We come up with a variety of excuses for not putting on sunscreen, e.g. we forgot or we didn’t think we needed to worry about it because it was cloudy or it was too late in the day. Summer is just a few weeks away! Now is the time to make sunscreen part of your family’s everyday routine. It will teach your children the importance of sun protection. While we may be preoccupied with the end of the school year, what camp our kids are going to or what pool we are going to join, one thing is sure, we need to remember sunscreen and to get our kids excited about it. According to the American Cancer Society, skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States and it's also one of the most preventable. Each year more than 3.5 million people are diagnosed, and more than 76,000 people are diagnosed with melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. So how do we remember to apply sunscreen and make it part of our routine? The American Cancer Society says, remember Slip! Slop! Slap!® and Wrap. They explain it as, slip on a shirt; slop on sunscreen; slap on a hat; wrap on sunglasses to protect your eyes and sensitive skin around them. In addition to sunscreen there are some things you can do to reduce your family's risk of skin cancer:
- Limit the amount of time you spend in direct sun, especially between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. when the sun's rays are most intense.
- Wear protective clothing.
- Wear sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or higher. Just because it's cloudy out doesn't mean you can skip the sunscreen.
