With school back our thoughts are often about healthy lunch box options. While contemplating low fat and sugar free options for children to eat we also need to be thinking about the time of day our kids are outside on their break.
Although many New Zealand schools now require that children wear sun hats and provide a shady spot to sit, once the contents of the lunch box is consumed our kids are running around unprotected.
According to Sun Smart NZ skin can burn in as little as 15 minutes in mid day sun – the time in which our kids are on their lunch hour!
When my oldest daughter was younger I started packing a tube of sun screen in her lunch box. Before starting her lunch she would apply her sunscreen so by the time she had finished her lunch she was nicely protected against the harmful effects of the sun. I have since done this with all my children who have learned coming home from school sunburned is much worse than not eating the healthy stuff in the lunch box.
Teach you child that:
• Sun burn is harmful
• To apply sun screen to their face, arms and legs before eating their lunch to allow time for active ingredients to work.
• You may like to include a wet wipe or hand sanitizer to use before eating lunch.
• Keep the tube in the lunch box so it will get used
• Don’t think if it does not get used the first time that your efforts a futile, keep encouraging and your child will soon learn.
• Getting into good habits now can protect your child for a lifetime.
BabyBaby sunscreen is safe for the whole family and protects against UVA and UVB rays. Older children can use 2B sunscreen which provides extra anti oxidants for long term skin benefits.
