Tattoos have been around since the ancient times (they recently found one on a man that was carbon-dated at around 5,200 years old!). Some people get them as a sign of self expression, others just like having body art. Often tattoos have a very significant meaning to the person they are forever inked on, whether representing an aspect of their personality or serving as a reminder of a specific person, place or time in their lives.

Getting a tattoo of a loved one really is a deep and meaningful way to express your feelings for them. I mean, you have to endure a lot of pain and pay a lot of money to have that permanent (well, mostly) tribute for the whole world to see. While tattooing your partner's name across your chest may not always be the best idea, getting a tattoo to represent your kids is a different story. That bond will no doubt last forever, so you won't have to worry about saving up for that incredibly excruciating tattoo removal when the honeymoon phase has ended. Here are some of the sweetest tattoos parents have gotten for their children.

16 Daddy's Little Girl

Courtesy of Eric Morton
Courtesy of Eric Morton

Every father likes to think his daughter will forever be daddy's little girl. This father took a moment of wonder from his daughter's childhood and tattooed it on his arm to always remember her that way. The photo was taken at Time Square when her aunt and grandmother took her to a Broadway play. Her aunt printed out the photo and gave it to the girl's father as Christmas gift, and he instantly fell in love with the image and wanted to get it tattooed on himself. He knew it would cost an arm and leg with all of that detail, so he initially didn't go through with it. So, as a surprise, his wife booked the an appointment with tattoo artist Megan Jean Morris, and bought him the tattoo for his birthday. He pretty much can't go anywhere without someone having something to say about it.

15 My Little Brony

Courtesy of Meagan Reda Lamberti
Courtesy of Meagan Reda Lamberti

This mother grew up collecting My Little Ponies and passed along her love (and collection) to her daughter. A few years ago there was a boy who was getting bullied for liking My Little Pony, and thus a pony/brony tattoo movement began. “Several shops were even donating profits from these tattoos to anti-bullying charities. So I set out to get my own.” She asked her daughter to design the pony any way that she wanted, and she chose one called Rainbow Dash. The reason for her choice? "She said because she is all the colors of the rainbow, she can fly and she always helps out her friends whenever they need it!" Her daughter was so ecstatic when she got the tattoo. “She showed my arm off to everyone we saw for a while after I got it, claiming proudly, that I had gotten it for her!”

14 Heart Print

thisistattoo.com
thisistattoo.com

Each and everyone of us has our own detailed unique fingerprint. They can serve as a marker of our identity (and if any of you fine folks out there have been arrested, I am sure you can recall the police shoving your hand into the ink pad and onto the paper to get those fingerprints). One unique way to commemorate your little one is to tattoo their personal fingerprint on your skin (and hope that is the only place it will end up!). For those of you too wimpy to handle that wonderful burning sensation of a tattoo, it is a lot smaller than a full footprint and handprint, so therefor a lot less painful.

A plain fingerprint may not look that visually appealing, so this creative parent transformed their child's finger impressions into an adorable heart.

13 Orion the Hunter

Courtesy of Opus
Courtesy of Opus

This loving father combined a number of symbols together to form one cohesive tattoo on his chest, dedicated to his two and a half year old son. The most prominent image is the footprints, which were taken at the hospital the day he took his son home. The moment he received the certificate with the prints, he knew he'd end up tattooing them on his body.

Below the prints is the scales glyph, which is the symbol for the zodiac sign of libra, which is his son's birth sign. Behind the feet there are a pattern of blue stars which form the constellation Orion the Hunter. "My son's name is Orion, but I wanted to do something more creative than just writing his name." He also chose the color blue because it is his boy's favorite color.

