For Parents
One of our responsibilities as a parent is to minimize our child’s risk of developing skin cancer by ensuring that they are not overexposed to the sun.
- Sun is essential for life on earth. However, except for helping our body to make vitamin D, exposing our skin to the sun has no additional proven health benefit, and it certainly can cause tremendous skin damage.
- While sunburns are the most harmful, even at lower exposure levels the skin’s cells can be damaged in a way that leads to cancer-causing mutations. It may take years or even decades before all the mutations acquired during childhood cause the growth of a skin cancer tumor. Unfortunately this long incubation period hinders people from realizing that childhood sun exposure causes skin cancer.
- Because mutations accumulate and cannot be undone, they must be prevented.
For Home, Vacation, and School
At Home
Start by protecting your own skin from the sun. In doing that, your children will take notice and will be more likely to accept sun safety as the norm. There once was a time when people with lightly pigmented skin thought they looked better with a tan. They either didn’t know or were in denial that tanning would increase their risk of developing skin cancer. Don’t set a bad example for your child by trying to acquire a tan. Avoid even an unintentional tan as much as possible. Of course you will teach your child about sun safety, provide reminders when appropriate, and supply the necessary tools. We provide additional detailed information about hats, long clothing, sunscreen, vitamin D supplements, and more. And please don’t underestimate your power as a role model.
Get involved! Just one motivated parent has the potential to make a huge impact.
Tip: Let sun protection be apparent in outdoor photos of your family.
On Vacation
Hopefully you have already moved beyond the thought of a trip where the main activity is just to lie in the sun. However, lots of sun exposure might be inevitable. It’s important to remember that there’s much more to sun safety than sunscreen. It’s easier and less expensive to cover up large areas of skin, such as the trunk and abdomen, with clothing. Wearing a hat and sunglasses might preclude the need for sunscreen around the eyes, which could mitigate that stinging when sunscreen gets in the eyes. Wherever you are, seek shade and take advantage of it as much as possible.
Your Kids' School
Policy, Communication, Sun Protection Elements, Classroom Instruction
School Policy
First, inform yourself about the current sun safety policy at your child’s school. If it’s a public school, check the website for the school district, or contact them, to find out whether the district has adopted a sun safety policy. It might be listed as such, or it might consist of individual policies regarding dress code, sunscreen, etc. Most public school districts list their policy online and/or publish a Parent-Student Handbook. In case there is a negative policy, such as prohibiting sunscreen use, you can work with a member of the board of education, or show up at a board meeting and register to speak.
There might be state law that inhibits sun safety policy in schools. If so, you should consider contacting your state legislator to encourage the enactment of supportive legislation. As detailed in our report of one parent’s remarkable action, it can be done!
At the school, including private schools, you will want to determine whether any existing sun safety policy is being followed. Next, determine where there is need for improvement. Either meet with the school principal or check with the parent-teacher or parents’ association to determine whether sun safety is already on their agenda. If so, join the program. But if not, you have great potential to make change happen all by yourself, and certainly by finding a few like-minded parents, to form a task force.
A sun-protective hat is a simple and effective item to reduce sun damage to the head area but even in schools that allow hats, few children are inclined to wear one. Unless hats were required, or unpredictably became a fad, children may need an incentive to wear one. Check our hats incentive program for ideas on how you might promote a program at your school to motivate children to wear a hat when outdoors.
Communication with the school community is key. Take charge of seeing that sun safety messages are delivered to parents through the school’s and/or parent association’s correspondence.
Don’t Fry Day (see below) offers an ideal target date in planning sun safety communication and activities.
Encourage other parents to support the school’s sun safety efforts.
Social Media will be an important platform for your efforts, and please share our site with your friends!
Sun Protection Elements, such as hats, shade, sunscreen, etc. are detailed here on our website in the Sun Protection section. Pick the one or ones that you deem most worthy of your effort to improve sun safety at your child’s school and organize a campaign.
For example, advocate for more shade options such as lunch tables under cover, more trees, shade structure over play equipment, etc.
If your school requires uniforms, the uniform should include a sun-protective hat.
Classroom instruction on sun safety is an important element of health education. It should be included in the curriculum at every grade level. You can check to see whether it is, and lobby to have it implemented if needed. Streaming our video, The Sun Show, is a great way to cover the sun safety subject in elementary school classrooms. You could volunteer to host the event, using our Teacher’s Guide for discussion tips. In some locations, medical students from our UV&Me program can be asked to give a presentation at your school.
Don't Fry Day
History
In July 2008 Sun Safety for Kids submitted an original proposal to the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention*. We proposed the establishment of a nationally recognized day to raise awareness of sun safety, and recommended that it be designated for a Friday and called “Don’t Fry Day.”
The National Council adopted our proposal and declared the Friday prior to Memorial Day each year to be “Don’t Fry Day.” DFD was recognized by the US EPA, the National Weather Service, and the American Academy of Dermatology plus numerous skin cancer foundations and nonprofits.
Being linked with Memorial Day, Don’t Fry Day occurs at the unofficial kickoff to summer, a very important time to focus attention on sun protection tips.
Call to Action!
Plan activities at your home or school to participate in this National Health Observance. In case this day of the year is too late for your school, an ideal alternative would be the first day of spring. However, feel free to observe DFD on any other date in the spring (as the UV level begins to rise) that might be more suitable for your circumstances.
*The National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention unfortunately suspended operations in 2025
