Put sunblock on your kids people

[MomofM&M]

Unfortunately, some people just aren't smart or don't have common sense. I used to work at an urgent care in San Diego. One mom brought her 6 wo baby in because she was sunburned after spending the day at Sea World. The poor thing was fussy from being uncomfortable and she was red all over. I KNOW she didn't get anything out of going there other than the sunburn. When I asked her if she put sunscreen on(which is ok to do even at her age although would have been better to keep her out of the sun) or even tried to keep her out of the sun, she said that she didn't think she would burn. Then of course, she wanted me to prescribe her something that would make it go away.

 

[kimbo0569]

Skin cancer runs rampant on my mom's side of the family and my girls and I are very fair skinned. ...I've always gotten what I will call "the Irish Tan".....lol. I rarely tan, I burn so I have to use sunblock. And my girls know better now - they are 3 and almost 7 and if I forget (I carry it with me or I carry a spray bottle of sunblock in the car during the summer), they will remind me to "grease them up".

 

[genius118899]

I have a coworker with those transition lenses, and she HATES them because they take too long to lighten up when she comes back inside, at least a half-hour. It's like wearing sunglasses while inside for that time, and then when she goes outside, sometimes they turn close to black and are just too dark for her. I believe she said she got the glasses two or three years ago, so maybe they are better-made now.

Oh, that's weird! I guess my brother has a different kind- they're almost instantaneous!

 

[trustknoone]

I am like the sunscreen police in my family, I look like Caspers cousin. I start the summer out with at least 10 of the spray Neutragena 1 stationed by every door and one in my bag, Blue Lizard for the faces. You don't leave the house for an outdoor day without it ( I don't make them wear it to the mall). DD10 takes it so seriously she bought a Tilly with her own money when she was 6 and practically lives in the thing.

Someone had mentioned sunglasses, make sure they are UVA and UVB or they will do more harm than good.

 

[amandaraye]

"people that tan do not and can not get skin cancer, only people that burn"

WOW--how ignorant some people can be! And at the expense of her children nonetheless!

 

[ajh88]

some of my early memories at DIsney were crying outside of space mountian because I had a bad sunburn. My parents adopted me and I am the only fairskinned one out of 5 kids. Fast forward to now...my kids don't get burned because we are diligent with sunscreen and my parents are always harrassing me about how "white" my kids are in the summer I always respond "it's alot better than having a sunburn all summer"

That sounds like what my sister says! I am fair skinned - I don't realize how "white" I am until I go to buy make-up and it's always the lightest shade that matches me. My DD is even more so - we like to call her transluscent, especially when she's next to my niece and nephew. They NEVER wear sunscreen and get super-tan in the summer (while DD is white as paper).

When I'm around, they ALL get sunscreened. Cancer (not specifically skin cancer) runs on my dad's side of the family and I'm not taking any chances with my DD! I even got a small spray bottle of sunscreen from Walgreens to keep in my purse in case we ever find ourselves unexpectedly in the sun!

 

[5 for WDW]

Always a good reminder.

I am the sunscreen enforcer in our family. My sons are both fair and my daughter has a darker complexion, she never burns. All three get loaded up with sunblock every day. They also wear hats when we are at the beach (rash guards there too) and when they are out in the sun for any amount of time.
Since two are allergic to many sunblocks, I always bring extra bottles of the one they can use to WDW. I reapply so much that I drive them crazy.

One little tip. My sons wore their Crocs last summer to a Yankee game. I had loaded them up with sunscreen right to their ankles but, wasn't thinking about their feet. One of them actually got a minor sunburn through the holes of th Crocs. His feet looked rather funny after that. I am really good about doing the tops of their feet at the beach, etc, but, I just wasn't thinking with the Crocs.

 

[RMulieri]

To the poster that asked..Spray sunblock is just as effective, but since I have had skin cancer 2x now , we lotion up with the cream kind in the am, and then use the spray kind to reapply throughout the day.

 

[girlsx4]

I would like to say that all of my kids wear sunscreen. My youngest DD gets beat red when she is in the hot sun all day(or playing). It's just the way she is. I had so many people ask me if she had sunscreen on because she was so red. It really annoyed me. I had to explain(to perfect strangers, UGH) that she just gets red when she's hot, if we go into the air conditioning her color will return to normal.
I think people who don't put sunscreen on their kids are just stupid.

 

[all4fun]

I have noticed a lot of new tanning salons popping up in my area. I just don't get why it seems like there is a resurgence of this? That is one thing, I guess, because you can do whatever you want with your own body, but it's just plain irresponsible to not put sunscreen on your kids.

 

[tinkerlisa]

Holy cow some people can be ignorant! My SIL only goes to tanning booths. She says you only get skin cancer from tanning in the sun. I do not know why she thought this. She now has Melanoma. Her doctor gave her a 20% chance of survival for the next 5 years. She never used sunscreen in the tanning booth. She says she regrets being so ignorant about her thinking. So I always tell everyone use it in the sun and the tanning booth.

