Out and About
Whether you are down at the park, heading to the cafe by scooter or going to a friends house for a play date, it’s still vitally important to make sure your kids skin is protected from the sun. The skin begins to burn after fifteen minutes, so before you walk out the door, remember to apply sunscreen or dress your kids in sun protective clothing (including a hat).
Creating a ritual is habit forming…. for some.
Creating little rituals can set up great habits for later in life. My nephew, for instance, believes there are three steps to going to play in the backyard: Shoes, sunscreen and hat. He has just turned five and (with a little help) puts on his own sunscreen from the pump bottle sitting next to the shoe rack in the entrance hall.
The only problem is my three-year-old niece, she has no interest and just wants to run straight outside; no shoes, no hat and definitely no sunscreen.
For Christmas, she is receiving a Handstand Undertop in Aquamarine and the Mr Wolf Jumpsuit in Chambray (she hates pink and her favourite item of clothing is a green camouflage jacket).
I can’t do much about the shoe problem, but this way at least my sister-in-law doesn’t have to chase her around with the sunscreen bottle and use fruit pouches as bargaining chips.
At the beach
When I take my daughter to the beach, I see a plethora of rash vests with matching bucket hats running around building sandcastles and chasing seagulls.
I’m lucky enough that my daughter gets really cold at the beach and she spends most of summer in a full length wetsuit. When she’s not impersonating a seal in her black neoprene, I chase her around with the sunscreen, which eventually gets dropped in the sand and is followed by a flat refusal to put it on because it now has sand all through it. If my daughter was a couple of years younger (she’s thirteen and I have lost all control of her wardrobe ), I would have gone with the outfit below:
The Hide and Seek Hoodie because it’s comfortable, breezy and has a hood to cover the neck, back and ears. I would have slipped the hoodie straight over my daughter’s bathers (once she had toweled herself off). A couple of squirts of sunscreen on the arms, her favourite hat and she would have been ready to build her sandcastle and walk along the beach collecting shells.
To see the full range of Sha-de for Girls clothing, click here.
It’s Friday and my husband and I are off the Wilson’s Prom for the weekend. Hopefully the weather will be beautiful and I will be able to share some great photo’s on instagram with you (if you’re not following us, you can check out our profile @sha_de_sun or our kids profile @sha_de_sun_kids).
Have a great weekend!
Sonia xx
Sha-de Sun Protection 