Teach your kids how to stay safe in the sun
Kids are never too young to learn how important it is to wear sun protection, so teaching them how to apply sun protection properly from a young age is a great idea - and can even be fun!
The best way to learn is by doing, so make sure that applying sun protection becomes a part of your family's daily routine. You can apply it in the same way every day to make it even easier to remember. Try doing the left arm, right arm, then left leg, right leg, and so on! And if you're feeling creative, you can use a rhyme or a game to make it fun - and even more memorable.
Skills for life
Forming positive habits are an important part of growing up, and the best way to make sure your kids remember how to brush their teeth, make their bed or apply sun protection the right way can often come down to repetition, repetition, repetition.
But learning these new routines can be made much easier when it's a fun, positive experience for everyone. So once your children are around the age of five or six, you may want to let them have a go at applying sun cream by themselves - though some supervision is advised if you value your carpets!
So, if you've been teaching the importance of sun protection from an early age, it will have helped children develop their own good habits which will continue into adulthood. And when they're around the age of 10 or 11, you can stand back and see how their sense of responsibility and ability to take care of themselves has developed.
Follow our tips below to help your kids develop sun safe habits from an early age:
- Make up a funny 'sun dance' that you do every time your child allows you to apply sun screen with no fuss.
- Kids love to be parents' little helpers, so ask them to help put sun protection on you - make a bit of a show and ham it up by exaggerating how you can't reach parts on your back.
- Lead by example - if your child sees you wearing a hat, putting on sun protection and covering up, chances are they'll want to copy you.
- Make sun protection seem much more appealing by calling it something fun, like magic sun lotion or invisible armour cream.
Last updated: about 3 years ago