The scoop on sunscreen

Francis has been going to phys.ed. every afternoon since Monday. From 12:30 to 4:30 -- right at the worst time of day for the sun. He has very fair skin, as do all my kids -- real Whiteys. And being the neurotic mother than I can be, I've slathered his skin every morning with SPF 40 sunscreen. And to my great disappointment, every afternoon he has come home with a sunburn. I can't understand it. The sunscreen has an SPF of 40 , and it has not expired. So, yesterday morning I sent Doug to the drug store to get some new sunscreen -- the sport variety. He did and applied it to Francis before phys. ed. And again, he came home with sunburn. His nose is really, really red.

Coincidentally I had put a call in to the dermatologist's office yesterday to talk about sunscreen. We're on a first name basis there -- with my Whitey Wietelmann kids (our nick name for really pale skinned people like us), and Michael with his severe eczema. So, when the nurse called me back I told her about Francis being burnt everyday with sunscreen on. She told me that unless a sunscreen has zinc oxide and/or titanium oxide in it, my kids can still get burned pretty easily. The other stuff washed right off, or rubs right off, and sometimes the cheap stuff (I had been buying store brand) really doesn't do much at all. Yikes!

I know, a lot of people think, "well, we didn't use sunscreen when we were kids, and we're fine." Well, I know lots of people who are now, in their 50s and 60s, having large chunks of skin cut out and sent to the pathologist. And some of them are serious. And, if I'm going to mother these kids into their 20s, 30s, 40s and hopefully beyond, I'm going to do my best to be sure they don't get stupid skin cancer in their 50s and 60s.

So, I'm sharing my report with you because you don't want your kids to get stupid skin cancer either. The nurse told me that my doctor says Blue Lizard is the best sunscreen around. She uses it on her kids. It has zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, but it's really tiny mix-up particles, so you don't have to have a white nose, like when I was a kid. Read about why they're the best -- they explain why my cheap store brand sunscreen isn't good -- and read about sun safety -- good facts about skin cancer. You can also click on the "UV index" on that page and find out what the index is for your area. We're really high today.

Just so you know, I have no affiliation with Blue Lizard, except as a customer now.

Francis at the new Sonic yesterday -- with his red nose!