As soon as June (and that incredible heat wave) hit, parents started stocking up on sunscreen for their kids, only to find that they had a choice not just of sunscreens for body and face (in a variety of forms, including lotions, sprays, and bars), but sun-protective glasses, hats, bathing suits, shirts, and even the beach towels themselves.

These days, parents are not just stocking up on sun-protection for their kids - this is just a piece of a larger problem - we don’t think we are raising our kids in a safe environment. In fact, we no longer think that our kids are safe anywhere: we give them constant supervision while they play in the back yard, keep them away from any food that might have preservatives or toys that we think could have toxins, and strap them into booster seats until they’re 13. When we were kids, we not only played outside until dark, we never wore sunscreen, which is part of the problem. Now we practically chase our doctors down to have them check out the newest freckle or mark we’ve discovered. We didn’t wear bike helmets back then either, but now any time a child is moving at a speed faster than a walk, you can be sure she’s not only wearing a helmet, but knee and elbow pads as well.

“Sure,” we think, “we can buy some SPF 45 sunscreen and be good parents, or we can buy sun-protective shirts and children’s sunglasses with not just SPF 70, but UVA and UVB protection to the point that kids can barely see through them and be great parents.” Which is exactly how these things get out of control.

Sunscreen is still important – you can be sure my family will be wearing it next time we spend an afternoon outdoors - but there’s a limit to the amount of protection that’s a good thing. Otherwise it won’t be long before we’re locking our kids up in their rooms and forgetting about helmets and sun protection all together.

To read more about this, see the USA Today article in which I commented.

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