Monday, July 02, 2012

A Chapter from the Poolside Chronicles

"You should probably put on sunscreen."
And she didn't even take her nose out of her book. Get right on out of here. I heard this mom tell her kids at the pool and it warmed my heart. Those of you who read my blog regularly know I have pool/sunscreen issues. Here is a link to my rant last year about this time.
It just makes way too much sense to put the sunscreen on the children before you get to the pool especially the really young ones that can't do it themselves. But once they develop some motor skills they should be able to handle sunscreen. And this mom understands it. She told them once and if they chose to listen or not, so be it, burn kid I have to finish this chapter.
What we have here is a mom willing to let go just a little bit and let her children take on responsibility. She's not a helicopter mom, a hoverer of offspring. It's refreshing to see a mom indifferent to whether her kids gets sunburn. And I'm guessing her kids are quick learners because they took her advice and used the sunscreen. Or she rules with an iron fist and they are scared of her. Either way she totally gets my need for some peace while poolside.

5 comments:

ReformingGeek said...

Good for her!

Sunburn hurts. Dang! My shoulders got burned a couple of weeks ago while I was out on my bike and for some reason sunscreen is now foremost in my mind.

Symdaddy said...

Have your kids ever argued (after being told to do something sensible) that they have to learn by their own mistakes?

Ours have ... they still make mistakes and I'm still waiting for them to learn!

And, when the shit hits the fan, I just say "It's your mess. You sort it out!"

At times, I don't think they like me very much.

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Relax Max said...

You should probably put on sunscreen.

Suzanne said...

Carol - Sorry to bring up a soar subject. ;-)

Symdaddy - Tough love, it's standard practice in our family.

tshirt hubuk - Thank you.

Relax Max - I don't use sunscreen, my mom tells me to but I don't listen to her.