Were your parents sun worshippers?

[baskingasacrisp]

Mine were. My dad was the worst for it; the slightest hint of sunlight and he’d shoot out, shirt off, just lying for hours and not moving. My mum didn’t do it at home but she did on holiday.

Age has made me understand some things my parents did a lot more but that is something that still hasn’t really hit me. They didn’t read or anything; they’d literally just lie there for ages without moving, baking to a crisp.

They were both 1945 births. Not sure if an age thing or just something my parents did.

Yep. My mum was. And she got skin cancer. I was also tanned a lot as a child due to lots of foreign holidays (lots more sun there obviously) so I worry about that.

Yep. Born 45/46. My dad the same as yours, could lie for hours in some Henry Moore pose just to get the inside of his elbows brown! He worked outside a lot, and always in just shorts. His uncle was the same, b1917, so not just generational...
To be fair, my mum was always diligent about putting suncream on us kids... Factor 4 for the first week, factor 2 once we had a bit of a tan!

God no.

Mine were born in the 1930s.

My mum used to say their pale Irish skin would burn just reading the weather forecast 😁

My DM born in 1940s was obsessed with being tanned. In the 1980s we have a sun lamp for face and a full sun tanning bed in the house. We burnt badly many times as kids - bright red and peeling skin - while on summer holidays. I was a heavy sunbather as well until my mid 20s.

My DM now has had skin cancer a few times. I’m hoping I stopped the sun exposure in time to avoid it.

No - born 1954 and 1958.

Both grew up in Australia though and worked in the medical field so were very well-versed in sun safety. I always had my shoulders covered and wore a hat - and had Factor 50 on everywhere else. Never once got burnt as a child.

My Dad 1939, would lay for hours on a sun lounger in the garden covered in Ambre Solaire. My Mum 1943, a red head never. Would maybe take her tights off if we went down the beach, never in a bikini, always covered up. My Mum had melanoma a few years ago.

My Mum and majority of her siblings (born late 50 early 60’s) will all tan just because it’s summer - they don’t really burn. Growing up suncream for Mum was tanning oil - I can’t remember what it was but she would cover herself, while lying outside cooking. I sadly spend many a summer holiday burning, photos of me hiding under any shade I could find!

My skin will burn and I don’t tan - absolutely pointless so holidays are shade, hat and suncream.

Same for my girls, even though my younger one has inherited my Mums family colour she will still be covered in suncream & wear a hat!

No. I never really saw them sunbathing. My mum would sometimes sit with her lower legs in the sun for a bit but never lie out in it. They weren’t that hot on suncream though, I did burn a few times as a child but I think that was partly because by preference I was mostly an inside child so my skin wasn’t used to it. Both parents used to get decent tans in the summer but just from being outside gardening etc and they never got mahogany like you see some people are.

Both died in their early 70’s though so not sunbathing didn’t give them longevity!

No, we’re Scottish and pale and freckly. Mum would tan as would my sister, but I was slathered in sun screen and made to wear t shirts in the sun rather than just swimming cozzie from a baby. 1960s baby. But even mum and sister would rarely just lie In The sun.

My mum would only ever wear a swimming costume at the swimming pool - never on the beach or other outdoor place. She has always been tiny, so it wasn't to do with self-consciousness about her figure, she just seemed to prefer staying covered up. My dad had his top off when it was hot and liked to be outdoors, but doing things rather than sunbathing. I never sunbathe either, it's boring lying in the sun doing nothing, but I don't mind uncovering on the beach to go swimming now I'm in the 'just another middle-aged woman' category.

ETA parents both born early 1940s.

My parents (1930s/40s) did on holiday, not so much at home as they were always busy but there was a lot of sitting in the garden/ barbecues/mowing the lawn/children playing. No one would be wearing sunscreen. We used to go to the beach for the day in the holidays, not consciously sunbathing but still out in the sun all day long.

