Sunscreen?

[Lee-Bee]

For me personally I much prefer that my kids and I get lots and lots of vitamin D and then play in the shade when we've had enough sun vs slathering on sunscreen lading with all sorts of chemicals and unpronounceable ingredients and letting it bake on our skin in the sun. That being said, I do use it when we are places where shade is limited like at the beach or when the UV rays are particularly strong but it's really only a handful of times per summer.

For my dckids I generally ask the parents what their preference is whether always sunscreen, sunscreen only when necessary or rarely sunscreen and I go from there. This year I have a group of parents who are sunscreen lovers and that's ok. I prefer to supply the sunscreen since I don't find it to be a huge cost and it makes application so much easier. I start applying it when it gets warm enough that we are in short sleeves.

I honestly don't ever see myself applying it year round. Total waste IMO.

I'm more along this side of things. All my current families were receptive when I explained I preferred to avoid the chemicals right now by being out after peak sun and wearing a thin layer over skin and hats with good brims. With my whole crew still doing 2 naps we really only can get outside for 1-1.5hrs at the very end of day and it just seems a bit unnecessary at this point to put the sunscreen on.

Maybe it doesn't help that I don't bath my 14month old nightly so the idea of slathering the chemicals on and leaving it on makes me hesitant!

We will start to use it when we can't be out with long sleeves and can't avoid the sun but I'd prefer to hold off as long as possible. I was wondering what the others are doing...none of the children have gotten sunburned or even slightly coloured yet so I figure it's all good.