A 13-year-old boy from Centralia, Washington had every reason to celebrate beating cancer, but he chose to do it in a very permanent and illegal way.
A six-inch tattoo of a dragon now sits on the unnamed teen's chest as a symbol of the leukemia he beat as a young boy, and his mother, who does not want to be identified, isn't happy --no matter what the tattoo might mean to her son.
"He actually thought I was going to be proud of him," the teen's mother told the TV station King5.com. "He considered [the tattoo] his badge of honor, saying that he is a cancer survivor.’
Most parents wouldn't be happy find a tattoo on their teen, but the boy does have at least one parent-approved tattoo on his body. According to the Associated Press, the boy and his mother both got heart-shaped tattoos on their ankles to mark a medical emergency, nearly a year ago when they lived in Texas. Perhaps there should have been a conversation where it was explained that getting tattoos with mom is OK, but getting one on your own will get you grounded for the summer.
The mother is so unhappy that it's now a police matter, reports King5.com. According to the TV station, police are now investigating how a 13-year-old was able to get a tattoo without his parent's permission. The teen wouldn't say where he got the tattoo, but police know the tattoo artist's first name. It's a misdemeanor to tattoo a minor in the State of Washington, so the person responsible may regret bending the rules once police complete their investigation.
Each state has their own laws when it comes to tattooing minors. In Texas, it was legal for the boy to get a tattoo with his mother's consent, however other states such as Georgia, don't care if the parent is all for that tattoo, and mandates that no one under the age of 18 can legally be inked.
Back in January, one Atlanta-area mother learned that the hard way, when she was arrested and charged with misdemeanor cruelty and being a party to a crime, for allowing her 10-year-old son to get a tattoo.
According to ABC News’ Atlanta affiliate WSBTV, Chuntera Napier, paid the price for not being able to tell her son Gaquan, 'no', when he asked to get a tattoo honoring his brother who had been killed by a teenage driver two years earlier.