Mmmmm.....Lobster

Did your parents always tell you to wear sunblock?  My dad did.  In fact I was the kid who ran back to the beach towel to apply more when my friends were in the surf splashing away.

Coincidentally I was the one with white skin while my friends looked like distant cousins to the local lobsters.

Have you ever noticed parents seem to know what they are talking about...well most of the time.  I remember thinking mine were nuts, but as I age I realize they knew a lot more than I gave them credit for.

Now that I have kids I see the same look of contempt in my kid's eyes that I am sure my parents saw in mine.  So why is it we are "programed" to believe our parents are nincompoops? I don't know a kid alive who hasn't thought that at least once.

When I was a teenager my dad gave me a sign that said, "Attention Teenagers: Run Away From Home and Pay Your Own Way...While You Still Know Everything."  I embellished the sign and hung it on my door for years.  I remember coming home from college and seeing that sign on my door.  All at once I realized he had been making fun of me.  I was shocked because it had taken me so long to realize I didn't know anything, let alone everything.

Everyday we hear from experts who have traveled down roads we haven't yet seen.  They tell us what we need to do in cases of emergency and crisis.  Sometimes we listen and heed their advice.  Sometimes we proudly declare how much more we know on the subject and ignore them.

Maybe my dad's sign should have said, "Attention Humans: Ignore the Knowledge of Others and Pay for Your Own Mistakes...Until You Admit You Don't Know Everything."

I guess it is your choice, put on your sunblock, or be a lobster.  Mmmmm....lobster.