> because of accumulated sun exposure from when they were younger.
I don't think this gets enough attention.
It's anecdata, so grain of salt and all of that, but one day when I was around 8 or 10 years old, I spent essentially the entirety of a bright summer day playing on the beach near a relative's cabin. It was the longest I had ever spent continuously in the sun up until that point. No one warned me to take extended breaks in the shade, or suggested sunscreen. I don't think I even heard about sunscreen at that point. At the end of the day, almost all of my skin was bright red and extremely painful to the touch. All of the adults thought it was funny. I was in excruciating pain for the next 48 hours.
It's not that the adults (parents, aunts, uncles, etc) weren't caring, they just seemed to think that painful sunburns were just a normal summer thing. Maybe even a right of passage.
I was _much_ more careful about sun exposure after that experience.
Anyway, fast forward a couple of decades and now I have damaged skin everywhere that sunburn happened. Lots of moles on the tops of my arms, shoulders, and back (virtually none on the bottom), scar tissue from where injuries never healed properly, etc. Skin cancer is very likely in my future.
I have two kids and they whine and groan and complain when I berate them about not wearing sunscreen or taking shade breaks. Oh well.
I don't think this gets enough attention.
It's anecdata, so grain of salt and all of that, but one day when I was around 8 or 10 years old, I spent essentially the entirety of a bright summer day playing on the beach near a relative's cabin. It was the longest I had ever spent continuously in the sun up until that point. No one warned me to take extended breaks in the shade, or suggested sunscreen. I don't think I even heard about sunscreen at that point. At the end of the day, almost all of my skin was bright red and extremely painful to the touch. All of the adults thought it was funny. I was in excruciating pain for the next 48 hours.
It's not that the adults (parents, aunts, uncles, etc) weren't caring, they just seemed to think that painful sunburns were just a normal summer thing. Maybe even a right of passage.
I was _much_ more careful about sun exposure after that experience.
Anyway, fast forward a couple of decades and now I have damaged skin everywhere that sunburn happened. Lots of moles on the tops of my arms, shoulders, and back (virtually none on the bottom), scar tissue from where injuries never healed properly, etc. Skin cancer is very likely in my future.
I have two kids and they whine and groan and complain when I berate them about not wearing sunscreen or taking shade breaks. Oh well.