I felt like a nag tonight when the 21-year-old babysitter/college student I’ve employed for the summer said she’d spent the last two hours laying out in the sun in her backyard. I told her she looked tan. Her face lit up.

“Tell me you used sunscreen,” I said.

“I did,” she replied. “I used oil. It has an SPF of 4.”

“You are going to be so sorry you’re doing this to your skin in about 10 years. Maybe even sooner,” I said. “The sun is not your friend.”

She gave me the same practiced look I’m sure she gives her Russian mother. There was something of an awkward pause before she replied: “Thanks for saying I’m tan!”