So there was recently that lady in the news who is being accused of taking her six year old into the tanning salon (her claim) or tanning booth (DCF's claim). Now this woman is orange in the worst- so disturbingly overly tan it actually hurts. Her kid looks pale as anything on the news, so I don't really know what went on there. However, this morning on the radio they were backing the mom and saying if she wants to take her kid tanning it's her call. I was FLARING. How is that ok in any stretch of the imagination? That's UNSAFE. Could be DEADLY. And then I remembered that my toddler eats chocolate ice cream regularly (sugar, cholesterol), candy off and on (eek- CORN SYRUP!) and has had sips of a diet coke (chemicals up the wazoo, and fake corn syrup); probably has eaten his fair share of dirt (neurotoxins, pollutants, arsenic, old lace, lord only knows!) and requests McDonald's by name. If we are going to say that this woman exposing her child to UV rays is wrong because they are dangerous, what about EVERY SINGLE OTHER PARENT ON THE PLANET? The ones who don't vaccinate are leaving their children open to potentially deadly diseases, but the ones who do could have a child with a reaction; the ones who use disposable diapers are killing the earth; but the ones who use cloth use lots of water; the ones who grow all their own fruits and vegetables in a hermetically sealed, pesticide free bubble probably have tractors that emit fumes that eat through the ozone layer, and the ones who grab whatever is on sale at the megamart could have a kid with a third eye. Pretty much everything we do is ruining someone's tomorrow, it's just the way it is.
Except napping in the sun and sipping sangria. I haven't found the flip side to that.
