 |
| Source: Curechild.com |
Spring is coming to an end soon and most schools are about to close for
the summer. This also marks the time of
year when schools hold their annual field day, a celebration of fun and
physical fitness. Unfortunately, it
seems that every year presents at least one story where a child is severely sun
burned during the outdoor activity because of the school’s policy of no
sunscreen application.
Most schools, it seems, encourages the parents to apply sunscreen on
the child before they arrive. They do
not allow the child to administer their own sunscreen (at least at the
elementary school level) because it’s considered the same as a controlled
medication. In short, the school
district does not want to accept responsibility should a child share the lotion
(sunscreen or otherwise) in case the second child could be allergic. In some cases, such as when kids have a food
allergy, the medicine (epipen in this case) is kept in the school nurse’s
station and can only be administered by a trained individual. The same apparently holds true for other
medications, including lotions.
Including sunscreen.
Another reason for children getting sun burns during field day is that
kids are often not allowed to wear hats.
Teaching children good manners of not wearing one’s hat indoors is a
good lesson. However, many no-hat
policies were established not to teach manners, but to prevent clothing related
to gang association.
The Center for Disease Control has developed “Guidelines for School Programs to Prevent Skin Cancer.” Within
it, they recommend encouraging or requiring students to wear protective
clothing, hats, and sunglasses. They
also suggest establishing a routine for sunscreen use before going
outside. Other organizations have
recently encouraged smarter sun safety decisions within the schools.
I voiced my agreement to the CDC’s report last year to my wife. While she supports sun safety as well, she, a
daycare teacher, brought up a good point.
“Who’s going to apply sunscreen to the little kids?”
Teachers in daycare and elementary schools take care of many kids. In some cases, there are teacher’s
assistants. However, many state and
county governments are cutting back, so there are fewer assistants. At my wife’s daycare, one teacher could have
up to 13 children. In elementary school,
the number is double that. Very young
kids simply cannot apply sunscreen by themselves. It would take an extended period of time for
any one teacher to apply the sunscreen to 13 to 25 kids and expect to have any
time left for the playground. It’s
certainly a problem which has no real easy solution.
Last year, I sent out a survey of questions to teachers. I had hoped to analyze and present a detailed
breakdown of the data, but my schedule never allowed me time. Still, I have the data and felt I might as
well present the raw data for discussion.
Here are the questions and the results.
1. Are you a teacher?
98% responded that they were.
2.
If you are a teacher, what grade do you teach?
a)
Pre-school 8%
b)
K thru 2nd 34%
c)
3rd thru 5th 25%
d)
Middle School 16%
e)
High School 17%
3.
How many children are in your class?
a)
Less than 5 1%
b)
5 to 15 7%
c)
16 to 25 53%
d)
More than 25 39%
4.
Do you have a teaching assistant or another
adult with you in class?
a)
Yes 36%
b)
No 64%
5.
Do you feel children in your grade/age are capable
of applying sunscreen by their selves?
a)
Yes 53%
b)
Yes, but assisted 33%
c)
No 14%
6.
Which statement best fits your opinion towards
sunscreen application for your class?
a)
All children MUST wear sunscreen during outdoor
recess
32%
32%
b)
Only those children whose parents request it
must wear sunscreen during outdoor recess
33%
33%
c)
Applying sunscreen to every child takes too much
time
13%
13%
d)
Other (most which state they simply are not
allowed to apply by school rule)
21%
21%
7.
Do you teach sun safety in your class?
a)
Yes, it’s part of our curriculum 3%
b)
Yes, although it’s not required teaching 63%
c)
No, it’s not allowed under our curriculum 10%
d)
No, this should not be taught in class 7%
e)
Other 17%
(Most stated they simply never thought of it)
8.
Many schools ask that parents order class
t-shirts to wear during field trips and “Spirit Days.” Do you feel that parents are willing to pay
for class hats to wear during outdoor recess?
a)
Yes 52%
b)
No 40%
c)
Another idea 8% (most comments suggest kids be allowed to bring
their own within dress code)
I’m not a statistician, so I can’t really provide any scientific
conclusions. It appears that there are
no easy answers. Yes, we want our
children safe in the sun…but no, with regards to younger kids, the teachers
simply do not have the time or assistance.
In many cases, allergies and touching (either transfer of germs or
considered “inappropriate”) are a concern as well. Perhaps there needs to be a middle ground.
In my opinion, I’d like to see sun safety added to the school’s
curriculum at every age group. There are
many suggested age-specific education guidelines available…certainly the school
boards can select one to cover various grades.
I’d also like to see hats be allowed for outdoor use only. These can be school hats or a child’s
personal hat. Sunglasses should be
encouraged as well.
As for sunscreen, I really don’t know.
I guess a couple more questions could have been added to the survey.
1.
What do you feel is the proper age for a child
to be trusted to apply their own sunscreen?
2.
For younger children, and considering the
limitations imposed on the teachers, how do you propose sunscreen be applied to
younger kids?
Let me know your thoughts. It’s a debate worth having.
Postscript: My apologies for the poor formatting. Sometimes, numbering and bullets simply don't transfer well between MS Word and this blogging software. I'll try to make it more legible in the near future. -Al
