By Kelly Lucas
THE best way for children to learn good sun protection is to start the process at home. Teaching children how to apply sunscreen themselves will help ensure they can do it independently while also developing their own sun safety habits.
Make the process fun when encouraging your child to put on sunscreen by allowing them to put a dot of sunscreen on each cheek, nose, and their chin. They can also add squiggles, faces, letters and numbers using sunscreen to any part of their arms and legs not covered by clothing.
UV damage in childhood significantly increases the risk of skin cancer so it is important to get children thinking about sun safety from an early age.
A good rule of thumb for skin cancer prevention is the following 5S’s: Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek, Slide.
– SLIP on a T-shirt
– SLOP on SPF 30+ broad spectrum UVA sunscreen
– SLAP on a broad brimmed hat
– SEEK shade whenever possible
– SLIDE on quality sunglasses
Sun protection does not need to be complicated or expensive, but it needs to be consistent. Keep it simple and do it forever.
