My kids are tanned

[hipslikecinderella]

We haven't been abroad but they do masses of sport and outside activities. Dd is 8 and ds 9. They rarely burn but are fairly pale normally.
Aibu to have (inadvertently) allowed this to happen?
I do put suncream on them for a day trip/sports days. But not every day and clearly not enough to prevent a tan.

@bluebluezoo those with African or south Asian heritage , I.e. stereotypically (phenotype) with more melanin need sunscreen too. All skin can burn and no skin irrespective of how much melanin it contains can protect from UVA or UVB rays.

It's an awful lazy western ideology that predicates that only white skin needs sunscreen. All children have thin skin, the younger the thinner. Black heritage, Asian heritage, Latin American heritage, white heritage, all of them have thin skin.

We just spent a week walking 5 miles a day in 30 degree temperatures, bright sunlight. Not one of us has a tan.

You must understand everyone is different, if any of us in my family spent more than about 10 minutes walking in 30c bright sunlight (unless covered head to toe in thick fabric) we'd have a tan .. DC more than myself as they have a darker complexion. I get the 'I don't need suncream, I don't need my uv suit' a lot from my 9 year old which she doesn't to prevent burning but she's made to wear it anyway. She's still v brown to the point it's commented on. It's her natural complexion which does fade slightly during a Scottish winter

I smother ds in sunscreen every couple of hours, more frequently if he has been in water, keep him put of the direct sun as much as possible from 11 to 3 follow all he rules with hats clothing yet he always seems to catch a little tan.. I don't know what else I can do to prevent it apart from lock him in a dark windowless room the whole summer and on holiday we go away next week I always ensure I have at least 4 bottles of factor 50 and I always buy some out there wherever we are and use it...yet he still tans !

*@bluebluezoo those with African or south Asian heritage , I.e. stereotypically (phenotype) with more melanin need sunscreen too. All skin can burn and no skin irrespective of how much melanin it contains can protect from UVA or UVB rays.

It's an awful lazy western ideology that predicates that only white skin needs sunscreen. All children have thin skin, the younger the thinner. Black heritage, Asian heritage, Latin American heritage, white heritage, all of them have thin skin*

I know. I didn’t say black skin didn’t need sunscreen . In fact I said it damages in the same way, in response to someone else saying it didn’t.

Skin with naturally high melanin may take slightly longer to burn, but yes, it will still burn and will sustain DNA damage in exactly the same way.

I don’t know where people are getting the idea I’m only referring to white skinned people. Pale, tanned and dark is all relative to each persons natural skin tone.

You are fine. Sunscreen doesn't prevent a tan, it helps to prevent burning which your children are not.
The skin builds a tan as a natural barrier to the sun and it is far healthier to have skin exposed to the sun, than putting more than needed (in a total block) of the strong sunscreen chemicals on your skin.

My son used to have a gorgeous tan in the summer when he was a kid. He always looked like we’d been on holiday before we even went! I always used to put sunscreen on him and he never used to burn, just turn a gorgeous tan shade. It’s just the way some people are.

You are fine. Sunscreen doesn't prevent a tan, it helps to prevent burning which your children are not.
The skin builds a tan as a natural barrier to the sun and it is far healthier to have skin exposed to the sun, than putting more than needed (in a total block) of the strong sunscreen chemicals on your skin

Bollocks. And dangerous.

Of course sunscreen prevents a tan. And it is far healthier not to have a tan than it is to have skin cancer.

Personally I think covering up is the far better option, because I hate the feel of sunscreen. But the majority of the sun seeking public prefer to sit in little clothing so sunscreen is a necessity.

DD is half Egyptian it's impossible for her not to tan even with F50

Yet another guilt ridden parent being judged by others 'more perfect' than you. Be reasonable. A light tan is the bodies natural response to being in the sun. It doesn't mean skin cancer is round the corner

My children have the same sunscreen and same amount of time in the sun - 6yr old is pale as casper and my 2yr old has a golden tan, one takes after me and the other after my husband.

Please use sunscreen every time with your kids! Don’t eff about with it, skin cancer is horrific! I know it well, sadly .

For goodness sake... it’s summer, and a fairly decent one at that. They will get tanned. They need the vit D anyway. So long as they have sunscreen there’s no problem.

My kids have never been burned, I am a liberal user of sun cream, min of factor 30, on them and me. We have a Coleman event shelter over the paddling pool. We use hats, t shirts, rash vests etc.
We all have olive skin and only have to look at the sun and pick up a tan. If I kept them inside all summer they would be paler but have rickets. There’s not a lot else I can do. If that’s you, you are not being unreasonable. If you’ve let them burn to go red and then tan, I would say that’s probably unreasonable and they could do with better sun protection.

I should add, I’m 20% of Iberian descent. My skin, and my children’s, has a slightly olive hue even without sun!

My kids are tanned too. I'm really tanned as well I fact more than the kids, we ran really easily and hold the tan for a very long time. I think just fine as long as they don't burn.

Of course sunscreen prevents a tan

Well, I wear factor 50 and very rarely lie in the sun, if I do it’s to dry off after being in the pool/sea and I’m really brown. DD is too. We reapply every 30 mins at the beach/pool but it hasn’t stopped us getting brown. I get tanned mostly from just walking to work, the shops and DD from playing out at break time. We live in Spain, but if factor 50 is a complete block, that shouldn’t make any difference.

As far as I understand sunshine as we think of it in summer isn't what is needed for Vit D level maintenance, it's daylight. Hence the need to be outside for 15 mins in winter. If a light skinned person develops a tan then there is sun damage. How do you prevent eg hands from tanning though? These are exposed most of the day when kids are outside. Almost impossible to exclude sun other than covering up and lashings of sunscreen. Very difficult, can only take sensible practical precautions. Lack of Vit D is also due to lack of oily fish. Don't think sardines or herring are all that popular these days for either the well off or poor but would certainly help the problem of rickets.

I read yesterday that you can burn through a T-shirt although none of us ever have. I think if you are outside getting a bit of colour is unavoidable. As long as you put a high UVA and UVB cream on kids every day throughout the day - that’s all you can do

DS(3) wears sunscreen but is still tanned. He has olive skin and tans after a few minutes, regardless of lotion.
It seems to be down to genetics with him, DH is half Greek and half Irish, but is extremely pale (no one would ever know he's half Greek) and I'm mixed race so DS has picked up a lot of colouring despite being blonde.
Last year his key workers at nursery kept apologising and trying to reassure us that they were putting his lotion on because he was just getting more and more brown. It honestly can't be helped sometimes.

My little boy is three loves being outside he has had factor 50 on every time especially at school as it’s strict policy he is very brown and normally pale so much so everyone keeps telling me I suspect they think he hasn’t had sun cream on but it is not the case

DS is the same , he doesn’t do sport but is out a lot, he currently looks like he’s been on a 3 week holiday to the Mediterranean 😊

Some people are like that -at the sniff of a bit of sun then l catch some colour. As long as you are using suntan lotion and they aren’t burning then lm sure they will be fine

I used factor 30 every day on my last holiday and still came back with a tan

We all manufacture Vit D from the sun and it’s important for the immune system . It is even used in Brest cancer treatment now when levels are low . Hubby was seriously ill last year and they could not find the cause but his Vit D levels were very low probably largely due to being in air conditioned building doing long hours and not on the sun. Sometimes I think we should be less afraid of being tanned as long as we are not burnt ....

Rickets is caused by a lack of vitamin D and calcium. A good source of vitamin D is the sun. The darker the skin the more sun is needed to produce vitamin D .