I can’t teach you everything

Krissy Gibbs
Jul 30, 2017 · 2 min read

This week is camp. Summer camp is the best. It’s the longest period of separation I have from my kids during the year. Ahhhhhh. I mean… not that I want more time away from my kids. Ahem.

Mostly I think it is great for my kids to go off and interact in the world without me. They need to learn how to deal with situations without me present to run interference. They need the social skills and they need to just learn to survive in the world.

This summer’s lesson has been about sunblock. We are pasty pasty white people. Casper-like. We glow we are so white. For most of my children’s lives I have had near fascist rules about covering skin. Most of their bathing suits have covered as much skin as normal clothing if not more. I hate sunblock. It’s not great for skin and I hate putting it on. So we cover our skin. We wear hats.

But my daughter also takes indoor swim classes so she has a bathing suit I wouldn’t put on her outside. She insisted upon wearing it to the water park so she could be stylish.

It is a little difficult for me to contain my “I told you so” as I slather her burnt skin with aloe. I limit myself to saying, “So what have we learned from this experience?” She says, “You were right. I need to put sunblock on my face more AND I won’t wear a non-covering bathing suit outside again.”

Beloved I have this wisdom because I burnt myself over and over and over because I’m a slow learner.

I sure hope that this can be a one-time experience for you. If so I will spend a lifetime being glad that my spawn is so much smarter than me.

Younger sibling has all day camp next week. They have swimming in the afternoons too. The conversations about bathing suits are different now that we are looking at a crispy bright red back on their sister.

“Well I don’t want to make a mistake like that.” Ok kid that’s wise. But don’t be a punk about it.

I think that is kind of my mantra with sibling rivalry/lessons. “It’s great to learn from your siblings’ mistakes. But don’t be a punk about it.”

Krissy Gibbs

Written by

Homeschooling, road schooling, life learning… it’s all an adventure. (http://www.krissygibbs.com/licensing/)

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