Has health & safety gone too far?

[Nana]

At least I think it comes under H&S. My DD1 said this week that she has to cream up her DS1 before he goes to school & then put his sun cream in his bag. It's not the school's policy anymore to apply sun cream for the children. It's all down to how much the teachers are allowed to touch the children now & they could get sued if the child has a reaction to the cream they applied. Consequently DS1 has to put the sun cream on himself. She was dreading him coming back home in case he'd used the whole tube.

DD2 said the Nursery asked for sun cream & hats to be sent with the children this week. What's the difference? Are all schools the same now? What's happened to educating the children about the dangers not being protected against the sun's rays? Why are they putting these children at risk of skin cancer? Makes my blood boil.

[Plantaholic]

i should have thought that if sunscreen is applied before school, it would last the day. the school is just protecting itself, very silly to request the sunscreen is taken to school.

[Enfys]

But there is also the recent thought that if children are not exposed to a tiny bit of sunlight they are at risk of developing rickets. It's a minefield now, you can't do right for doing wrong...I am so glad we don't have little ones to worry about. I would imagine that a fair amount of sunscreen would last and also allow, by the end of the school day, a certain amount of sun to reach the skin without doing harm.

[Glammanana]

Its certainly a minefield ladies but I would have thought that the tinies would not be outside for a vast part of theiCr nursery time and hopefully they would be near some kind of shade if possible,DD used to use a factor 50 which lasted all day she never had the request to send in with the DCs.
I can relate a H&S incident which happened to me yesterday with "The New Manager" hows this for taking things too far,I get a lot of new body lotions/perfumes/bath oils etc donated into my shop and sell from a cute basket on my till area they have always sold well for about 40/50p "she who shall be obeyed" has now decided they cannot be sold as you just don't know if anything nasty has been added before donation and we could as a Company be sued,my customers always look in this little basket as some of them just can't afford more expensive smellies so they will be sadly disappointed from now on poor loves.

[Daisy]

I agree it's a minefield. I would have thought F50 would offer enough protection for the school day, and I strongly suspect more children get to 3.30 suffering from dehydration rather than sunburn. However, on the H&S front, my GD 1 has a bad skin reaction to most sunscreams so her Mum is very careful what they use.

Glam, why am I not surprised about your Area Manager banishing the smellies! Surely if they are unused they're ok?

[Pearl5]

Our lot have always taking sun cream into school if going on a school trip etc, but not just day to day, G has a sun cream prescribed by doctor as he suffers from eczema. i wouldnt trust him to put his own suncream on, there would not be any left in the bottle....

Glam you would think it up to the customer if they wanted to buy it or not...

[Avo]

Sunscreen should be re-applied about every two hours. You still need sunscreen on a cloudy day, UV penetrates through haze and fog! You should wear broad spectrum sunscreen to protect from UVA as well as UVB (check the bottle), sun protection factor on the bottle is referring to UVB protection. You should not use last years bottle, the active ingredient in sunscreen decreases overtime, and it is also likely to get contaminated by germs if kept once opened! Make sure you apply enough less is not more when using sunscreen. Most people don't apply nearly enough.

[Mimi]

Sadley everyone has to be so careful what they do/say or even look at children now. If a teacher was seen to be applying sunscreen on a child they could be accused of improperly touching the child .
This may seen extreme but there are a few nasty' parents out there looking for a way to cause trouble .

[Nana]

Avo thanks for that information. I understand that we all need sunlight but to allow a child to get burnt is irresponsible and dangerous. I just follow what my skin specialist advised for me. Apply the factor 50 throughout the day, wear a hat & remember to take cover in the shade at the hottest times of day. He said the same rules apply to children. Surely the teachers & assistants have gone through the appropriate Police screenings etc. What's the harm of the teachers supervising the application of cream at least? It can't be proven but is highly likely that I got my benign skin cancer when I was a child.

Plant I was pleased to hear that my GS's Nursery asked for the cream & hats. My GS is one of the many children who would play outside every minute of the day if he could.

Glam what a pity that your ladies have lost their perfumes etc. I think that the 'haves' have forgotten that the 'have nots' need help in affording their little luxuries.

[WeeGranny]

When the 'no touching' rule come into effect in the school where I was teaching, my class consisted of 7 little girls and 23 rumbustious boys(Year 2). The girls would often come for a cuddle and I was happy to give them one. Well, I had to tell them I couldn't give them a cuddle anymore 'cos I might get into trouble. Their answer..... Well we'll just tell them we're giving you a cuddle!!!

My GS takes cream into school with him, but I don't know if he puts any on! Are the teachers/ancillary staff checking that the children actually do put any on before they go out to play in the sunshine? In Oz my DS also took sunscreen with him and the children had a hat like the Foreign Legion with a flap down the back to protect their necks or one with a wide brim. Sunscreen was part of daily life out there.

Sad about removing 'smellies' Glam, but surely if there's a tamperproof label on the neck of the bottles there should be no reason for them not to be sold. The world's gone mad !

[Qwerty]

At the day nursery cherubs go to they have to take in sunscreen and it has to be a new bottle unopened and sun hat , also slippers 🙄 tried keeping slippers on a LO

[Oma]

I'm not sure this is a new thing about the teachers not allowed to apply cream , my Nice is 39 now and I remember my sister had to go into school at lunch time to apply her eczema cream when she was about 5 as teachers were not allowed to or give medicine

[Pearl5]

my DD works in a nursery so i asked her what they do, she said all the children bring there own suncreams in because of allergies, where they have there names on, she said they help the kids put it on though, faces, ears, arms and legs, could you imagine the kids being left with their creams they would look like casper