12 Permanent Family Sticker

Family-Portrait
popsugar.com

We have all seen those cute little stickers people put on the back of their cars to represent their families, with a sticker to represent each family member (Depending on your personality, you may need to replace the word "cute" with "nauseating"). Usually they are plain stick figures, but I have scene some really creative ones: zombies, cartoon characters, horror villains, the list goes on and on. The reason I bring that up is that I wonder if those stickers were the inspiration of this tattoo; it was the first thing I thought of when I saw it (And the neck is kind of like the back of a car window, no?). The choice of animal is also perfect: elephants have a very close relationships with their young. In fact, momma elephants are just about always having affectionate and loving contact with their offspring. Which is better than choosing animals like hamsters or sharks, who often eat their young.

11 The Mysterious Journey

Courtesy of Megan Jean Morris
Courtesy of Megan Jean Morris

This detailed black and grey tattoo captures this father's twin little girls around the age of four or five, looking out over a bridge. It is a beautiful yet haunting image. I'm not exactly sure what provoked such feeling for me; perhaps it is the lack of color, the fact that we can't see their faces and that they are staring out into something that we cannot really see. Upon hearing their story, though, the feeling is somewhat fitting. One of those little girls has been battling a life threatening disease throughout her young life.

According to Megan, however, despite everything they have gone through, the father has an extremely positive outlook on the situation. Perhaps this tattoo was meant to represent the long beautiful life they have ahead of them, and that they have each other to count on through the journey.

10 Dedicated Daddy

dad tattoo
parenting.com

This doting father from California tattooed a statement on his arm for his two daughters, who were two and four at the time he got it. He was in the military and was about to be deployed for the first time since his daughters were born, so he wanted to show them his complete dedication. He also wanted to have a constant reminder of their close bond while being apart from them (He already had their two names on him, but wanted more). It kind of reminds me of a journal entry.

In case you can't read it, the tattoo says, “A father is respected because he gives his children leadership... appreciated because he gives his children care... valued because he gives his children time... loved because he gives his children the one thing they treasure most – himself.”

9 Little Frog

Courtesy of Angele Stevens
Courtesy of Angele Stevens

Many parents develop cute nicknames for their kids based on their looks or personality (like "little jerk" or Quasimodo). Transforming that nickname into a tattoo is a great way to show your son or daughter how much they mean to you. This proud mama affectionately refers to her special little guy as her “little frog.” “When my son was born he kicked his legs and popped his tongue in and out like a little frog.” So six months after he was born, she tattooed this frog piece on her so that she would always have her little frog with her.

The boy the tattoo is dedicated to is now eight years old, and has been diagnosed with autism, so he doesn't quite yet understand the symbolism, “but he reminds everyone of my tattoo when he sees a tree frog on the television or at the zoo.”

8 Godly Kids

parenting.com
parenting.com

Instead of simply tattooing their names or capturing their portraits, this father decided to get artistic with the images he used to memoralize his beloved children. The story begins on the night his daughter was born. There was a raging storm going on that night, which led to her parents deciding to name her after the goddess of rain and lightning from Indic mytholgy: Maekalah (which is often spelled Mekhala). They then had a son three years later, and keeping with the same theme, decided to name him Zakarin after the king of the gods (traditionally known as Sakra).

Some time later, the father discovered a piece of artwork in a book of Lao Buddhist art that depicted two two gods his children were named after together, which was a rare sight. He thought getting that image tattooed was the perfect way to immortalize his majestically named offspring.

7 Celebs Do It Too

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Joining the growing list of artwork adorning his beautifully chiseled body, the British former soccer star (and absolute hunk) David Beckman has recently added this special tattoo to his collection. Beckham is known for his vast array of body art. He has more than 40 different pieces, and has stated that each one has a specific meaning to him. This particular image is one of his most beloved tattoos because it has a very special significance to him. It is a sweet dedicating to his daughter, Harper, who was four-years-old at the time he got it done. He tattooed a stick figure-like drawing of a happy little girl that Harper drew herself. He placed the image in a very unique (and previously bare) spot; on the palm of his right hand. I don't know if he chose that spot for a specific reason, or if that was one of the only available spots left on him, but it sure looks cute.

