Teens: Tanning Salons & Body Piercings

Teens: Tanning Salons & Body Piercings

I was watching the news last night; well more like listening and one of the first stories was about the state raising the age on who could use  tanning salons. Last I knew you had to have written permission if you were under 17 from a parent or guardian. I understood that; back when I tanned; as I know there are chances of skin cancer or early aging. But along with this, I feel at 17 a parent/young adult should be able to make that choice for themselves or their child. I guess I also feel if a 15-year-old chooses to lay out in the sun for hours on end, days on end; what is the difference? Are there going to be tanning police?  I tanned my Senior year of high school for my prom and yes I was 18 and that was before the newer rules. I also thought, why when we have homeless people, starving families/children, high crime rates, jobless people and on and on is the state worrying about a teenager tanning? Seems so small in the big scheme of things.

THEN the story right afterward was body piercings. That story was about banning anyone under the age of 18 years of age (even with parental consent) from being able to pierce anything but their ears. Seriously? Again…where is this a problem that needs legislation passed? If a parent chooses to sign written consent for their child to get a body part pierced why is that an issue?  My feelings on this are:  a piercing isn’t forever; if you take it out, it heals up and the worse you might have is a small scar; minuscule. Where a tattoo is more or less permanent. I could understand that more I guess. I also feel it goes back to the fact that I don’t feel it is up to the government to be regulating things such as these when there are more important, pressing matters that they could be working on.

It’s just like the newest issue in NYC where the Mayor is contemplating banning 16oz or bigger sugary drinks. Um, hello, where did personal choice go? Again I am sure NYC has more issues than what its residents are drinking (non-alcoholic). How about Mayor Bloomberg worries about crime, people living on the street and so on? It’s ridiculous that our government officials feel that they have to try and regulate personal choice.

So what are your thoughts? I know these are my opinions and like assh*les everyone has one but I wonder if I am alone in these thoughts? Leave a comment on what your thoughts are!