Posted on 03/18/2006 11:33:22 PM PST by MRMEAN
There was no hesitation when preschool teacher Alex Campbell began the process of filling her lower leg with a bright orange koi swimming in a blue pond of labyrinthine waves. The intricate tattoo is not hidden under schoolmarm tights or practical slacks; instead it has become part of the lesson plan in her class at Corner Co-op Nursery School in Brookline.
Campbell's students followed the process of their teacher getting a tattoo firsthand -- or as close as a 4-year-old can get to firsthand without stepping into a tattoo parlor. They talked about sketching, needles, and, most importantly, not touching Campbell's leg the day after she was tattooed.
Campbell, who seldom wore skirts before getting her calf tattooed, has switched over to a wardrobe that is far more skirt-friendly to display her pricey body art. Her next step is getting a full arm tattoo (those in the know refer to a full arm tattoo as a sleeve).
''I asked a few parents about how they'd feel about a teacher with tattoos on her arm, and they were fine with it," the 37-year-old Brookline resident says.
As tattooing reaches a mainstream crest thanks to shows such as ''Miami Ink," ''Inked," and even ''Meet the Barkers" and ''Prison Break," professionals such as Campbell are bringing more elaborate -- and more visible -- body art into the workplace. For Campbell, the tattoos were a non-issue at school, and even became a teaching tool that resonated with the tykes in her class. In the current tattoo-friendly climate, a number of white collar professionals are finding that body art is a helpful tool at the office -- a way to give a subtle nod and a wink to co-workers or clients that they run with a crowd that owns the new Arctic Monkeys CD ...
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
I don't know. I think kids that age would think it's neat. I don't think it damages them or anything. I really don't know, though. I'm not a parent yet. Maybe I'll feel differently when I am.
Can't wait for what they'll look like in 30 years.
http://www.insanetattoos.com/pages/1/index.htm
I said "Yeah, sorta like a zit!"
She didn't get the tatoo.
>> Can't wait for what they'll look like in 30 years.
You and me both. I liked SNL's take on it:
http://www.drtattoff.com/tattoo-skit.php
I'd agree. These may be poor parents who don't have much choice also.
I agree.
This teacher's tattoo has exactly *what* to do with Education?
This teacher obviously has far too much time on her hands.
Haha! Is that Emeril Lagasse in the lower left hand corner? JK> Look like him though.
It does seem so doesn't it.
This is obviously anti-semitic. No Jewish burials for her pupils. ':^0
Of course, I'm not serious, but I'm not Jewish.
Wow. My jaw just dropped. This is SO not appropriate as a lesson plan for four-year-olds! There is a huge difference between a teacher simply having a tattoo, and having a whole lesson plan structured around exactly how one acquires a tattoo. My kid would be OUT of that class stat.
You never can tell what people will think about their kids being exposed to certain things. I found that a number of things took on a new status when I had kids.
All of a sudden those really funny off-color things in kids movies weren't quite so funny anymore. Advertisements that sought to exploit kids desires started to rub me the wrong way, and if sexual enuendo was included it really made me angry.
Take care.
Not really as interesting as the teacher seems to think it is...also, the kids are too young to even understand it from an anthropological angle, Maori, Samoans, etc.
Escher yarmulke?....:)
Teaching preschoolers about the wonders of body mutilation is entirely inappropriate.
I cannot tell you how many young ladies I see running around with 'tramp stamp' tatoos on their lower backs. You see them easily when they are wearing hip cut pants. I have a very good friend whose daughter got two tatoos, one over each dimple. I cannot bring myself to tell her what the term really means...
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