... there's a green Jetta with my wife and oldest son, hurtling back to Wichita.
This was to be the week where Morgan extricated himself from the video games, and learned how to be a camp counselor at the local Boy Scout camp. Alas, his bullheadedness struck again, and now he's headed home.
This all started last Saturday, as we headed out to the water park at the local YMCA for some fun in the sun. I was being the ever-cautious father, and brought the best sunblock we had available. Morgan, however, had other ideas. He thought that he needed to get a good deep sunburn in order to begin sun-tanning properly. No matter how much I appealed to him that this would end badly, he refused the sunblock. As a consequence, he became the proud owner of a bright red sunburn on his entire torso.
Yesterday, we sent him off to the camp, with specific instructions to not go out in the sun without applying sunblock. We feared that if he went out into the sun more, and got burnt again. he would risk some serious skin damage.
Did he listen? OH NO! Today, he spent most of the day at the waterfront, shirtless and sunblock-less. When his trainer asked him about sunblock, he lied and said that he applied some SPF 50 sunblock. He then proceeded to get burnt to a crisp.
Sometime this afternoon, he must have realized that his skin hurt, so he appealed to the camp director to go home. Now, the camp director, being a good Scouter, tried to buck him up and asked him to stick it out for a while. Then he got a glance at the sunburn, and called us at home to ask us to pick up our son.
Please, remember this the next time you think that I'm a good father. I led the child to camp, but couldn't make him think.
I hope Morgan enjoys molting, because that's what he'll be doing all week. Frankly, I'm glad I'll be gone the next two days, so I don't have to hear his moans of agony and think to myself, "You brought this on yourself, you know."
Argh.
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Lemme guess, he's 17 years old??? Thinks he knows it all? I feel for you Dale. I had the problem this winter of convincing my step-teens that wearing a coat in below zero weather was a good idea. Man oh man, I wonder - were we that bad when we were in high school? Probably.
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Haha, I went to Hawaii whilst nannying a couple years ago and thought that I could withstand the sun ray without sun screen (silly me). I ended up with the worst sunburn of my life. He'll learn his lesson.
In other news, sounds like you're near me! (I live in Kansas City) Good to know there are others in the midwest with acceptable music taste. haha :)
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LMI: You're pretty close; he's almost 15. And I know I was this thick, because I watched my facial skin literally fall off my face onto my surfboard when I was his age. You'd think that story would dissuade, but nope.
SH: I hope so, he's walking in the door now. Some hearty pats on the back will help reinforce the message. ;) And yes, I'm in Wichita. Us midwesterners have to stick together, ya know. :)
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Some hearty pats on the back will help reinforce the message
Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!
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OK, I wouldn't actually do it, but I'd think about it. Muwahahahaha
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Patting him on the back? That would be soooooo evil, Dale. But deserved. Yep, must be something about all those hormones that seem to filter out all common sense advice at that age. Only experiential learning seems to seep through. Sometimes I imagine I must sound like one of the adults in a Charlie Brown cartoon when talking to teenagers. "Mwa Mwa mwa mwa mwa mwa"
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Hee hee, I LOVE your choice of song for this post! I'm SO glad I forgot to have kids. Mine would be dead & gone if I'd had any(& I'd be in jail serving my time), lol. Seriously, you have to be a great parent to go through what you did & not strangle him so don't sell yourself short Dale, you did an admirable job!
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Hehe, luckily, there are some things you do learn when you get older. ;) I'm happy I've got a bit of Asian blood in me, the sunburning process is severely slowed down by that. :P
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Dale, the best father in the world can't get a 15-year-old to believe that he/she is not the source of all knowledge and wisdom. Only screwing up repeatedly can disabuse them of that conviction. You can only hope they don't kill themselves or mess up their lives irretrievably before the truth finally sinks in. I suspect that's where good parenting enters the picture.
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It's not your fault! If someone doesn't want to do something, you sometimes can't convince them otherwise. I actually have girl friends my age that try to get burned to tan more quickly...yeah.....
And I agree with dear Ivy 100%. "Only screwing up repeatedly can disabuse them of that conviction". Or as I say in a less classy way, if you don't fall into poop, you will never know what they smell like so that you can avoid them in the future.
Cheers :*
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those crazy kids never listen do they? i remember several incidents that were similar when i was growing up. parents are so un-cool. they just don't understand the concept of being cool. ;)
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Teenagers are dumb. Mine has a world class brain in his head but he rarely consults it when making decisions. I'm sure Morgan is exactly the same (as were we). I still think you're a FABULOUS dad and I'm usually right. :)
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Ack, kids! I look at my teenage nieces and nephews and realize they are no different from my 2 year old. I can't reason logically with my 2 year old, and I can with the teens, but it doesn't really matter anyway, because they still are ill-logical. Kind of a depressing thought thinking about having that to look forward too.
I remember being that age. Ugh, a constant reminder of how uncomfortable you are in the world.
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The Violent Femmes is a very befitting choice for this story of skin BBQ. I always feel terrible when I see all these people walking around in London with their bosoms a bright red colour. And my head I can hear: If only...
Since the sun is so rare over here, this is what happens when there's a thin ray:My Trusted MOGs
Owch, good read though. Summer as a teenager is such a difficult time in a way, such high expectations for fun, only to have them burnt to a crisp.
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° ° ° Show him some pictures of people having some serious skin injuries maybe, or a movie if it exists ? or anything from the web that might better capture a teen's attention.
But well you know the teens often just do left when you say right, because you said right and for no other reason... :)))
E ven Universalis M ight not be able to C hange anything about it D ale
:))
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despite the poor judgement in this particular instance, i dig your son's stubborn determination. and, in my opinion, the fact that you let him make his own mistakes make you a great father. :)
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Ooh, that's terrible. I've had some terrible sunburns in my day...nothing really helps but time. (I hope he's learned his lesson, though. Sunburns are a lot more dangerous than we knew back in the pool-all-day 70s.)
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sounds like some pretty severe crisping went on....he's gonna shed his skin like a snake!
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Is this kind of behavior what I have to look forward to...not my boy...never.
He will peel...yes he will.
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uh oh, the crispiness must run in the e-family ... I am so bad about that!
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Forgetfulness is one thing, but outright refusal is a whole other thing, E. And yes, his shoulder blades have all peeled off. Gross. :P
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so has Morgan's epidermis regenerated yet? :O)
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Yes it has, although he heads back to the same camp this morning, so we'll see if he has learned his lesson this time.
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one would hope...but I was just home visiting with my family this weekend, and I have a 16 year old brother...teenage boys are a stubborn breed of their own