Why are you letting your children get burnt?

[GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal]

At a large park and keep seeing fair skinned, blonde/ginger children, running around with no tops going increasingly lobster pink.

Mine are olive skinned with dark hair and eyes, but are still covered up and have factor 50 and hats on. I wouldn't have thought I was an especially protective mum, either.

Ok, I shouldn't judge, but it just looks so sore.

@Offtheblackbird Who said they need to be sucking them all day?!

Would you not need a drink after running around for 20 minutes?

Not all schools have water fountains. Ours does not.

I feel sorry for the kids going around in the full regalia. I have to wear long sleeves all the year around and it's absolutely horrible. But on a day like today, it's simply unbearable. If I can't handle it, I'm definitely not putting a nonverbal child in it.

@Offtheblackbird depends on your skin type. I burn in 10 minutes at 10am, factor 50 doesn't give me long without burning again so I need shade too
I wear SPF 50 on my face every day

Completely agree and DS (16m) always smothered in suncream and top on.

But please can someone tell me how to get a 16m to keep a bloody hat on because it seems impossible? I do put suncream in his hair covering his scalp , back of ears etc but he does look a little bare in the sun.

Nature doesn't usually get it wrong no - but humans have damaged the ozone layer meaning that the effects of the sun are far stronger than they were when we were evolving. Also North European countries like this one didn't get as hot.

Totally agree OP - my DS seems to tan easily like his dad, but he’s six, so we didn’t go out today - ventured out into the garden as the sun was setting.... to get bitten instead 😂😂 but yes, I totally agree and I think it’s irresponsible to take your kids out, half dressed in high uv 30+ degrees in the middle of the day with no shade, as I’ve seen on many occasions.

@FirstTimeToddlerMum I used a uv sun brolly for my DS’s pram as I found hats in this heat/humidity just made him too hot!

@FirstTimeToddlerMum

You can get sun hats with a drawstring cord.

@FirstTimeToddlerMum I told both of my mine that no hat means no playing out. If they took it off while out and about I would pick them up Instantly and put them in the buggy/sit down with them in the shade. No hat = no playing. Uv parasol for pushchair. Now at 4.5 he automatically picks his hat up and puts it on when heading out.

@Figgygal @Comps83 I had some horrendous sun burns as a child too.. including blisters. Ive already had one basal cell carcinoma removed from my face and I was only in my early 30s which is relatively young to get them.

I now have a DS who is just as fair as me and I'd be devastated if he ended up burning as badly as I did as a child. I doubt it will happen on my watch but I just don't understand it. DM was a sun worshipper though. Hired a sunbed at home and even let us kids on it ☹️ this was in the 80s. Not sure how known it was about the skin cancer risk.

@YesQueen "A tan is skin damage
www.who.int/uv/faq/uvhealtfac/en/index2.html "

Thank you for the link! That's the first time I've heard about that and it just doesn't seem right. For instance my daughter and me are both very pale and hardly get brown. With son screen we don't get red so quickly either, we just stay white. My son has a darker complexion and gets a tan very quickly, even when using sunscreen.
So if what the link says is true, that would mean that while using a 50+ cream my daughter's and my very white skin is fine, while my son's darker skin gets damaged. That's not logical.

I'll google a bit more about that.

If you are very pale you will not have the melanin so you can't produce it as a protective response. Possibly you're all getting slightly damaged (just not to the point of sunburn?) but if wearing high factor, avoiding midday and reapplying regularly, not much more you can do so I wouldn't overly worry.

I cba with going out in this heat, it's just stressful.

"Are the dc's too hot? Are they drinking enough? When did I last put suncream on them? Where is the nearest shade? Ds keeps taking his bloody hat off"

No thanks, we are staying in for the next couple of days. Will go out on Friday when it goes below 30 degrees. I'd rather be stuck in with bored, irritable kids tbh. Plus it means I can sit in front of the fan and I don't have to put a bra on

GP here - and yes OP you are completely right. I’ve had a few kids in this summer - ranging from babies to 5yrs, with blistering sun burns.

The mums look blankly at me when I tell them factor 15 all day in 30 degrees after swimming isn’t enough. Not sure why people are arguing on this thread. Not everyone, but there are many parents who need to protect their children from the sun better.

@bobbypinseverywhere one layer of factor 5 all day?!
I really am amazed by the truly special kinds of stupid encountered on a daily basis

This is all very interesting and I know the advice about reapplying regularly but that all comes from research funded by the skincare industry.

I have am incredibly fair and will burn in 20 mins or so unprotected (which I haven't done since my teens) but I have never, ever burned in UK with one application of factor 15. Obviously if you're swimming etc you need to reapply but it really does last all day in normal circumstances.

DC are even paler and ginger, but have never had even so much as a t-shirt stripe when wearing factor 30/50, even though I am apparently very lax at re-application.

@BertieBotts "If you are very pale you will not have the melanin so you can't produce it as a protective response. Possibly you're all getting slightly damaged (just not to the point of sunburn?) but if wearing high factor, avoiding midday and reapplying regularly, not much more you can do so I wouldn't overly worry."

We do get a little bit brown ... or rather a darker shade of white and get freckles. Without sunscreen I'd get red after ~10 minutes (my daughter would probably last a little longer), so apparently the sunscreens we are using have always worked fine. Which means, if getting a tan is skin damage then the sunscreens are not working properly working on my son - which makes no sense at all.

Personally I am not worried - jealous, yes, but not worried ;) I simply assume this is some new paranoia that's going round. The next thing will be a recommendation of life long daily intake of Vitamin D.

Yes producing freckles is usually the response rather than tanning if you have low melanin. FWIW if your melanin is this low you probably don't need to take vitamin D at all.

I looked this up recently as my youngest is a redhead and I wondered what caused it in terms of pigmentation etc.

"Yes producing freckles is usually the response rather than tanning if you have low melanin. "

Yeah, I know, but the sunscreen bust be working, even though I get freckles, because if it wouldn't be working, I'd be a lobster ;)

The Vitamin D thing was a joke .... first they scare everyone away from the sun ....

Is it a joke? I thought it was official advice!

Sounds like yes the sunscreen is working to reduce sun exposure to a less harmful level.

I let my LO have no more than half an hour about 9am of sunscreen free time to boost her Vit D levels but after that its factor 50, covered up and indoors between 11-3, sometimes even later than 3. And if shes in the pool its factor 50 15mins before getting in and reapplied as soon as shes out. YANBU OP xx