Red as a Tomato

Our youngest child, our 8 year old son, has been in the wars recently.

Earlier this month, he had an entire week off school because of a particularly bad sunburn. It was embarrassing, for me more than him ... one of those 'I'm such a bad mother' moments.

He'd been playing outside and had ignored my reminder about putting on sunscreen. He was out in the sunshine for much longer than I'd realised, in a concrete area - reflective surfaces! - and had taken his shirt off. When I noticed he was still outside, I called him in and noticed his back was pink. 'Oh no, mate,' I said, 'You look like you might be a bit sunburnt.'

A bit? Try a lot! My boy is very pale, so if he gets a sunburn it's quite obvious. It tends to start off pink and the colour darkens over time. By an hour or so after coming into the house, he was red! It was obvious he'd been quite badly burned - and not just his back, but his arms and chest as well. He had a cool shower and we applied the Aloe Vera After Sun gel we always keep in the fridge but, by that evening, it was obvious that this was worse than the average sunburn. To add to his humiliation, his big brother decided that 'Tomato' would be a great nickname for him.

Over the next few days, we tried everything to soothe his discomfort - all the sunburn remedies you can think of. Tea bags, Aloe Vera gel, Burn Aid gel, apple cider vinegar, a ginger compress, tomato slices, papaw ointment, coconut oil, lavender oil. At night, he slept on the lounge with the softest sheet we could find, with two pedestal fans blowing cool air around him. He didn't wear a shirt the entire time, and he walked like C3PO, holding his arms out from his body because it hurt all over. After about three days, blisters appeared. My poor little boy; he was in so much pain and I couldn't even comfort him with a cuddle ... touch was out of the question.

In the end, the only thing that really helped was Soov, an after-sun treatment that I bought at the chemist for $10. It's a spray, so I didn't actually have to touch him, much to his relief! After a week of being confined to the house, not being able to wear a shirt, and putting up with being called Tomato by his siblings, his skin had finally calmed down enough for him to get back to normal.

The funny part came yesterday, two weeks after the sunburn settled down. Our older son, who also knows better, spent the day at the beach with friends and came home ... you guessed it ... sunburnt.

I asked my younger boy if he could think of a nickname for his big brother. His face lit up with joy (or revenge?) and he announced, 'Tomato number two!'