6 Special Signature

Courtesy Joe Panzanella
Courtesy Joe Panzanella

A first glance, this tattoo may just look like some poorly lettering spelling out the name Chloie, but it is a lot deeper and sweeter than that. This father was forced to be apart from his children, and missed them terribly. He wanted to get a tattoo for each of them so that he could, in essence, always keep them close. His daughter (his eldest) suggested that he get her name, but he wanted it to be more meaningful than that. So he had her write her name out and send it to him. He then he had the tattoo artist copy her handwriting onto his rib cage. He plans to tattoo his son's name, in the very same manner, this summer.

"It's a constant reminder of how much I miss and love my children even though they are 900 miles away from me.”

5 Gods and Art

Courtesy of Danny Wahlberg
Courtesy of Danny Wahlberg

This father combined their family heritage with his son's artistic talent to create his inked tribute. “We have Nordic heritage. My son's name is Dustin, and the name Dustin comes from the phrase 'Thor's stone.'” So, he found a cool image of Thor's battle stone, which depicts Odin holding up a small image of Thor. For those of you who are not familiar with Nordic mythology, Odin and Thor are gods. It all makes a little more sense now, huh? So he came up with a creative idea. Since his son really loves to draw, he wanted to incorporate some of his artwork into his tattoo. He found a self portrait Dustin drew of himself when he was five-years-old, and instead of depicting Odin holding Thor, he had the tattoo artist draw Odin holding Dustin's self portrait.

“I love it, it's like a time capsule.”

4 Secret Tribute

Courtesy of Vin Sementilli
Courtesy of Vin Sementilli

Despite the fact that he has a job that requires him not to have any ink showing, this proud papa wanted to get a tattoo that signified his three sons (If it were me, I would have just put it anywhere I wanted and told my job to shove it, which is probably why I'd never make it in the corporate world). He wanted to get something more unique than just their names, so he decided to combine all of their zodiac symbols: Gemini, Cancer and Pisces. He researched the tribals versions of these symbols and combined them into one cool design. He then tattooed the new symbol on his bicep, a place he could easily cover up for his job. “My boys think that I'm the coolest dad because none of their friends' dads have any tattoos, let alone ones representing their kids.”

3 Mother's Reminder

Courtesy of Neena Liana
Courtesy of Neena Liana

This loving mama bear tattooed her son's name, Chris, in script right on her belly above her belly button, surrounded by some cute little creatures."I thought it was appropriate because I told him he grew in my belly, and we both share a love of frogs and lady bugs.” She has lots of tattoos all over her body, but this particular one is the most special to her, for obvious reasons. “My son is a teen now. When he was a little boy he thought it was the coolest thing that his name was on my tummy. I used to tell him that was where he came from and that the frog reminded me of him.” Later on, she also incorporated his name into another tattoo. That's a mother's dedication for you.

2 Father's Prince

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Whenever a client approaches tattoo artist Jerry Magni about getting a tattoo dedicated to his or her child, he suggests that they some up with some type of symbol or subject that can tell a story in relation to their child, rather than just getting a name or portrait. One piece from a particular client who took his advice really stands out in his mind:

"This guy who came to the shop had recently adopted a child after losing his own son. He decided to focus on the happiness for the new arrival. He wanted a swallow, which is the symbol of loyalty and family, surrounded by bubbles, which was something this kid really loved. He then put a crown representing the fact that this boy will always be a prince for his father.”

1 Memorial to Mother

megan
Courtesy of Megan Jean Morris

Upon first glance, this piece looks like a parent's tribute to his/her family. However, it's actually the opposite. Yet another piece by Megan Jean Morris, this tattoo was for the youngest daughter in the image, in dedication to her mother, who is depicted, along with the woman's siblings. (Ok, I know this article is about parents' tattoos for their kids, but this was too good of a piece and story to pass up). Megan made sure to capture the essence of the old photo, giving it a nostalgic feel rather than opting for complete modern realism.

The tattoo has an eerie story that goes along with it. At the very moment Megan was tattooing the image of the woman's brother, he died from a brain aneurysm. Pretty crazy, right? So, the piece unfortunately ended up being a memorial to two family members.