In yet another reminder of "How Did We Ever Survive Childhood?", I am reminded of the virtues of a good sunscreen.
Growing up, we were seatbeltless in cars and helmetless on bikes, skated and skateboarded without pads, rode in the open backs of pickups, and freely ate and shared peanut butter. And I don't remember sunscreen even being available when I was a kid. Heck, we'd cover ourselves in oil just to hasten the charring of our skin.
Now, of course, we know better.
So we're all grown up now and raise our kids in a different world of helmets and seatbelts and padding and sunscreen. Usually.
Chaco went to a party a couple of days ago. The party was outside at a pool. He came home looking like a ripe tomato.
He spent most of yesterday shuffling around in a shiny covering of various ointments. I felt sorry enough for him to take on his laundry duty for the day. I've also begun referring to him as "The English Patient".
Maybe today will be less lobster-like. Looks like summer has officially arrived.
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5 comments:
Poor kid! If it is any consolation, I *am* using sunscreen but apparently have failed to remember how to apply it completely as I keep burning small random areas of my body.
Hopefully, in a week or so, I will have missed application on enough areas that they will all blend together. Goodness knows I'm out in the sun enough to make that happen!
Don't forget Monkey Bars and Dodgeball. In our days, a burn like that wouldn't get much sympathy from friends (shoulda put on sunscreen). That's one of those lessons that sticks with you a while (I still recall my back peeling for a week).
So strange how things change! I remember seeing pictures of rich women with fair skin, holding parasols to keep it that way. Our American history teacher explained to us that in those days (late 19th-early 20th Century)tanned skin was a sign of lower class women (due to their working in the fields); upper-class women avoided getting suntanned. Now it's almost the other way around!
Yeah, at some point, you kind of assume your kids know well enough to take certain precautions, like applying sunscreen. Silly of us to make those assumptions, really.
My mom was progressive. I don't remember sunscreen, but she made my very fair-skinned brother wear a t-shirt even in the water. And I remember being seatbelted with a sibling in the back seat of our Ford. There were 2 seat belts in the back seat, but 4 kids.
Poor kid. Think that'll happen again? I hope not.
As mom used to say, and now I say - we live and we learn.
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