Sunsmart – responsible sun care in child care

Sunsmart
Responsible sun care in child care

October's often a hot month and when the temperatures start to climb. So it's important to get into the swing of good sun care for your child, whether he or she is at home, in child care or at school.

According to the Cancer Council, children and babies are at particular risk of sunburn and skin damage because of their delicate skin. Exposure to UV radiation during the first 15 years of life greatly increases the risk of developing skin cancer later in life.
Australia has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world. Almost 2 in 3 people who spend their life here will develop some form of skin cancer. There are more than 1800 deaths from skin cancer in Australia every year. In 2008 in NSW, melanoma was the most common cancer in males aged 25-54 and in females aged 15-29.

So it's incredibly important to instil the importance of being Sun Smart at a very early age. And if your children are in child care, do not rely on the child care centre or service to do your job for you. That said, child care centres are also responsible for the health and safety of your child while in their care, and when you enrol your child into a child care service, expectations of their sun smart duties should be agreed.

Their responsibilities:

To provide adequate shade in outdoor play areas.
To regularly apply sunscreen to children who play outside.
To provide regular water breaks for children to avoid dehydration.
To remove any child from an outdoor area if they are displaying any signs of over exposure to the sun.

Your responsibilities:

To adequately clothe your child for sun exposure, i.e.
Long sleeves or T-shirts that cover shoulders – NO SUN TOPS OR SINGLETS.
Sun hat with a wide brim all the way around OR a legionnaire style hat with neck protection
To generously apply sun screen (Broad Spectrum SPF30+ is a minimum) before dropping them off at child care
To provide additional sunscreen in their bags if required.

There have been cases in the past where child care services have been negligent in providing their wards with adequate sun care. This is extremely serious and if you feel your child care service is negligent in this area, you should immediately take the issue up with the manager and if nothing is done, you should report the matter to their head office if it's a chain of centres, to your local Family Assistance Office or Centrelink.