When we arrived in Florida yesterday, everyone in my family was fairly pale. Although Tucker is on two swim teams, they practice in the evenings so his bare back and chest rarely see the light of day. As he scrambled into the pool yesterday, I warned him that he needed sun block. "Nena put it on for me," he said. Nena is what the kids call my mother.
Last evening as we were playing Monopoly, Tucker pulled up his sleeve to show a pink arm and shoulder.
"I think I got really burnt," he said and pulled his shirt up. His chest and back were pink too.
"I guess you needed to reapply," I said. "You were in the sun for a long time."
He stayed in the pool, floating on a raft long after the rest of us had abandoned the water and the sunshine.
This morning his burn had faded and we looked for sunblock to apply. He handed me a brown bottle.
"What is this?" I asked. "UV Amplifying Lotion? Dark Tanning Lotion?"
"That's what Nena put on me yesterday," he said.
And I read the bottle.
"Carefully blended natural oils work together to send reflected UV light back to the skin's surface for darker tanning without increased exposure time."
This wasn't sun block. It was made to amplify the sun.
"Mom!" I exclaimed. "No wonder he got sunburnt."
"Who is that stuff made for?" Tucker asked.
I suppose it's made for the busy people who need quick sun exposure and don't want to go to a tanning bed.
We won't be using it again, and it may disappear from my parents' house because I can't imagine it's healthy.
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