Are we over (sun) protective?

[Mum2girls]

Just back off hols - where it was 30 degrees+.

Whilst on the beach and at the pool DDs (2 and 4) had on UVA costumes (with the three-quarter arms and legs), hats (with back-of-neck flaps) and SPF 30 on.

We frequently came across British kids who just had the usual costumes on, often no hat, most probably sun cream tho, I would think. Admittedly, some looked like they were burning, but there were others who were as brown as berries.

My question is this: I thought that suntan = sun damage...is that the case? if so, what happens when your kids are 14 or whatever, surely we can't keep them covered up like this forever.

(I should add that I do like to get a little tanned myself, but still understood this to be damaging to the skin).

QoQ. I managed to burn on the day of our sports day. It was raining for some of the day and was overcast the rest of the day! No sun at all!

I was so flipping annoyed with myself. I'm always so careful, but I didn't think that even I could burn on a day when it was raining!

My sister had melanoma about 12yrs ago. She absolutely never sunbathes, just doesn't like it and is as pale as they come. The specialist said that even one afternoon spent, say gardening, can be enough to trigger a melanoma.

I understand that the thinking behind the factor 20 recommendation is that anything higher is a waste of time because it's not possible to spend that much time in the sun. Eg factor 20 allows you to spend 20 times as long in the sun. Say you'd normally burn after 30 mins; that means you can then spend 30x20mins in the sun, which is 600mins or 10hrs in the sun. But if you used factor 50, it would be 30minsx50=1500 mins or 25hrs - longer than one whole day and night!

We were v careful when living in the tropics but after a year out there we all had tans of varying degrees, it's impossible to avoid unless you never go out at all. One friend spent all her time in the sun and she looked like an old leather handbag by the time she came home. She's paler again now and imo, looks much younger, too.