AIBU to think school should have called me?

[tootiredtoadult]

So, I will take my error in all this but I feel school should have called me or kept DD age 8 inside or out at least shaded the kids.

To cut a long story short,y DD school have had. A sports week this week, but due to the rather British wet weather it has been cancelled, and all activities off, we received an email to say that they would be doing sports today.

In the usual morning rush and remembering pe kit at the last minute I packed her off to school.

She has come home sunburnt to hell. I asked "have you been outside ALL day" she confirmed they had, I asked "did they ask if you had sun cream on"? She confirmed "they asked and I said No, they offered me some but I told them I'm allergic to that one"
(well done for realising that DD)

The school clearly knew the kids needed sun screen as they were offering it out, I feel at this point they should have called me for my views on what they should do (I would have taken some into school for her) I wouldn't want her to miss out but I feel they should have kept her inside or at very least, put the kids in the shade where possible.

I appreciate I should have put cream on her this morning but I wasn't aware they were going to be out in baking sun all day doing sports.

Should I approach the school about this? WWYD?

I think it's 100% the parents job to provide sunscreen for events like this, and in general. Even more so if your daughter has an allergy to some sunscreens and can only use certain types! Not really the schools job to provide several different types of sunscreen on the off-chance that a student is allergic to the ones they have!

Tip- always keep suncream in their school bag. When dc were in primary it was over 8 miles from where we lived, we could have overcast and drizzle they could have sun all day (joy of living up a mountain!) so suncream in their bag was a must along with their water bottle.

Tip- always keep suncream in their school bag

^ this

Dds school doesn’t offer cream. It is assumed that all children will be wearing all day suncream. That’s absolutely unrealistic as dd has an allergic reaction to most creams (rash) and cannot wear the once only application creams. Besides these once daily creams aren’t really enough. I see it as my job to protect my daughter and my responsibility if she gets burnt. The school has enough to do and as previously pointed out, it will have been a hectic day for the staff.

Imo offering sun cream to the children made the situation a bit ambiguous. On refusing the cream, the teacher probably thought your dd had applied some already or had her own with her. I don’t see it as a safeguarding issue. The school cannot be responsible for everything. Sunburn is horrid. But your dd is extremely unlikely to have any long term ill effects. My take is you dropped the ball.

They should have called or kept her in. Even if you were an utter dick of a parent and never did what you should do yadda yadda they have a duty to her not to let her get burned. Sunscreen is part of appropriate gear for sports at this time of year and she didn't have it. So she shouldn't have been outside all day.

Bloody hell it has been overcast and raining for weeks. The op had a lst minute notification of a spots day on an overcast morning . Yes she could have checked the weather forecast buy in the rush she didn't and was caught out. The fact that someone actually knew the child needed sun tan lotion but just sent them out without it is the problem here . They just decided they didn't care enough to sort it out. That is pretty awful.

Who buys the school sunscreen? A lot of teachers I know are buying pens, glue sticks etc already out of their own money. If the teacher does buy a brand and their is then an allergic reaction, what's the follow up there?

there!

I'd be feeling cross at myself for not packing the sun cream.

You say you are a sun cream fanatic and that it was cloudy in the morning.

Chances are that they went out it was the same weather. They’ve done a suncream check because that’s what you do and the sun broke through.If the day started off boiling then I’m sure they pmight have done more.

If your child has no previous sun exposure then obviously her skin will react quickly. 10 mins is long enough to burn and probably the same amount of time it takes to organise staffing, go inside, find someone to ring you, wait for you to ring back because you were buy...etc

Yanbu, they have a duty of care to her when she is in school and that means actually protecting her, not making a token effort then giving up. She should have been kept in the shade and you should have been called.

For what it’s worth I would buy a bottle of a sun cream she can use and just leave it in her bag all the time just in case something like this happens again, as she has allergies. But I still think on this occasion the school has fucked up.

The fact that it was overcast in the morning is really totally irrelevant - the UV count is really high at the moment and cloud doesn't protect you from burning! Sunburn doesn't just happen on days it's 25 degrees and blue skies!

I do think in summer months children should have sunscreen put on them every day before school regardless - but then judging by the amount of adults I've seen recently who are red and blistered by the sun, lots of people just don't bother putting it on themselves, let alone their DC.

YANBU, I would be bloody furious. There would've been more than one teacher supervising sports day and one of them should have taken a couple of minutes to pop to the office and ring you/ask the office staff to do so. Definitely speak to them. At the very least it will make them think twice and make it less likely to happen again.

You seem to want us to condemn the teacher in order to make you feel better. You made the error and the school didn't deal with the consequences of your error. I imagine the teacher with sunscreen made a quick decision- trying to balance the weather forecast ( cool morning, eventually19 degrees here at the hottest- hardly burning hot) and allowing your child to join in the fun.
Whilst claiming you accept your wrongdoing, you are going on and on arguing until enough people condemn the school, that it makes you feel better.

I am amazed that schools in the UK take responsibility for suncream.I lived in California when my kids were in Primary School and here in Germany for the rest where it also gets really hot. it was always the parents responsibility or the childs for that matter

yes it is my responsibility to send her protected, but upon realising she wasn't the person who has her in their care Becomes responsible IMO.

Nope. On a busy day teachers do not have the time to phone every incompetent parent. All of it is on you.

If it’s your “only human mistake”, why isn’t it theirs, when it was your responsibility?

I'd say you are equally to blame.

Sun protection was your job you dropped a ball and feel bad so are trying to displace the blame subconsciously.

cool morning, eventually19 degrees here at the hottest- hardly burning hot

The temperature has nothing to do with the risk of sunburn!. Too many people seem to think if it's cool/cloudy then you don't need suncream.

I think when the weather is this warm, you should automatically put sun cream on your children before they go to school, regardless of whether it’s sports day or not.

I didn't know it was going to be hot

OP, there are things called weather forecasts! So many excuses for it not being your fault even though your first sentence says you will take your error.

I can see you are worked up that your DC is burned and annoyed but I think you are deflecting this on to the school through self annoyance .You probably would have posted a different AIBU if your DD hadn't said she was allergic and they had put cream on her and she had come home with a rash. Or a different AIBU/ Teacher bash if they had called you at work to suddenly come and provide suncream. I am not sure the school can win.

Lots of schools do not put suncream on children at all. I think all you can do here is heed your own advice and make sure you have suncream in the bag at all times and not ever remove it.

A mix up and you forgot... a mix up and they forgot.

YABU - learn your lesson and it won’t happen again

You forgot to put sunscreen on your daughter. You knew it was sports day and you know your DD is allergic to some sunscreens.

Why didn't you take her sunscreen in when you realised you'd forgotten to do it? It's not the school's fault.