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Ideas to keep you safe in the sun

Everyone knows that too much exposure to the sun is bad for your skin and can cause skin cancer, but it is easy to kind of blow it off and forget about it. Or think, 'Well, I won't be out too long today, so it will be ok.'. But then that one day turns to many and you find you haven't worn sunscreen for most of the summer.

It can be especially difficult with young children because most people don't think about kids getting cancer. And then with the time it takes just to get young children dressed, fed, etc. it easy to not take the time to put sunscreen on them. But skin damage due to sun exposure is cumulative over a person's lifetime and most damage is done before people are 20! I hate to think what damage I've done to my skin - we had a pool when I was young and I was in it most of the summer. Not only did we not use sunscreen - we used tanning lotion! All the time!

So here are a few ideas to keep in mind when trying to keep you and your family from getting too much skin damage from the sun: 1) Use a sunscreen with at least and SPF of 15.

2) Put the sunscreen on at least a half an hour before going out in the sun.

3) Put more sunscreen on every half an hour - or more often if you are swimming and feel that it has washed off.

4) Wear a hat whenever possible to protect your face more.

5) Try to avoid being out when the sun is its worst - between 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM.

6) Babies that are less than six months old should be kept out of direct sun entirely.

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