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.

Yes.

Ginger dad born 48, grilled himself like a rotisserie chicken at every op.

Had countless melanomas but still going after having them cut out intermittently

Not at all. Grandad was, though. Born 1898. Flaxen haired and pale skinned. Died as a result of skin cancer

No, mine were not. Born post war and probably in their youth/teens/young adulthood hadn't heard of SPF, probably only lotions that "helped you tan".

They were too fair anyway to tolerate much sun. Had their first foreign holiday together in the late 1970's and hated it, was too hot and hated the food back then apparently! One of their friends died young, in her 20's, of malignant melanoma. I'm not sure if they (my parents & their friends) realised a connection between that and the sun at the time.

As a young child I did have neighbours who used to sunbathe in their back garden.

No. I grew up in Queensland Australia. My mum would slather us in sunscreen if we were going outside. I hated it as she used this horrible, thick goopy stuff.

She was a pale redhead, so knew the damage it could do. Despite this, I’m still covered in freckles. She was born in 1950, so the knowledge was available about sun damage even back in the 70’s and 80’s when I was a kid.

Nope, we are asian and getting browner was an utter no no for them

No, both from poor rural backgrounds (1943 and 1946) where a tan was a sign you were an agricultural labourer, not a leisured sunworshipper.

No my dad has Scottish roots and hates sunbathing. He has lots of sun spots from gardening though.

My mum - I can't say I saw her on a deckchair once in my life 😅 She would probably tan lovely as she is of indian heritage.

Absolutely not. They worked every hour they were awake, mum in the house and dad in the garden, or at his job.

They didn't bother with sunscreen - mum tanned easily and dad to some extent, and so during the 70s I sometimes had a little Ambre Solaire slathered onto me but in the main I burned (I was the only family member to inherit the Daz blue white skin of one of my grandmothers).

We had a neighbour who used to lie out on a sun lounger during the afternoons in her bikini, flat out, with the sun beating down. She got thyroid cancer in her late 40s and was buried in her mid 50s.

*Both were born before WWII.

Mine were

Absolute sun worseshippers, most of our holidays were about getting a tan

We did other hols too (hiking, Disney, city tours) but a lot of sunshine holidays

I personally don't really get the appeal, except that the weather in Britain is terrible and it's an escape from it

No. My parents were born in the mid 1930s. They weren't sun worshippers at all, but DF got skin cancer many years later from exposure in hot climates in the merchant navy in the 50s.

I used to get slathered in factor 4 sunscreen as a 60s/70s kid because I have hazel eyes. My sibling got factor 6 on account of their blue eyes. The fact we both have very fair skin that just doesn't tan wasn't taken into account at all. I suppose I should be grateful they tried, but my skin in my early 60s has sun damage that could've been avoided if they'd known better.

Yes, dad 1950s would sunbathe but go indoors between 12-3 - olive skin
mum 1960s sunbathed all day long

both used olive oil!

No. My mum is always covered up completely. She also makes my dad cover up as well.

Ex's mother was a large lady but would start stripping off at mere hint of watery sun and sit on a wonky deck chair in teeny back garden, legs akimbo proclaiming 'turned out nice today, better than where she went on holiday [bitter jealousy re neighbour]' Two minutes later later she'd start complaining about hot flushes. Other DIL insisted on a room dedicated for her tanning requirements; they only had one bathroom in a Jerry built house for two adults and four kids but, needs must. Even more bonkers was she used to advertise as B&B and got takers! Ex bought a tanning light thing with his first wages. I thought it was a light box because he claimed to be a photographer - first of many lies! He laid out trying to catch rays in one of the most polluted cities in the Third World; he probably did tan - from chemical miasma and cooked inside out. One can only hope.

My father would spend every summer outside gardening without a shirt and in very short shorts. He would get incredibly dark, but never burnt.

my mother was like me and needed spf, hats, long sleeves, and to chase the shade. She still ended up with skin cancer from too many sun burns.

they were both children of the 40s