Sparkle spent yesterday at the beach with two girlfriends (both spankos…you may be able to guess which ones) and the baby. Sparkle, always the good mommy, was very careful to ensure that our princess had plenty of sunscreen on, plus a hat, to protect against the California sun. Unfortunately, she wasn’t quite so careful with herself, nor were our two friends.

In short, she came home with a blazing sunburn on her shoulders and upper back, plus a 3 inch strip across her lower back. Sparkle gave me permission to post this picture under the condition that it was cropped to not include her bottom.

The slightly-strange pattern is due to the swimsuit she usually wears, an “tankini” from Lands’ End. Running around and playing with the baby resulted in the top exposing her lower back, with the results shown.

I had been chatting with another spanko friend earlier in the day, and had jokingly said that if Sparkle came home sunburnt, her bottom would end up the same color.

Thus, when she actually did come home burnt, I wasn’t too pleased, especially when it came out that the reason for the burn was due to her having forgotten to put sunscreen on her back, especially since she was with two friends who could have comfortably done so for her.

Now, before anyone accuses me of being a “meanie” (glances a couple of miles west of here), Sparkle and one of the other burnt beach bunnies did rub aloe burn relief gel (the really good kind you can only get in Hawaii) on each others backs here at the house. After Sparkle had showered, I also rubbed moisturizer on her back as well as a second dose of the aloe.

Then she went over my lap for a firm hand spanking and then over the end of the bed for the strapping she described on her blog.

Sparkle and I have been discussing the punishment a bit today. As you know, Sparkle consents to my spanking her for punishment, and that part of our relationship came from her desires more than mine. Its a role I’ve struggled with, but am getting more comfortable in. An important factor is that while she does let me decide when she needs to be punished, she has to feel that its a justified punishment.

There was some discussion on her part (as well as our friend) that it wasn’t fair of me to spank her for something that I hadn’t specifically told her to do or not do. In other words, since I didn’t warn her that she’d better not get sunburnt or else she’d get spanked, it wasn’t right for me to spank her for it.

I can understand that logic, and in some cases would even agree with it, but in this particular case, I don’t agree.

One of our most basic rules is that Sparkle needs to take care of herself and be safe. Most mornings when she leaves the house, I say “I love you, have a good day, be safe.” That encompasses a lot of different activities. Yes, accidents happen, and I wouldn’t spank her for, say, cutting her finger with a knife while chopping vegetables or tripping and spraining her ankle. I wouldn’t even spank her for going out and getting a bit of a sunburn from just being outside too long.

Getting sunburnt at the beach, however, especially when one has sunscreen available and has carefully applied it to the baby and has less carefully applied it to one’s self, isn’t the same thing. Its carelessness that resulted in an injury, albeit a relatively minor one in the scheme of things.

That’s why I spanked her. She didn’t take good enough care of herself, and she subjected herself to pain and suffering (and I’m not talking about the spanking). She’s still very sore today, having a hard time sitting at her desk and going through her routine activities.

That’s why I spanked her.