Mom Lashes Out After Her Mother-In-Law Decides To Get Her Son's Footprints Tattooed On Her Body

Apr 13, 2023

There’s a certain kind of joy about welcoming the arrival of a new family member. Whether it’s they are first-time parents finally having their firstborn or parents welcoming their fifth or sixth kid, nothing beats the feeling of having a baby. But it’s not only the parents who get excited about babies but also immediate family members or even the parents’ circle of friends. Some offer gifts to celebrate the milestone in the parents’ personal lives, while others go for an approach that leaves a person misty-eyed. These include gifting babies with personalized items like a painting or embroidered items or having the hands and feet of the baby cast using a molding mixture. For some, they opt to have the name or even the hand of the baby tattooed on their bodies. 

But not everyone might feel comfortable about it even though these people are immediate family members, just like a mom whose mother-in-law asked if she could have her son’s footprint tattooed on her body.
 
In April 2023, the mom took to a Reddit community for people asking for support or advice about dealing with their mothers-in-law to share her own experience with her husband’s mom.  
 
The mom, in the said post, shared that her mother-in-law revealed her plans to have the footprint of her son tattooed on her.  But the mom said she did not like her mother-in-law’s plans since she considered her son’s footprints “intimate.” She added that she felt like it was like she was invading their privacy.
 
But part of what irked the mom about her mother-in-law was that she came to tell her about the plans to get a tattoo on her first visit, which happened four weeks after she gave birth. 

"I just gave birth and I'm currently six weeks postpartum with my first baby. My mother-in-law decided not to come to the hospital for the birth. Her reasoning was that since I am the mother, my mother should be the only one there. She has a daughter who gave her her first grandchild 4 years ago. With her daughter's grandchild, she was a lot more involved,” the mom said.

"It took four weeks for her to finally meet her new grandchild, and this is where the problem happened. While we were at dinner, she said a few snarky comments towards me that I just ignored. What I couldn't ignore is how she asked my husband for the print of my son's foot so she can get her tattoo going,” she added.

The mom also felt as if she was being bypassed because her mother-in-law didn’t ask permission from her. It also worried her knowing her mother-in-law also has a tattoo of one of the latter’s grandchildren behind her back, which she described as being “poorly done.”

"No one talked to me about this. My husband didn't talk to me about it nor did she ask me if it was OK for her to get it. She has her granddaughter's foot on her back and it's huge and very poorly done,” she said.

The mom said it bothered her because she felt like those footprints were supposed to be an intimate thing between her and her child.

"I have a very big problem with this. I feel like my son's footprint is very intimate and sentimental and having it tattooed on someone else's body really bothers me,” she said.

The mom added that it never would have mattered if her mother-in-law if she had her son’s name tattooed on her.

“I wouldn't care as much if she got my son's name, tattooed, or a piece of jewelry but it's something about the footprint being so intimate that bothers me,” she remarked.
 
For the mom, she felt disappointed knowing her mother-in-law had “barely been there” for her child.
 
But people were torn over her sentiments, with some saying she has all the right to refuse her mother-in-law’s request if it made her feel uncomfortable, while others said she was being “too sensitive” about the whole situation.
 
“I would feel uncomfortable if anyone wanted to tattoo my child's name, face, handprint, footprint etc on their body. I can't explain it really, but that's weird to me and I personally wouldn't allow it. I especially wouldn't be okay with it if it was someone I didn't even like,” one person said.
 
“While I don’t understand what is so intimate about a footprint, I can see why you don’t want to share it for her to get the tattoo since she’s never really been nice to you,” another person said.
 
“Honestly, I think you’re being a little too sensitive about this. Ask yourself if you would care if you really like your mother-in-law. Probably not. Also, if I was to get footprints of a few random babies and your child’s, would you be able to tell the difference? No,” one other person remarked.

What can you say about the mom not wanting to have her son’s footprints tattooed on her body? Do you think she was right? Let us know your thoughts, and pass this on to people who might find this story interesting!