How to Protect Your Child from Sunburn

Daddy Clay: Well, summertime is almost here, time to sit down with a good book and a nice fruity beer by the pool and just relax. Daddy Brad: Yes unless you’ve got kids. One of the biggest warm weather worries for parents is sun protection, that is why we are bringing you this entire bright and sunny week on sunburn. Daddy Clay: All brought to you by One Step Ahead, the best baby gear every step of the way One Step Ahead. Daddy Brad: You probably heard that you receive a majority of your lifetime sun exposure before you’re 18, but did you know that just two blistering sunburns when you are a kid doubles your risk of melanoma. Daddy Clay: Yes, what is really troubling about childhood sunburn is just how embarrassing it is to the parents. Daddy Brad: Embarrassing? Daddy Clay: You can’t hide it, right? kids like lobster red, red is a beat, walking around and everybody is looking at you with their judging eyes, bad parent, did not use sunscreen, maybe the kids just got a nice even tan, it is full that judgment, judgment. Daddy Brad: It is all about you. Daddy Clay: And DadLabs—image, I keep talking to you about this. Daddy Brad: Dude you are sitting in a pool. You are worrying about your image, you can drink like twenty beers. You will never have to leave. Daddy Clay: Do not get in my pool. Daddy Brad: When parent think sun protection, they automatically think sunscreen. The problem with this stuff, highly susceptible to parental air, here is a common scenario. You park your stuff down at the beach with the pool and your kids go tearing ass off before you get them al lathered up. Put on the sunscreen at home or at the hotel before you go and make sure you lay it on thick. Studies show that half the people that use sunscreen don’t use enough in order to get the full SPF protection and make sure you reapply every two hours. Make it a precondition for them to get a drink or snack. You know it is very important because if you use sunscreen regularly, you cut your chances of developing skin cancer by 80%. Wow! Why do we need all these stuff? Daddy Clay: So if you are headed out into the sun with our kids, you definitely want a fine shade or bring some with you, this is especially true if you got kids six months old or younger, they are supposed to stay out of the direct sun. Of course, the classic solution is a good old beach umbrella like this one. One thing you may not know, these things are actually now SPF rated. This one has got a cool aluminum lining, it is the thick, heavy big dog, this one has got an SPF rating of a 125, this is going to be hard to log around, great sun protection. The problem with the lighter ones, the thinner ones, you can see the sun shining through, those are SPF rated as low as 15, so you can still get a significant amount of sun even though you are under an umbrella, so be careful about that. You might also want to get with a sunshade, one of these tent like models, it is pretty cool, they pack up really small, they’re very portable and they give you a nice wide area of sun protection underneath. Now these things have got roughly the aerodynamics of the parasailers so you definitely want to use these, you got to use lots of stakes and hold these things down really firmly. Because they do have a tendency to blow around a little bit, which is one of the reasons that I like the tent models, a little bit better than the full enclosures. Because those full enclosures they catch the wind the wrong way, you get this kind of tumbleweed thing, with like a kid in it, kind of washing machine kind of thing, which is not so cool. Daddy Brad: Daddy Clay let’s talk a little beach fashion. Daddy Clay: Daddy Brad, remember back in the day, there is only that one kid, the fat kid, you know, maybe not fat, maybe husky and they always with a T-shirt, right? We are assuming as if that was going to— Daddy Brad: That was you? Daddy Clay: Yes, that was me, actually. So embarrassing. But now, wearing a T-shirt to the pool is actually cool. Daddy Brad: Yes, you know these swim shirts that surfers made popular,