I was sitting on the beach outside of our vacation home and observed something that was odd to me. A mom came to the beach with her three kids. She pulled up her beach chair and her three kids aged 3 to 7 ran off towards the water to go play. These were white kids with blond hair and these three kids were tan, really tan. Not only was I concerned that they were not being supervised by the water as their mom tanned, I was concerned about their skin burning. As I sat there slathered with SPF 30 and my kids covered with unscented, hormone free SPF 50 sun block, hats, sunglasses, and sun shirts playing under the sun umbrella. Then I looked around at the other families frequently applying sunscreen, having their kids in hats, sun shirts, sunglasses, some in full length sun clothing and realized that I was concerned for these kids because it was so odd to see kids that were clearly not being protected from the sun.

I think that within 10 years applying sun screen and sun protection for children will be required by law. This is a huge bet considering when I was a kid; I was a beautiful golden brown and had the Coppertone tan lines every summer. We spent every waking moment outside playing and swimming in our pool and we were usually only covered with our bathing suits. Why apply sunscreen? We did not burn we had great skin color! Now the dangers of tanning have been exposed, the suns rays are significantly stronger with the loss of the ozone layer than they were when we were kids and medical insurance is seeing the hits from increased visits to dermatologists to remove and treat skin cancer in adults of all ages including me, and my great tanning skin.

Why would I bet that this is going to happen? Look at how social pressure to live healthier lifestyles has changed from just pressure to laws in the last 15 years. Seat belts are required by law. It started out as a lesson that schools taught kids to remind us to put on our seatbelt and to pressure our parents to wear their own seatbelts. Now law in most states requires seat belt use. If I see a toddler or young child walking around a vehicle clearly unbuckled, I have no problem calling the police to see if they can stop that vehicle and protect that child in the future. It is not the child’s fault they are not buckled in, it is the parents responsibility.

How about smoking, this was another lesson taught to children in schools to go home and teach their parents the dangers of smoking and the dangers of second hand smoke. I have two friends who have children that pressured them out of smoking so I know how well that campaign worked. Now the pressure has changed into a law in Minnesota. We have no smoking laws indoors in Minnesota to protect non-smoking adults and children from second hand smoke, now people can only expose and endanger their children with second hand smoke at home.

How is not protecting your children from the harmful rays of the sun not endangering them? It is proven that sun exposure is dangerous and causes skin cancer. Untreated skin cancer can kill you, so why is this something that is not regulated like smoking or seatbelt use or any other neglectful situation that parents put their children in? Parents and caregivers neglecting to apply sunscreen and sun protection to their children can lead to skin cancer. As more skin cancer is treated and medical costs rise for something that is easily preventable with an easily acquired sunscreen lotion or sun block, I believe the simple social pressures to protect our children will become legal requirements to protect our children.

Is this idea far out there? I don’t think so. I will be for it to be a law to protect children until they can make their own decision to wear sunscreen or to tan.