother. The tattoo is not about crime or drugs or gang colors after all. The brother wasn't killed by police during a robbery, he died in a car crash. Hopefully the judge throws this trash piece of a so-called case out. It seems school authorites are all trained by agents of the former soviet KGB, and are expected to stomp out any form of personal expression or freedom. Is it any wonder that more and more families are choosing home schooling or private school rather than submitting their children to an often hard line communist conformity public system?
Tender • Toronto, Ontario • 4 months ago
Are you kidding...I agree that I would never let one of my children get a tattoo until they are old enough to make those decisions on there own...but are you serious ,getting arrested for something so minor. Why waste tax payers money with courts and law enforcements on such trivial nonsense.