When you take your kids to the beach..

[Deleted]

what do you put on them? Especially if your child is <2yrs old.

I took my DS to the beach a few times in the last week and when we go, he wears his swim trunks, a rash guard (shirt) which is suppose to be SPF 50 and I have a waterproof hat I keep on him even in the water. I also put 50 spf sun screen on the exposed skin.

I am very surprised at the number of people who bring young kids-even less than 6 months old and they don't have anything covering their upper body for boys or have bikini tops for girls. Nor do they have hats. I figured with all the info about melanoma and staying out of the sun that people would cover their kids more, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

[hannamaren]

We went to the splash pad today, and Layla wore a long sleeved, long pants rashguard type bathing suit. All one piece without clips to access her diaper (annoying) but long enough that really only her hands and feet were exposed.
She only wears the cute bathing suit (tankini style) at the indoor pool.

[Deleted]

Your kid and my kid would be twins. SPF 50 shirt and shorts and hat, and then waterproof sunscreen on his exposed bits.

Most of the other kids on the beach were running around like it was the 80's again. Just swim suits, no hats or shirts on the boys.

[mie]

They wear a swimsuit and sunscreen. Sometimes they'll wear a hat, but most of the time they don't.

[Willis Jackson]

Swim suits and gobs of sunscreen. Neither kid will tolerate a hat for more than a few minutes.

How do you know these kids aren't covered head-to-toe in sunscreen? Why the judgment?

[Deleted]

Sunscreen is just such a pain in the ass compared to clothing. That's not judgement, really, so much as a "really, people want to go through that every 2 hours?". The hat is a battle, but if he's distracted it will last for a while.

My MIL is buying herself a SPF 50 shirt because she's jealous of DS's.

[Deleted]

Jul 18, 2012 11:52:41 GMT -5 mie said:

They wear a swimsuit and sunscreen. Sometimes they'll wear a hat, but most of the time they don't.

This. I do make them wear a hat though.

[Willis Jackson]

I guess it depends on the kid- DS argues with us about every. little. thing. but he's all about getting sunscreen applied.

[OscarQ]

I slather him in sunscreen, spray it on his scalp (the only place I use spray) and then use the rash guard top and long swimtrunks. I also try to keep a hat on his head but that rarely works. Sometimes he runs around in just a disposable swim diaper but that's rare and he's never gotten even a tinge of pink (I limit our time outside especially mid-day). My dad had skin cancer. H and I have already had questionable spots removed.

[mrshandy]

Shirt and shorts, no hat. He won't ever wear it.

Lathered up in sunscreen.

I judge a little for girls that wear bikinis. It is just so much easier if they are wearing clothing. Sunscreen can only do so much.

DS is quite the whiney little bugger when I try to put sunscreen on him. It's a battle every time.

[Deleted]

Jul 18, 2012 11:58:24 GMT -5 Willis Jackson said:

Swim suits and gobs of sunscreen. Neither kid will tolerate a hat for more than a few minutes.

How do you know these kids aren't covered head-to-toe in sunscreen? Why the judgment?

It wasn't a "judgment" but more of an observation--I was just surprised more people weren't cautious about the sun.
Although I did see a couple of people come and their kids went straight into the water--they could have put sunscreen on at home, I don't know, but I never saw them reapply any while there either.
ETA: I will say though, I was very happy to see the number of parents who actually got up and stood and watched their kids in the water. There have been so many drownings this summer, its scary.

[satama]

Rash guard (we have one long sleeve) and a few short, long swim trunks, hat with flaps to cover ears and neck and spf 50 sunscreen. We also have those spf 50 swim socks. He wears all of that to play in his water table.or baby pool at home too.

[beachdweller]

Eh, I live at the beach and don't do the long sleeves, etc. with my 16 month old DD -- Just a standard 1 piece bathing suit and a hat that I am successful at keeping on about 25% of the time. I do slather on the 70+ sunscreen and she has never gotten the slightest bit pink and we beach or pool it several times a week. I do the short sleeve sun shirts some times, but she tries to take them off so that is a fail usually.

[h]

Swim trunks, a short sleeve rash guard, and a crapload of SPF 50. I do everything possible to get them to leave hats on, but it's a losing battle. I spray their heads with sunscreen and re-apply to their faces frequently.

