The annual battle is heating up in our house again. I seem to be the only one concerned about sun safety around here. As my son Nicholas, fourteen, points out, I’m "such a mom." Just like seat belts, daily fruit and veggies, after school hand washing, and respecting others, the sun safety issue is something that I do not back down on.
It was easier when the kids were little. Hats and sunblock were a daily habit. Their friends were covered, too. No one was stealing hats or playing keep away in the kindergarten yard without someone ratting them out. Any kid over eight-years-old will tell you that nobody likes a squealer, so if you’re not social royalty and considered ‘untouchable,' tough or fast enough to get your hat back yourself, or lucky enough to have an authority figure actually catch Mr. or Ms. Hotshot in action, you’ve lost your hat in the big yard. Apparently nobody likes anybody who smells like they’re wearing sunblock, feels ‘sticky’ to bump into or looks greasy. We ran a summer camp for six years, and I have yet to find something that doesn’t hit at least one of these criteria.
With my fair-skinned, blonde hair, and light blue eyes, I'm worried, and my kids are only slightly better off with their half-Italian skin tone. I was a lifeguard and swimming instructor in my teens and early twenties, and spent a lot of prime UV hours in the sun. During those summers, I got severe heat rashes across my collar bone area, along my shins, forearms and the tops of my feet, even with sunblock. I fared better with PABA-free brands, but the best solution was wearing long white turtlenecks and socks right in the water while I hopped in and out of the pool. I once missed a spot on my ear when applying sunblock and ended up going to the emergency room with a second-degree sunburn—bright red, swollen blisters that were hot to the touch and at risk of bursting and getting infected. And that was twenty years ago. The ozone layer is in far worse shape now.
My mind goes to yard duty last week. Blazing sun, sweating kids, little shade, and I would estimate that less than 20% of the six-to-eight-year-olds in my area were wearing hats. They go outside for forty minutes from 11:40-12:20pm at the peak of the sun’s most damaging rays. How many are wearing sunblock? And this is one crowd that is still willing.
I showed our kids the following video last year and it did help motivate all of us to be more diligent for a while. Writing this post reminded me of it again, so guess what’s playing at Chez Ida Mae after school tomorrow?
We all have to get our priorities straight. Warning: this video may not be appropriate for children under ten years of age, and parents may wish to preview it before showing it to children under age twelve.
Watch YouTube video: Dear 16-Year-Old Me Humourous, touching, to the point! 12yrs+
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