To think that letting a child get bad sunburn is child abuse?

[laura032004]

Because if you let them burn themselves with say boiling water, eyebrows would be raised. I hate to see kids on the beach (abroad) with bright red shoulders and faces. It's easy enough to get sunsuits and suncream these days, so why don't people use them properly?

What a shame you were overseas and couldn't ring SOcial Services, Laurawhateveryournumber is.

Dear God.

Misdee - you can get UV suits even in adult sizes. I can find the website if you are interested.

AbbeyA - sun is good for you. Sunburn is not. There is a difference.

I am not talking about the missed bit of skin, or thinking you've got them covered, and the t-shirt moves a bit.

I'm not a saint, my DS1 has had a red nose before, and I've been burnt myself. In fact, I'm more likely to burn than them, as I don't take chances with their sunblock. It goes on, or they don't go out. DS1 knows and understood this from a young age.

Sunburn is horrible and painful. Why anybody would let their kids end up like this is because they haven't bothered with any form of protection is beyond me. Yes, it does happen in the UK, but if you are going abroad, surely you know it's going to be hot and sunny, and should be better prepared.

The split is interesting.

I think child abuse is a bit strong - I got badly burnt aged 11 (blisters and all). My mum must have been mad to let it happen, but no, not child abuse. Unless they do it repeatedly deliberately.

Would you ring SS if somebody routinely let their child scald themselves with boiling water through carelessness about letting them in a kitchen with pan handles turned towards them etc?

Yes, a one-off incident is unfortunate, but to repeat this time after time? You are potentially damaging their health. It is known that sunburn is a factor in skin cancer. It's not a joke.

For heavens sake
I'm leaving

Kewcumber - I think it's the repeated behaviour that I find upsetting. I can see the temptation if you are on your one weeks holiday of the year for example, but if they've been burned, they shouldn't then be in the sun the next day.

A child i knew spent the weekend with dad (parents separated) and was taken to the beach, midday, in the height of summer. Dad " couldn't be bothered" with suncream and allowed son to get a sunburnt face resulting in a blister so deep on the end of his nose that when burst left a pit 1cm deep. Also smaller blisters on forehead and in hair. He was 3 at the time.

I lathered dd who is very fair in waterproof suntan lotion (factor 50) and she was in the pool on holiday in April around 10 am and she got sunburn right along her parting. Now I just had not thought to put suntan lotion on her scalp (which i now do although she hates it) or to make her wear a sunhat in the pool (which I now do).

Actually it is difficult at times to get them to come and stand still while you reapply suntan lotion or to leave a hat on etc. I think with dc I prefer not to have these summer beach style holidays.

SSSandy2 - spray lotion is great for the parting! My dad has it all over as he's balding with thin blonde hair!

Thanks Laura, yes I'm wiser now with hindsight of course. Just hadn't occured to me to think of the parting. I don't care how it looks, she has a great white line over her parting these days and often enough has to swim in the pool with a floppy sunhat on. Dad is fairly bald but he's mad and always potters about in the garden without a hat or any kind of skin protection.

SSSandy if you find it difficult (or irritating as I do)to reapply every hour or so, then perhaps try one of the 8 hour lotions or foam like Proderm or Inf(r)asun.

My 2 are translucent skinned blondies, we find these keep them from getting red.

Also many folk put the cream on when they get to the destination, most creams take 20+ to start working, leaving you exposed for X time.

'child abuse

for fucks sake.

Not child abuse - just ignorance, idiocy and bloody carelessness. I live near a beach and can't beleive that there are morons out there who still let their children run around naked (or almost naked) in the sun. However, even fully clothed it is still possible to get badly sunburned. DS went to France on a school trip when he was in Junior school - fully clothed and covered in factor 40 - he was so badly sunburned that he actually ended up with 3rd degree burns on his shoulders and back.

It could be an accident, neglect, carelessness, ignorance, forgetfulness, lack of understanding...all more likely than 'abuse'. Sunburn isn't an issue to be taken lightly, but can we take care not to de-value the word abuse?

I've seen very small children - toddlers - with very red sun burn and I find that incredibly sad. In Belgium btw.

Thanks for the tips marmaduke. Yes that having to wait 20 minutes for it to actually be effective also makes it difficult. I keep my dd out of the sun between 11am and 3pm which you can manage quite well on holiday for 2 weeks but if you live in that climate, how easy would it be to avoid the sun at all times and always have your dc's skin protected.

Actually come to think of it I have never seen a sunburnt toddler, tanned yes but not burnt.

I find there is much more awareness of this in the UK then in Belgium - for example I've never seen long sleeved protective swimming suits sold in Belgium.

yes anniemac I well remember how strong the sun is in NZ and Australia. You burn there so much faster, don't you, even when the temperatures are not particularly high? My sister lives in Australia and says the girls are not allowed out at breaktime unless they have those hats on that cover ears and neck as well as shade the face. But you're right there comes a time when they wander off by themselves for hours at a time in summer/at the weekends, and you have little control over how well they protect their skin.

Remember too when I was there for her wedding with my pale skin from an English winter, people were always clucking over me and telling me to be sure and wear sunblock, stand in the shade etc, even early in the morning.

Once I was waiting for the bank to open maybe at 9 and all these old people told me to stand in the shade. One showed me his arm (skin cancer). If you'd asked me I would have guessed he'd been attacked by a shark, it looked that bad. Apparently he'd worked on the docks as a young man, loading and unloading ships in the sun with no protection of any kind. In those days I suppose people weren't very aware of skin cancer or men would have been considered namby pamby for applying suntan lotion every few hours. It looked very bad and gave me quite a shock

My mum used to be pleased that we'd got sun-burnt each year. In her view we were then protected against the sun for the rest of that summer.

I remember getting burnt many years in a row. My brothers too.

It was how she was treated as a child and how she still approaches summer sun now. Makes me wince. There is no telling her.

Finally got wise when I was about 15 I think. Not had a suntan since. I doubt my sons'll ever get one while I have any say in the matter either.

one tip I have for making sure all get sunscreened properly......

I make them all stand naked in front of me and I then cream them at home before we get dressed (obviously before we get dressed really....duh).

I cream them really well, they also cream me really well (too well at times when all join in as used to happen!), we then give it about 10mins for the cream to soak in properly before getting dressed.

I then top up when we arrive on the places being exposed to the sun, and most times we come home unburnt but with a good 'been out in the sun' healthy glow.

parting and tops of ears tend to be the places that get missed out however, especially on the boys as they will wear caps which expose ears and don;t have hair to cover ears either. The spary oils tend to sort that out, altho most aren;t very hihg factor so I have found.....unless I am looking in the wrong places.

Message withdrawn

Yes, it's neglectful to take no precautions against sunburn.

suntans are good, they are the skin's natural way of protecting themselves from the harmful rays of the sun.

Sunburn is not good though, it hurts like hell. It's not abuse though, I wouldn't even class it as neglect unless it happened regularly and the parents didn't care.

YABU and very judgemental