[hannamaren]

Jul 18, 2012 12:15:34 GMT -5 flygirl said:

Jul 18, 2012 11:58:24 GMT -5 Willis Jackson said:

Swim suits and gobs of sunscreen. Neither kid will tolerate a hat for more than a few minutes.

How do you know these kids aren't covered head-to-toe in sunscreen? Why the judgment?

It wasn't a "judgment" but more of an observation--I was just surprised more people weren't cautious about the sun.
Although I did see a couple of people come and their kids went straight into the water--they could have put sunscreen on at home, I don't know, but I never saw them reapply any while there either.
ETA: I will say though, I was very happy to see the number of parents who actually got up and stood and watched their kids in the water. There have been so many drownings this summer, its scary.

It is much smarter to put sunscreen on before you leave the house or before you are in the sun. It takes 20/30 min to "work".
And I can add to watching your kid. I was at the splash pad and this Mom was reading a book while her 2-3 yr old played. I can see not watching every second, even checking your messages, but reading? I am just paranoid. Anyone could have grabbed her. Again, I am paranoid

[frlcb]

It blows my mind when I go out and all the boys are in rash guards and shorts and the girls are in bikinis, often from the same family. But then again my kids are super blonde and a red head so I have no choice but to cover them from the sun.

[kittycatlove]

DS wears a rash guard, bathing suit, hat and SPF 50. He's actually pretty good about keeping his hat on.

[Deleted]

Jul 18, 2012 12:44:14 GMT -5 frlcb said:

It blows my mind when I go out and all the boys are in rash guards and shorts and the girls are in bikinis, often from the same family.

This always surprises me too.

[twila]

Rash guard, trunks, high SPF. We try a hat each time but DS just won't keep it on.

[Deleted]

frlcb--I just have to say your DD is so CUTE!!!

[liveintheville]

Eh, I put them in rash guard shirts and swim trunks. But occasionally kid 1 won't want to wear a shirt so I just sunscreen him. Neither will keep a hat on.

They're not prone to burning though. They got my skin type and not their dad's.

[luvmagoldn]

Swim trunks, short sleeve rash guard. Sunscreen on arms, legs, neck, ears, face.

Hats, when tolerated, when out of the water.

[dcrunnergirl]

My kids both wear short-sleeved rash guards. DS wears swim trunks that are fairly long (b/c he has short legs) and DD wears a bikini bottom. I spray on sunscreen. Neither will wear hats, so it's not worth trying.

[rootbeerfloat]

Neither of mine will tolerate a hat.

DS wears a short-sleeved rash guard and swim trunks.

DD wears a swimsuit, either a one-piece, tankini or a rash guard like top with a bikini bottom. She is definitely less covered, but that just means she uses more sunscreen.

I also apply sunscreen at home, or at the very latest, when we're getting out of the car. I find it annoying to deal with sunscreen while they're running to the water and rolling in the sand.

[frlcb]

Jul 18, 2012 12:57:03 GMT -5 flygirl said:

frlcb--I just have to say your DD is so CUTE!!!

Thank you!

[blue1980]

DD is very fair but she only wears a one piece or tankini bathing suit and tons of sunscreen when we are at the pool or beach. She throws a hissy fit if she doesn't get to wear a "real bathing suit" and hats normally only stay on her head for 5 min or less. But she is used to having sunscreen applied every day and is really great about letting me lather her up and then reapply every couple of hours when we are in the sun.

[statlerwaldorf]

When DD was younger, she would wear a hat, but she won't now. I switched it up between a rash guard with tankini bottoms or a regular swimsuit/tankini. When walking around, I would put a cover up on her, but I didn't make her wear it the whole time we were out of the water.

[matildasun]

I was surprised at how hard it was to find rash guards for girls at standard stores. Target only had one style and it was sold out of her size really early. The Gap had none. Both stores had many style for boys. I ended up buying her one from the boys department.

[frlcb]

Jul 18, 2012 14:58:54 GMT -5 matildasun said:

I was surprised at how hard it was to find rash guards for girls at standard stores. Target only had one style and it was sold out of her size really early. The Gap had none. Both stores had many style for boys. I ended up buying her one from the boys department.

I agree with this. There is a huge gap in the market for this. If I knew how to design clothes I would be all over that

[Deleted]

Last summer the boys wore swim trunks, a rash guard, water shoes, and SPF 70. I tried to get our one year old to wear a hat but he wasn't having that. Too cool already I guess