Mum was to a degree, she’d put her bikini on and lie out in the sun with a book (only briefly!) or do the gardening, hang out tbe washing etc while we played in the garden… now I’m thinking about it, that sunbathing was the only time I ever saw her sat still save for mealtimes. She’s a busy sort of person!
My dad was always brown as a berry because he was (is, possibly) a tradie so had his top off outside a lot in the summer, compared to lots of careers.
Both born in the 60s.
I have to say, I was always partial to a garden sunbathe before I had kids and the option to stay still was removed from me 😂

It’s still quite common. On an all inclusive holiday you’ll find plenty of people who just lie there in the sun day in day out, getting as tanned as possible. My mum did it, but my dad burned, so he stayed out of the sun a lot. I inherited my dad’s skin so wouldn’t lie in the sun all day. Maybe a couple of hours. I do like to doze on a sunbed if I do that kind of holiday (which I don’t tend to anymore really).

Why did she stare into the sun? Just curious

My mum loves the sun but weirdly she doesn’t burn or tan. Never puts cream on either. I burn to a crisp. As a child she always made me wear a t shirt- even in the sea. We had factor 30 but that wasn’t enough for me. It was the highest we could get at the time. As soon as we saw factor 50 I started on that. I have no wrinkles at all and I’m nearly 50. I’m sure it’s because I’ve kept my face out of the sun.

1940s parents, we never had foreign holidays and neither are sun worshippers. Dad always went brown from working in the garden and hiking, mum just doesn't tan at all - Scottish skin - but also doesn't burn unless out in the sun for a long time, which she doesn't really enjoy because of the heat. They both look great for their age.

Both my parents, born mid 40's sunbathed, but my mum would do it to relax more than get a tan, I think. She had fair skin and didn't tan well so certainly by the late 70s/80s she would wear suncream and a hat.

My dad, on the other hand was the typical oiled up mahogany sun worshipper, lived abroad in a hot country for years as well which made it worse. He has had skin cancer which has surprised no one.

As a typical olive skinned 70's kid I have been guilty of going darker than I should probably have done in the past and have burnt quite badly at times which I regret but am better at using suncream now in very sunny weather and don't lie out and "sunbathe" as such like I did when I was younger.

No, probably because my mum doesn’t tan at all and just burns. My Dad would work in the garden etc with no sunscreen on in the 80s/90s and get tanned and be proud of his tan, but he wouldn’t lie out in the sun all day. Both born 1950s

I don't remember my parents sunbathing (both born in the 1930s), but I don't think they ever wore sunscreen and Dad used to do things outside with his shirt off. He had several minor skin cancers treated in later life. I have to say that other than on my face I don't wear much sunscreen myself, but I certainly don't sunbathe now (we won't mention my young days!).

My dad was. He’d lie in the garden in tiny shorts and no sunscreen. He was always nut brown in the summer.

Edit - I’ve just remembered he had a tiny basal-cell carcinoma removed from his arm (when he was 92!).

My parents were born in the early 1940s. They weren't sun worshippers particularly. I mean, they would sit out in short sleeves on a rare sunny day and read a book or newspaper, but they weren't particularly bothered about getting a sun tan. It was more about enjoying the fine weather and feeling the sun on your face. I'm a '70s child, so we didn't know about the dangers of the sun and sunburn etc. It was pretty much accepted that you got burnt on a very sunny day and then put Nivea on your sunburnt skin. They couldn't afford to go abroad, to hotter countries, until we kids were all grown up.

Yes, especially my mum, though she stopped liking the heat in late middle age. She used to bakd herself in the sun in her 20s and 30s with tanning oil. She's nearly 80, hasn't had skin cancer and somehow (in spite of also being a smoker), her skin did not really age prematurely. She has darker, more tannable skin than me.

My dad was. Now his skin is like tissue paper, and he gets cuts and bruises very easily.

No. Born 1948 and 1952. Holidays always included somewhere with a pool or beach but it was a late afternoon thing only after a day exploring. Always fully covered in suncream and hats walking about and in and out of water. Only ever lying by the beach/pool for an hour or so after about 3.30

My mother was! Born in 1930. She used to drop everything and rush into the garden at the merest hint of sunshine….