3 Things to Consider to Keep Your Family Healthy and Safe This Summer

Summer is Here! It’s time to have fun and enjoy the beautiful sunny weather. With Covid-19 our plans may have changed about where we spend our time and who we interact with, but here are 3 gentle reminders to help keep your family healthy and safe this summer (not covid-19 related).

Playing Outside in Nature Has Many Health Benefits

A simple google search will easily show you that spending time outside everyday in nature is extremely important to health and development. Spending time outside can help improve memory, decrease stress, fight anxiety and depression, eliminate fatigue, help with focus (great for kids with ADHD) and many more things you can check out in this article (Business Insider).  With all the stress from Coronavirus, we could benefit from a little extra TLC! Also, according to the 1000 Hours Outside Blog, it helps improve kids reading and writing skills. Not to mention it improves children’s social and imaginary play. Playtime is fundamental in teaching kids so many things! It teaches them social cues, language skills, problem solving, and so much more! Read this article if you want to learn about all the different benefits of play (Voice of Play).

How much time outside is recommended?

Studies believe that children 4 years of age and older should spend 3 hours outside a day, or about 1000 hours outside total a year (1000 Hours Outside Blog). For younger children, 30-90 minutes of outdoors time a day, in mild weather, is beneficial (How to adult). You can go to 1000 Hours Outside Blog and print out an hours tracker if that helps you stay accountable! (Printout). We printed ours out at the start of this year. Due to the winter and rainy weather, we definitely are not halfway to a 1000 but it keeps us thinking about it daily.

Sun Protection

When I worked as a nurse in a pediatric office, I would get asked frequently about babies and sun protection. Babies have very delicate skin that can burn very easily, even on cloudy days. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, it is okay to put sunscreen on babies under the age of 6 months as long as you minimize the areas of skin it is applied to- like just the baby’s face and backs of the baby’s hands. Avoid the fingers though because babies like to put their fingers in their mouths. In our practice we told parents the earliest they should try sunscreen was at 2 months of age and it should be at least 15 SPF and PABA free sunscreen. These are two brands of baby sunscreen that I used and liked:

When putting sunscreen on your baby for the first time you should test it on a small area of skin. You are watching to see how the skin reacts to the lotion. If the skin becomes red and irritated, wash it off immediately. Baby skin is very sensitive to some ingredients in common sunscreen, like fragrances, etc. 

Other sun protection tips for all kids, especially infants under 6 months of age:

• Apply sunscreen 30 minutes before going outside
• Reapply every 2 hours or after water exposure
• Stay in the shade as much as possible
• Avoid high exposure hours between 10am-4pm
• Wear UPF Clothing, wide brim hats and UV sunglasses

If an infant gets sunburnt, cool compresses to the affected area are most effective. If blistering call your provider (AAP).

Pool Safety

It is super important to always have a sober adult or trained lifeguard watching kids around water. It’s always a smart idea to over-communicate when it comes to who is watching your children playing with water. This includes kiddy pools and water tables! Children can drown in just 2 inches of water. The horror stories I’ve heard are that parent’s were assuming someone else was watching because there were so many adults present, or because the adults assumed that everyone was watching their own child and they weren’t. I personally believe that making a quick plan and verbally stating who is going to be responsible for 15 minutes intervals is a quick and easy way to keep everyone safe. I’ve even heard of people hiring teenage/college aged lifeguards when having get-togethers to make sure someone is always watching and the parents can enjoy chatting with others without wondering if their kids are safe. 

We are so excited about the warm weather, sun, playing outside and water this summer! Please keep these things in mind when you play with your family this summer to stay healthy and safe! And, as always, please contact your healthcare provider with any thoughts or concerns!

Don’t forget to subscribe if you want to stay current with my blog posts! Thanks for reading!