enraged by attitudes i am getting about my dd wearing suncream

[cremolafoam]

dd is very diligent about wearing a high factor suncream and as the sun has come out this week and it has been hot hot hot these last few days , i have of course made sure that she is covered in high factor cream for school. just got a note home today say that teachers can't be responsible for children in the sun etc etc as there are too many kids and not enough time.
dd was made to feel crap for trying to put on her cream and a hat before games( it is 26 degrees today) and has come home with a big red face (sun exposure)after 2 hours on the hockey pitch.Aparently her ( male ) teacher told her not to be so vain.
I am beyond livid. this is doubly unspeakable as her father died from skin cancer.

i would complain to the head in writing. also mention that her father passed away from skin cancer and to associate risking melanoma and vanity is insulting.

i believe there are some newer, one time application sunscreens out there, too, FWIW.

I agree, I would put a complaint in writing.

Creamolafoam, how very awful for you and your dd, to have sun protection dealt with so dismissively in this way.

Tell her class teacher, be specific about the 'vain' comment, and let them know exactly why you are conscientious AND feel so emotional about it.

So sorry you have met with this.

PS I remember Creamola Foam - can you still buy it??

Definitely write and complain.

I've found the Piz Buin once-a-day cream pretty good for school days and I get the factor 30.

Oh I think you really go for the school over this. Disgusting attitude from a teacher and hugely insensitive given your family history.

i am still actively despairing.
need to calm down a bit before i write a letter.
the worst bit is the mixed messages being given to dd.( she is really confused) i am so cross with this idiot teacher and so livid that dd has sumburn.

when my Ds was in primary school, as soon as the weather got hot, letters were sent home reminding parents to send children in with hats and bottled water. i cant believe the attitude of said teacher, see the head, dont just write.

doesn't sound good to me - I would be phoning the head. It does not seem reasonable that children should be timetabled for 2 hours out in the sun at this time of year. We use ULTRASUN - a once a day lotion - it is absorbed into the skin and can't be rubbed off etc. I have four fair skined redheaded children and they do fine with it.

piz buin do one that lasts all day and its really good.

I would speak to the head, insist on an apology from the teacher, speak to your local authority about it too, if a child is of an age where they know it is sensible to use sun cream then time should be set aside to allow them to do so before going out into the sun (if the local authority were slapped with a law suit because a child had got skin cancer as a result of not be allowed to use suncream they would soon change the rules I bet)

just phoned the head and made an appointment to see her.
why do i feel like some hysterical harpie? this is a health issue fgs! why is there still this bizarre attitude that sunshine is good for you. dd is sun sensitive ( allergic to most creams) with milk white skin and pale red hair.
just spoke to my other about it and even she thinks 'the child looks strange wearing a uv suit on the beach..when all the other children are running around in little bikini bottoms with a lovely tan.

i am really getting depressed now.

Totally agree with what others have said. Games teacher has an old fashioned attitude. As a kid on Guide camp I was stopped from wearing a sunhat, came home with face completely blistered, and my mum quite understandably went bananas..

I know it's hard but try not to beat yourself up about damage to your daughter on this one occasion; she's probably fine if she usually covers up and is careful. Hopefully the school will react and tell this teacher a few home truths!

sorry other=mother.
freudian slip

I was v v white and burned in 10 minutes, and think it was very hard for my mum as other kids didn't. But you are doing the right thing for your daughter, I just sympathise with how frustrating it must be for you to face these 1950s attitudes that sun isn't dangerous..

you are not an hysterical harpie,this issue is very close to you. I think you should raise it with other mothers at the school gates sometime and try to make it mandatory that the children are allowed to put on suncream before going outside.

I agree write a letter tonight, send it in tomorrow and cc: to the local authority. Unbelievable that the teacher can spout cr*p like that in the twenty-first century it's surely not possible that he can have gone through life without recognising that this is a serious health risk rather than a vanity issue. It would be totally unacceptable even without the family history -- with it, well, words fail me. You and your daughter deserve both an apology and a convincing explanation of what steps will be put in place to ensure this doesn't happen again.

Oh yes, definitely a letter to the Head.

and I would definitely ask the teacher is they had used suncream if not tell him/her they are an idiot and if they did then they should have shown the same courtesy to your dd and allowed her to do the same!!!

feel like i am swimming uphill in custard.

thanks gemmitygem. i was starting to think i am insane.

School has the same legal responsiblity to your daughter as a parent would, while she is in their care. So preventing her using sunscreen is frankly appalling - if a parent stopped their child using sunscreen and kept them out for two hours, getting burned, they'd be accused of negligence, at best!

Deffo put your complaint in writing and copy it to the LEA.

The man's an idiot! I have sympathy for teacher not being able to supervise 30-applications of sunceram, but to stop a child from doing it herself is bizarre!

And I insist that not only my children, but also my dh covers up on the beach. He wasn't happy about it at first - saya he felt silly swimming in a t shirt, but I don't care!

P.S. Now your dd may look strange wearing a uv suit on the beach when all the other children are running around in little bikini bottoms with a "lovely tan". In thirty years she'll look strange walking around with a beautiful complexion when all the other women her age are wrinkled leathery old prunes, but it'll be a good strange and one she'll thank you for (plus, she will be walking around and not dead or disfigured from malignant melanoma).

I'm fairly sun-sensitive (very pale, burn easily, and get a blistery rash after a few hours even with sunscreen) and DS will be wearing a UV suit to the beach when we get to that stage (although he doesn't seem to have inherited my colouring so I hope it'll be less of an issue for him). I think it's getting increasingly normal to think seriously about UV protection, really, although maybe not for your mother's generation.

thanks shellybelly too.