Entry FeedI am starting to wonder about sunscreen... should I be slathering up the kids daily? Or letting them fry?
My mother had skin cancer, and with Irish on both sides, I think my pale skinned, fair haired children are in danger. However, I also returned from my annual check-up a few weeks ago to find out that I am vitamin D deficient and I need to start taking a supplement. Oh - and I should lay off the sunscreen and give my skin a chance to absorb some vitamin D for 10 minutes a day.
I never was really part of that contingent that felt like tans were attractive. I tried fake tanning once in university, and found it relaxing in the middle of a frozen February. However, I slathered on 30 sun block and wore a one-piece in the both.
As a child I had a few really bad sun burns; the kind that blistered and peeled. I seemed to start off the summers white and pasty, and without a pool at home, managed to finish them with a natural bronze glow. When I was 17 a woman I played tennis with lost her mother to skin cancer at 53. Tragic.
I go to a dermatologist annual because of my mother's cancer. She doesn't believe that I have my mother's skin, since I have only 5 document moles. Still, every summer I go, get naked, and get checked out head to toe. And since it is late August that I see her, I worry that she will say something about my natural "colour."
I don't sunbathe, but I do spend time outside. For a week or two every summer we go on vacation, and usually there is outdoor swimming involved. I always wear sunblock before sitting by the pool. We head indoors at around 11:30 for lunch followed by a few hours of "quiet time." This keeps us out of the hottest, and sunniest parts of the day.
Today we were up at the farm, and the kids were playing outside. It was sunny, and we put sunscreen on them. The boys are OK, but Daughter is a little pink. However, my niece, who has bad eczema, had a reaction to the sunscreen and ended up with a bad rash. Now I am concerned about the chemicals that we are slathering onto our kids every day in an effort to protect them from something natural and potentially helpful.
I think I will continue with our moderate approach. Days outside, at the beach, a park, or around a pool - sunscreen slathered on. Bike riding around the neighbourhood, playing in the backyard, or going to school, and being outside during non-peak hours - unnecessary.