Anyone that knows me knows that I am sunscreen challenged.
I want you to promise NOT to e-mail or otherwise rebuke me when you read the following.... promise?
I don't use sunscreen with SPF.
I feel like I just admitted to hitting old women at the grocery store. People are very passionate about sunscreen. VERY. I knew I needed to step up my game when I as pregnant with Alden and we took the big 2 to Disneyland. In July. IN FLORIDA. IN JULY. As the Disney boat pulled into shore, there was an audible click as every good mom opened her sunscreen and proceeded to slather her children up. Micah looked at me and I just gave an embarrassed shrug, and said, "um... I got nothing."
I had a momentary lapse of mommynotgoodenoughitis and thought of patting my pockets down to pretend I was looking for sunscreen, as if I actually had remembered this "essential" item and just couldn't find it. Then I just decided my boys were of hardy stock, like their mama. If I have never had a sunburn neither would they! It was not a proud moment of justification.
So, over the years I have gotten much more consistent in my SPF duties with my children. ( note I said "with my children." I still slather myself with no SPF hawaiian tropics. sorry.) I thought I was doing so good. Take that world! I have mastered one area of motherhood! I properly SPF my kids! I even remember to reapply at times. Yeah, don't hate. It is my skill set.
Until this summer... when I read some articles about how deadly, yes DEADLY slathering my kids with SPF is. WAIT! WHAT??!!? BUT THIS WAS GOING TO BE MY SKILL SET! Apparently, the chemicals in the sunscreen are evil, bad for kids, maybe even worse than (gasp!) no sunscreen at all. How can this be? Not when I just bought three of the mega packs at Costco. There was a coupon in the flyer. It came with a free "face stick". How could I not stock up? Stocking up proves I take my skill set seriously. Crud.
So, now I am supposed to pay $40 for a 1.2oz micro-tube of organic sunscreen, made from herbs grown by monks in the hills of some idyllic country, where the only fertilizer used is earthworm guts, hand blended with mountain spring water by the aforementioned monks. It is a lot of pressure to pick the right sunscreen. A LOT.
So, I cringed every time I sprayed and/or slathered the boys down, asking them afterwards "Can you still see me? What is 4+4? Are your toes tingling? Do you know my name?" I am not sure, are these the correct questions for a neurological battery check?
It's just too much pressure. I can't handle this. I am just one mediocre mom who lost her one and only skill set. It was a hard season for me.
So, I was ready for summer to end. Ready to put away the swim trunks, and goggles. Ready to pack up the deadly sunscreen. Next year, I think we will just swim at 6pm...
Welcome Fall, welcome. Pumpkins are safe right? RIGHT?
