Parents: Please don't let your children get sunburned

Remember the good old days? We thought getting a sun tan made us look good. We'd sit out in the sun all day trying to get some color on our skin. We'd use sun tan lotion, not because we thought it would protect us, but because we thought it would help to get a deeper tan. You'd hear stories about people using lemon juice on their body. Even for those of us with very light skin and with bodies that never tanned, if we got sunburned, not such a big deal. Sure it would be painful for a few days, but we'd get over it and then do it again.

Those good old days really weren't so good. What we thought was making us look and feel healthy, was in reality, causing damage later in our lives. But, we had an excuse in the good old days. We didn't know better. We didn't know that overexposure to the sun could cause skin cancer. We didn't knows that overexposure to the sun could cause a premature death.

We know better now. We've heard many stories about overexposure to the sun causing skin damage. Most of us know someone who has had an episode with skin cancer/Melanoma. A lot of us know someone who has died from this. Sun safety is serious business.

Last night I saw something that shook me up. I was at a concert and sitting in front of me was a girl who was maybe ten to twelve years old. Her upper back was in the latest stage of what looked like a bad sunburn. Her skin was peeling. It took my mind off the music and made me  think about what could happen to her in the future. I almost said something to her mother, but I had a feeling that she already knew better and was already beating herself up about this.

Here's the thing about getting sunburned or even a sun tan....even if it happens only once, it changes your skin's molecular makeup and makes you more susceptible to getting skin cancer/Melanoma.

We're now in the middle of summer. Kids are outside all the time. They spend all day at camp. They hit the local swimming pool. They're out riding their bikes. They're running around with their friends. They're doing the same things kids have always done in the summer.

So here's a public service announcement for parents: . Make sure your children are wearing sunscreen. The higher the psa, the better. . Make sure your children are wearing sun protective clothing. Hats keep the sun off the tops of their heads and their face. . Limit the time your children are spending in the sun during peak hours. That's when it can do the most damage. . Back to sunscreen: reapply, reapply and reapply!!!!

Parents...we now know better. Don't let what happened to us, happen to them. Keep your children safe from the sun!

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