to judge parents whose children have sunburn?

[StrandedBear]

Seriously there is no need for children (or adults for that matter) to get burnt. It is fairly easy actually, suncream, cover up, stay in the shade between 11 and 3! So when I see a small child with bright red shoulders I want to shake the parents. The sun is dangerous! Then again most of these parents resemble over done lobsters themselves.

Is it a lack of education? Or do they actually not care about the possible damage to themselves and their children?

My Dd is also allergic to most brands of suncream. She can use P20 and Ultrasun, although the very high factors of the latter can cause irritation.

I could slather DD is tons of cream and she would still change colour - I wouldn't be able to prevent her tanning at all unless we stayed inside the whole time. DH is the same. Me however - I remain white regardless, although would burn without cream - so red or white are my choices. My legs useless just change from blue to white int he sun.

She also is covered in freckles, especially all over her face. Some very ignorant woman from boots came to school once and declared anyone with more than 4 or 5 freckles had irrepairable sun damage and it was a bad thing. Stupid!!! DD gets an extra freckle every time she even looks at the sun - even if it is cloudy and she is covered in sun cream!

We let DDs feet get burnt the other day - did the rest of the body - forgot the feet. Please feel free to judge away. We made a mistake. We felt awful. Mistakes happen.

Well parents should make sure any child of any age is wearing cream before they leave the house. But obviously a teen is not likely to wear an unbecoming hat so that's not really parents fault.

I am the same as titsalina in that I am over zealous re sun cream as I was burnt to a frazzle as a child (both in the tropics and in the UK) and have already had a melanoma. I am paranoid of getting another one - I am only 34 and it is likely that another one will appear in time. I remember having severe burns on my backs and arms which needed treatment in A&E on several occasions, and having great big blisters the size of 50ps all over.

But you can't judge - children might be bright red from running about or just being boiling hot, it may not be sunburn.

I do judge however young babies in pushchairs with no sunshade, when they are blinking in the bright light and have bright red faces, poor buggers.

DS does go bright red but that is from running around as fast as his little legs can carry him, not sunburn. I'm the same.

YANBU, we were only having this conversation yesterday and there is no way parents should let their children burn in the sun.

As parents we know our children's skin and we know whether they will burn or not. If they are pale and prone to going red then cover them with sun cream, keep them in the shade or put on clothing and a hat that covers them.

And to those on here that say "my child goes red but they aren't burnt" you are just kidding yourself, red skin is burnt.

Look after your children and don't let them burn in the sun.

TooManyDaisies In regards to darker skin needing suncream, my understanding is its a bit uncertain because darker skin has more melanin which means its will take much more direct sun and for longer to get burnt, so it can be damaged, also the rates of skin cancer among dark skin people are considerably lower than caucasians, however the mortality rate for people with skin cancer is much higher with those with dark skin because its normally caught at a later stage.

My children are mixed race, I never really put suncream on them in this country, I do encourage them to wear hats and do all the usual heat precautions but only rarely and thats if they will be spending time under the sun when we have one of our heat waves. Even then it'll just be a spritz of SPF15 or something.

When we go to Jamaica, where DHs family are, then we use suncream, its much hotter and the sun is constant and there always seems to be less shade. They have been burnt once there because all their cousins who live out their don't use suncream they refused and got a tad crispy. I imagine if we spent more time out there they would barely need any. Dh and his family never wear it and dh has only even been burnt the time he feel asleep on the beach there for 8 hours.

If the child you look after is in direct sun when its hot, I would give her a spritz of suncream but otherwise its their choice and I think its highly unlikely that she will burn.

"And to those on here that say "my child goes red but they aren't burnt" you are just kidding yourself, red skin is burnt."

BOLLOCKS. Have you ever gone red in the face from a workout? Is that burnt? Don't be so stupid.
Mine go red when they run around a lot. You can tell its not burnt because, a) they are covered in suncream, b) the skin is not warm to the touch, and c) THEY AREN'T BURNT, THEY ARE HOT.

sun cream doesn't prevent Vit D production as far as im aware.

It definitely does. I have sun sensitive lupus and have to cover up/factor 50 whenever I'm outside, regardless of the time of year and have vitD on prescription as a result.

But wrt to my children, the youngest 2 can't use sunblock due to their eczema flaring really badly, and in 5 years, they have never been sunburned, so it is possible to avoid it. I fully admit to being judgy about sunburnt children so YANBU

DD1(16) got burnt on Tuesday, she went out at 10am with sun cream on but stayed out all day until 9pm and didn't reapply at all. she knows she burns, usually under her eyes so has big sunglasses, and she never tans but she didn't think to take any more suncream with her. She still has very red shoulders from sitting down with her back to the sun and just not realising she was burning.
OTOH dd2(3) and dd3(1) didn't go out in the day at all until about 7pm when it was still warm but very shaded, they had a great time playing before bed and didn't mind not being out in the sun at all.

Saying that you should get them into the routine of applying suncream. We still have the same sun as Spain yet most families will have just one bottle of suncream to use all year. There really is no excuse for babies and young children to be lying in a pram all day getting redder and redder with no cream and no shade available to them.

If you struggle with reapplying cream, for whatever reason, then use P20 which is only needed once or use the new spray ones which aren't like a cream at all. We use them on ds who has bad sensory issues and detests any type of cream at all, I even use the sprays on the 1 year old sometimes and they keep her from getting burnt. Best invention ever I think

Let's face it, not many of us actually know what's in suncream do we?

As someone up thread said, it's got links to being the cause of cancer....

Red skin does NOT always mean burnt skin There are many reasons why skin may go red.

I use natural/organic sunscreen on my children.

I don't trust traditional sun-block.

My children are mixture of skin shades, none have burnt.

I also expose them minus anything for 20 mins in the morning.

YABU a bit I think , not sure?

Suncream may have ingredients in which may be carcinogenic.

Sunburn is a proven contributory factor to developing skin cancer.

i know what's in the suncream we use Olympia

it's badger and the ingredients are clearly listed on the side, with both chemical and common names given

Everything has got links to being the cause of cancer, if you read the mainstream press cough, daily mail, cough even if the next day its linked to preventing cancer.
It's better than burning, which definitely causes cancer.

feminine what's in the organic stuff that's different?

Badger??

If you have a robust piece of research which proves suncream is carcinogenic then please share. Until then an article in the health pages of the Mail is not going to convince me not to use it.

X posts penis

yup, badger

Yes I am sure you are right, it's a lack of education. I expect most of them are on benefits and A and E is full of children called Jorrdann-Jayy with terrible sunburn while dad waits outside with the Staffie. Maybe you could offer to buy them a subscription to the Guardian then they may become as clever as you.

Badger suncream

x-post, sorry!