Even if you didn’t sense that the air was seasonably warm, even if you didn’t smell the barbecue smoke in the evening in every part of town, and even if you didn’t notice the sudden ubiquity of sunglasses and flip-flops, you would be able to tell that it’s practically summer by the injuries of children. Winter brings broken legs and sprained wrists; autumn and spring come with school scuffles and bloody noses; but for really impressive, widespread, daily, low-grade damage, you just can’t beat summer. The abundance of warm-weather injuries would almost be comical, if they didn’t hurt so much.
Consider the punctured heels and shredded toenails that come from children running around outdoors and dashing after ice cream trucks in bare feet that are not yet, shall we say, “seasoned.” By August, they’ll be able to traverse the hottest asphalt with their calloused soles, but in June their skins are still winter-soft and easily minced. Ouch!
There is “pool toe,” that dreaded affliction of children who spend a lot of time bouncing around on the rough surfaces of swimming pools. The bottom of the pool slowly abrades the rounded parts of the foot, particularly the big toe, until it has worked its way through the skin to what some children call “the meat.” In the most dramatic cases, this condition leaves a person’s big toe looking rather like an Atomic Fireball, the candy that, when you’ve licked off its peppery surface and crunched it a bit, reveals layer upon tiny pink concentric layer underneath. Eesh!
There are bug bites, the itchy constellations that decorate the legs, arms, and torsos of children who play outside at this time of year. There are the twisted ankles and shin splints of kids who run more than usual. There’s sunburn and then skin that peels. There’s hair that dries out in the sun and water, and breaks off. There’s the greening of the hair of blond children, who, after prolonged exposure to chlorine, look as oxidized as copper roofs.
Oh, and there are the welts on the backs and stomachs of boys who “thwack!” into the water too hard, from too high, and at a bad angle, leaving huge slabs of bruised skin. There are the knees, bared now by shorts and skirts, scraped and bloodied when their owners trip in unfamiliar sandals. There are burned tongues from too-hot toasted marshmallows, and singed fingers from holding firecrackers too long.
This is Band-Aid season. This is quick-get-the-ice or quick-soak-it-in-hot-salty-water-so-it-won’t-get-infected season. It is a time of heat, barbecues, flip-flops and an unbelievable number of small wounds. And to think: It’s still nearly a week before summer officially arrives!
Meghan Cox Gurdon’s column appears on Sunday and Thursday. She can be contacted at [email protected].
