Protect children’s skin

Today was a beautiful day for Bloomsday. It was wonderful to see so many children. Many of them were well and completely protected from sun exposure with clothing or covers to carriages and strollers.

Worryingly, however, there were a number of children who were not well covered and were exposed to hours of direct sun, for example little toes with very tender skin dangling from strollers. And I saw one poor infant, only a few months old, dressed in just a diaper, fully exposed to harsh light and expressing his discomfort with piteous cries.

We are not as used to taking sun precautions in this part of the country as people in more southern climes, but with the summer coming, it is vital that parents protect their children’s skin, which suffers proportionally more damage than that of adults, damage that can lead to skin cancer in later years.

Linda Carroll

Spokane