 

[RMulieri]

Holy cow some people can be ignorant! My SIL only goes to tanning booths. She says you only get skin cancer from tanning in the sun. I do not know why she thought this. She now has Melanoma. Her doctor gave her a 20% chance of survival for the next 5 years. She never used sunscreen in the tanning booth. She says she regrets being so ignorant about her thinking. So I always tell everyone use it in the sun and the tanning booth.

I am sorry for her . i was a Baby oil tanner my whole childhood( I am 34 now) Having skin cancer 2x ( Basal Cell Carcinmoa.So far no melanoma)already is not fun, and I admit it is the price i have to pay for my stupidity.i now get to go to dermatology every 3-6 mos for skin checks.

 

[pednurse]

It always amazes me the people who won't take the time & effort to use sunscreen, especially on their kids. Thankfully my parents were diligent with us as kids with using sunscreen & we rarely got burns (and that was back when most people had not a clue & stuff wasn't all over the news like it is now about skin cancer). I have always been diligent with my kids as well. Unfortunately, DD (now 6 years old) had a strange mole appear on her ankle late last summer/early last fall. We had it removed (pediatrician said we could watch it for a while, but seeing as how it was a new mole and was already dual colored & uneven edges & with my dad having had a couple of places removed already that turned out to be skin cancer, we opted to go ahead and have it removed immediately) and were glad we did...it turned out to be in the early stages of changes.....they couldn't difinitively classify it as a skin cancer, but classified it as "pre-cancerous" which was really scary to think of in your 5-year-old who had always been well-protected from the sun! Now I'm even more cautious around the ankles/feet area when applying the sunscreen. Oh, and my friend's kids calls us the "Sunglass Family" because we all always wear sunglasses when we're out in the sun....gotta protect those eyes too!

 

[Miss LD]

I would like to say that all of my kids wear sunscreen. My youngest DD gets beat red when she is in the hot sun all day(or playing). It's just the way she is. I had so many people ask me if she had sunscreen on because she was so red. It really annoyed me. I had to explain(to perfect strangers, UGH) that she just gets red when she's hot, if we go into the air conditioning her color will return to normal.
I think people who don't put sunscreen on their kids are just stupid.

My husband and I are both super pale (he's dutch I'm Irish) and so we are obsessive about slathering our kids in sunscreen.
But, DS always get beet red when he's in the heat - his cheeks and ears especially.
It drives me crazy that people tell me to put sunscreen on him! I appreciate where they are coming from, but one day I was re-applying it and a woman came and said to me "you're a little late, sweetie."

This year I bought, specifically for WDW, little patches made by Huggies. They are stickers you wear in the sun and they fade when you've had too much UV exposure. It was a really good visual reminder for us to reapply sunscreen - even though we were pretty vigilant.

 

[momto3inmn]

Lost my Dad to Melanoma this last January. Please, please, please use sunscreen on yourselves and your kids!

 

[amandaraye]

I am sorry for her . i was a Baby oil tanner my whole childhood( I am 34 now) Having skin cancer 2x ( Basal Cell Carcinmoa.So far no melanoma)already is not fun, and I admit it is the price i have to pay for my stupidity.i now get to go to dermatology every 3-6 mos for skin checks.

I hope I'm not out of line here but I hate to hear you refer to your stupidity. I, too am 34 and while I was never much of a sunbather I don't think the dangers of sun exposure were as well known or understood back then. I don't recall any/much talk of dangers of skin cancer. Nobody deserves to be struck with these terrible skin diseases. I hope you and OP remain healthy and avoid any further scares or complications!!!

That said, after years of people sunbathing and just now the reprocussions are surfacing, you would think these mother of young children would be more vigilent!?! grrr!!!!!

pardon me while I get off my soap box...

 

[Schmeck]

I've had two melanomas removed, I'm 44, and now I'm addicted to sunscreen. When I was growing up, there was no talk of skin cancer. Tanning booths were just becoming popular on the east coast, and were advertised as a 'safe tan'...

I covered every single girl in my school group with sunscreen at WDW this past June, and we didn't get one sunburn, and barely anyone came back looking even a tiny bit tanned. I feel like I did my chaperone job well!

 

[holly7347]

I'll have to show this to DH. He was watching me pack last night (we leave tomorrow for WDW) and he asked me why I packed 4 bottles of sunscreen. I said well you can't just put it on once in the morning and forget about it the rest of the day.

The one and ONLY time I let DH take the girls to the pool alone I put the sunscreen on them before they left. I told DH to put some more on them in a couple hours. He forgot to put more on them and DD#1 came home with a pink nose and cheeks

It breaks my heart to see little babies with a sunburn. Even if there was no cancer risk sunburns are itchy and painful, why put a baby through that when it could so easily be avoided. We have a summer pool membership and at least weekly during the summer I see a baby with a sunburn.

 

[HGD24]

Our DD is very fair skinned like me (Go Irish!) and DH's dad had skin cancer years ago so we are very careful about DD being in the sun. For our upcoming trip, we bought the Rayshade to extend the length of our stroller canopy and I bought little SPF water socks to put on DD while she's in the stroller as I know the feet are the toughest to cover with sunblock and they will get the most exposure throughout the day. We also have little UVA/UVB blocking sunglasses and 2 lightweight sunhats - a little much? Probably to some people, but not to us! She's our baby and it's our responsibility to protect her and keep her safe.