Sunscreen - A Mild Form of Punishment!

School's out. I've been taking the girls to the pool all week. Other kids must still be in school because we've had the pool all to ourselves. It's been nice.

Yesterday I realized our sunscreen was getting a bit low, so last night I ran into Albertson's for a few other items and decided I would check the price on their sunscreen. I've been enjoying the spray-on type. The bottle doesn't last as long, but it is so quick to use compared to the lotion type - girls are sprayed with sunscreen, in the pool, over and out.  I saw a brand I had not heard of, but it was $7.99 and buy one get one free. I thought that was a fair price for the sunscreen and would last me quite a while.

Arriving at the pool today, someone would have gotten a good chuckle watching me try to figure out how to get the sunscreen to come out of the container! It's normally a no-brainer ... mash the top and the sunscreen sprays out. I tried everything. Handing it off to my 13 year old, I knew she would eventually figure it out ... accidentally squirting some in her hair, she figures it out the hard way. She said, "Mom, you just have to mash 'really' hard." It was so hard to get out of the bottle. I almost had to use two hands to mash the cap in order for the sunscreen to come out. I know there is a thing called "freedom of speech," but I'm afraid to mention which brand it was. I do not recommend it ... I will say this: stick to what you know is good ... Banana Boat, Coppertone! It's worth every dime.

Moving on ... I manage to get the sunscreen to come out, and I'm trying to get the girls covered. When I get to their little backs ... their shoulder blades squeeze together like the sunscreen is so cold and they can just barely take it. I say, "Don't do that ... keep your back flat so we don't waste it." I have always said that to them!

So before the girls get into the pool, I asked them if they would "try" to spray my back. I had used Hawaiian Tropic tanning lotion yesterday, and I managed to get a little sunburned. So I figured I'd better go with the sunscreen today. The girls were giggling their heads off trying to spray the container ... really working as a team to get it on me. The first squirt came out ... it was so cold I couldn't help but wince a little. The next spray ... I'm almost in tears. I am exaggerating a tiny bit ... but I was jokingly crying out loud and that just made the girls laugh even harder. I  couldn't help but say, "This feels like a mild form of punishment!"

I've never understood why the girls acted so silly when I sprayed their backs with sunscreen ... now, I know! And I say all this as a reminder that ... it's so easy to judge others ... we do not always understand what someone else is going through until we get the chance to swim a mile in their goggles! The sunscreen was a definite reminder for me.