00:45 - Use sunscreen to protect your toddler's skin
02:12 - Cover different body parts with sunscreen
01:37 - Dont go out between 10am and 4pm
02:02 - Bring a wide brimmed hat
02:30 - Dark-colored clothes give better protection
Hi everybody, Harper Jones with Bow-Tiger, and you're watching Saturdays with Harper. Now, I've decided to take it outside for this video blog, so you may hear some of my animals. I do have a chicken coop back here, our family does raise our own chickens, not to eat the chickens, but to eat the eggs. And we do also have our pups outside as well. So you might hear them from time to time.
Anyways, to talk about the topic at hand for today, I wanted to talk to you guys about proper use of sunscreen and protecting your toddler against the sun. Now that it's springtime, we are going to be spending a lot more time outside, and I know it's not the middle of summer but it's still very, very important to make sure that you are protecting your child against the sun using the proper available outlets to you.
Now the first thing you want to do, of course, is make sure that you're using SPF sunscreen. Make sure you're using the right type of sunscreen. It needs to protect against UVA and UVB rays, and that SPF needs to be at least 30, although I like to use a 50 or 55 on my toddler. You want to make sure that you're actually using enough of the sunscreen. A lot of the times, we're putting on sunscreen and we feel that we're protecting ourselves, but we're not actually lathering on like it's meant to be used.
So you want to make sure that to cover your toddler's body, about the amount of sunscreen that would fit into their hand if their hand was cupped, that's about how much sunscreen it takes to cover their body. Now of course, we always cover the obvious areas, like our arms, our legs, and our face, but you do also want to make sure that you get their ears, you get their hands, the top of their feet. Different areas like this are many times overlooked and they're sometimes the most painful if they do get sunburned.
Another thing that you can do is make sure that you're not going out in peak hours during the day and spending a lot of time outside. 10:00 to 4:00, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. are actually the peak hours for the sun to be kind of hitting its hardest. If you are outside at that time, though, make sure you find some shade. There's lots of nice places to play, lots of parks with good shade. If you're at the park, you can find a nice tree with shade.
You can also make sure that your toddler is covered, as far as their clothing goes. A wide brimmed hat is a really, really good idea because it does protect, of course, against the face, but then also on the shoulders as well. Another thing that people don't notice is the type of clothing that you're dressed in really does determine if you're going to get burned or not. A lot of people are thinking that the darker clothes actually kind of soak in the heat, so maybe that'll burn quicker, but that's actually not true.
If you're wearing, or your toddler is wearing a white shirt, that only has an SPF of maybe about five, and then by the time they're in the sun, that SPF level has gone down to maybe three, as far as covering them. So they're very likely to get burned under their clothes if they have light colored clothing. Of course, you can always SPF under their clothes as well before they go out, or choose darker covering, darker clothes, to make sure they have a better covering and protection against the sun.
So those are some of my tips and tidbits of information for keeping your child nice and safe during the summer, spring months when we're outside a whole lot and really enjoying the sun. I have birds chirping and chickens clucking and everything else. I love being out here with my toddler at this time, but I do want to make sure that you guys do protect your toddlers against the sun's rays. Now if you guys are watching this video on Facebook or YouTube, please be sure to also check out our blog on Bow-Tiger.com, and we'll see you next week. Thanks.
