To find really hot weather scary and restricting....

[Whirliwig72]

...when in the mum of two small children with fair skin. My weather ap is showing temps in the mid 30's for tomorrow and we have been invited to a birthday party mid afternoon. Rather than relishing it you can bet I'll be the parent making her children come back into the house while the other less milky blue skinned kids frolic about happily in the paddling pool.
Even with factor 50 and hats on I'm not comfortable with them being out in such extreme heat and am thinking if not going.

Am I being an unreasonable kill joy?

Lilicat - my medication that increases my risk of heatstroke is FOR epilepsy. It's awful to be so susceptible, and it usually sets off my seizures TOO. Have already had one sz today, and have only recently woken up. I feel sick, have a banging headache, am shakey, and generally feel like shit.

I've stayed indoors for 90% of the day, too, except for from bus stop to bus stop going to my friend's, and then we sat in her kitchen as it was slightly less roasting as it is shaded in the day.

Bleurgh! And it's meant to be like this tomorrow too.

I find the hot weather very scary too, but I know a lot of that is my own anxiety. I am very pale and burned badly many times as a child , I ended up in A&E twice with heatstroke :(. My parents weren't neglectful, they did the best they could with what was available in 70's Ireland but it has left me with a mild phobia about the sun. I am not too bad with my 2 older boys, they have skin like their dad , sallow, and tan easily, but my youngest dd is a milky red head and I dread the higher temps with her as she wants to be out constantly. I wont let her wear anything sleeveless or strappy and use factor 50 on her. I couldnt cope if I lived anywhere where the temps got to 30+, I would literally stay indoors all day :(

Our Uk temps even when hot are not that hard to cope with. Just slap on suncream, add a thin t shirt, hat and sunglasses and make sure they have liquid and some shade - and then enjoy the fact that it isn't actually raining and grey for a change.

I don't cope with very hot weather easily - but I much prefer it to the cold grey drizzle.

mind - was in SW France a week ago and it was in the low 40s and that did feel hot, esp with no air con - but again we just thought a bit more about what we were doing and took on a slower pace accordingly.

Obviously if medical reasons it must be hard though

Big baggy t shirt and hat. Sorted. Far more comfortable than swimmers or tight fitting stuff. My kids always wear baggy t shirts on the beach or for hot days in the garden

A tip from where I am in the tropics. You can put your children in damp cotton sun hats and keep wetting them. A large wet muslin square draped over a sunshade over a pushchair also helps keep babies cool.

I grew up ginger in Texas where is it regularly 47 and sunny about every day from June- Sept. Yes, you need to be careful about SPF and hats, but there are lots of fair kids growing up in hot places... 30 is really not that bad. And there's so little sunshine in this country compared to where I grew up - parents have it a lot easier here re: preventing sunburn. Your kids will be fine!

Can anyone tell me why they have to wear hats? My dd gets very very hot and had thick hair too. Sometimes I just spray suntan lotion on her head to stop her getting too hot but I'm worried I'm missing something?!

Cotton hats with a brim keep the face shaded and if they are hot, you just dampen the hat. Hats are part of the school uniform here (cotton, wide brim).

Light colours also reflect the sun. Baggy loose cotton in light colours is cooler than strappy tops or bare skin.

I am anxious about hot weather too - I am the fair skinned child of an olive skinned mother who used to put olive oil on in the sun to tan. I spent many childhood holidays in France (house swap with mum's exotic cousin) recovering from heatstroke.

Come and live in North West England then you wouldn't need to worry about it...

we're the same, spent all weekend hiding indoors between the hours of 10 and 5. No fun whatsoever! But it is only a few days of the years I suppose. This is what I tell myself as well when I have my washing out and the blo*dy neighbours have a BBQ. I know I'm unreasonable but at least I bite my tongue!!

What a bunch of moans! Just enjoy the weather.

Ah well at least we can rest assured it won't go on for more than a few days. We are in England after all. Bring back the rain!!!!

Get some p20, it's amazing. You use it instead of suncream - it's a clear liquid that you apply once in the morning, at least 15 minutes before going out into the sun, and then it sort of soaks into your skin and dries, and then protects you from the sun. You don't feel sticky and it can't wash off in the water. It's brilliant for swimming and watersports, you don't need to reapply afterwards. The only disadvantage I've had is that it sometimes left a stain on white shirts.

We so use p20 or Ultrasun. Have used it in very hot weather on Vegas abd Florida and Aldo in SW France last week when it was reaching 40. Has never failed us.

Usual sun care advice is to stay out of the sun between 11 and 3. You should also protect children's eyes with sunglasses.

Well after posting here my dd came home the following day from her Nanas and she was sunburnt :(. I couldnt believe it, I was really upset. She is 6 yrs old and has never, ever got burned, I am so careful. Her poor little legs were all red, and I wouldnt mind but I really emphasised to MIL how fair she is and how she needed to watch her, AND I sent up factor 50 cream (which she said she applied). Mil tans very easily as did all her kids when they were little so she has no experience of a fair skinned red head, but still.... :(.