Many tattoo shops don’t allow anyone under the age of 18 inside. While it’s entirely legal for a business to specify who may or may not enter there are some pretty good reasons why children shouldn’t be in a tattoo shop. Some states have a law specifying that minors are not allowed in period. It’s often that children simply aren’t allowed in even if their parent is just browsing. Most tattoo artists are strictly regulated and while your kids may be well behaved the law is there to keep them safe and to prevent the tattoo artist from being liable for anything that happens to them.
Most tattoo shops are far from being kid friendly. Tattoos are often done on body parts that are unsuitable for child eyes and that’s not to mention the language that both patrons and artists might be using. Parents can’t censor what goes on in a shop and if your child isn’t old enough to be in an adult environment, no matter how “mature” they are, then it’s not up to the shop to make their location “kid friendly”.
Children love to touch, and they love to get into things. Curiosity is something that can’t be helped but when it comes to tattoo shops that means they could be touching unique artwork and potentially breaking it; or it means they could be getting into chemicals, needles or worse and potentially endangering themselves or exposing themselves to disease. It’s not up to the artist to babysit your kid and if you’re getting tattooed then you aren’t paying attention to them which can leads to accidents.
Tattooing is an art form, one that takes concentration and focus. Most children are noisy and require a lot of focus and attention. As an artist, the last thing you want is to have someone else’s kid in your room asking questions and touching things while you’re trying to work. It’s just not safe to have kids in a tattoo shop.