Responsibly, DD's (7) school asks that DCs are sent wth sun cream applied, sun hats and water etc, and I put a little bottle on sunscreen in her bag so she can top herself up as she is very pale and burns easily.
DD came home looking a little scorched, I asked her if she felt ok and she said that she had been sunbathing during break times. I suggested that she shouldn't do that too much as she would burn (she was a bit uncomfortable and sore but not properly burned) and she said that she 'had to' - other girls in her class had told her that when it's sunny, girls 'have to lie in the sun to get brown' - they'd been laying on the field in full sun with their dresses pushed up.
DD isn't a particularly 'easily led' kid, and is cringe more likely to grass a friend up for telling her to do something which isn't allowed than to do it. She merrily grassed up one of her friends for not putting cream on when the teacher asked them to, because her friend said she wanted to be browner. She said she did know it wasn't a good idea but somehow found herself doing it anyway.
I know the school can't watch and supervise every single child at play times, but WIBU to ask her teacher to speak to the class and discourage sunbathing? Or am I firing off at a weird angle - is sunbathing a perfectly acceptable activity for 6 and 7 year olds?