Making them ‘hot’ in the heat

It is one of those seasons of the year when it is warmest and it gets us feeling the heat and sweat. The days are characteristically longer than the nights and everyone seems to be in high spirits for outdoors activities. Yes, you may still be working but your children are definitely having time off school. And because of this, they will mostly want to stay outdoors to play, go on trips or just hang out and enjoy the weather. As a mother, you need to ensure they are well taken care of to save them the heat, sunburns and the like.

To do this, choose the right outfits for your children to wear to keep them protected as well as allow them room for movement or play. Your secondary intention will be to make them look cool, nice and stylish and also protect their skin from the dangers of the sun. You may want to consider the following:

a) Choose light clothes.
Because of the extreme heat during summer, select and dress your children in clothes whose fabrics are light in weight and very breathable so as to manage the sweating that characterizes this season. Heat and sweat can easily cause your children to develop heat rashes or heat boils. For this reason, insist on buying and dressing your children in clothing made out of cotton fabrics because they are breathable as well as light in weight. Avoid the temptation of other fabrics like rayon and polyester which, although are light, they are not breathable and they may be so uncomfortable for your children. Also, look out for clothes that have soft fabrics so that they are not harsh to your children’s delicate skin.

b) Choose bright coloured clothing
Bright and shouting colour illuminate well and look lovely during the bright summer days. They also reflect sunlight and will easily make the wearer feel cooler under them. Some of these colours include green, orange, yellow and white. Make sure your children are dressed up as bright as a rainbow. This will also make them look beautiful and attractive.

c) Invest in shorts pants and skirts
Short pants will help your children feel fresh and cool, especially when they are outside under the hot sun. Choose fabric, patterns, designs and style that will be perfect for the temperatures. If necessary, you can bring them to the shop when purchasing for them these valuable items. On the other hand, the skirts can be in jeans or khaki material but just make sure they are short and comfortable to manoeuvre inside.

d) Buy light footwear
Sandals and open shoes are trademarks for the sunny weather. Just make sure they are light and comfortable for your children to run around in them as they play.
Look out for shoes that will not make their feet sweat a lot to reduce chances of them getting athlete’s foot. For example, avoid plastic shoes unless they are designed in a way that they allow air circulation. Consider shoes with Velcro strapping at the ankles for your three year olds to enhance fastening.

e) Protect their heads
Invest in caps and hats for your children. Encourage them to wear headgear when they are going outside. This will protect your children’s faces from too much sunlight exposure in case they do not wear sunscreens.

f) Accessorize their dressing with cool eyewear
This includes sunglasses and shades. Apart from acting as accessories to make your children look cool and stylish, they will protect their eyes from direct sun rays. Bear in mind that there are summer eyewear, designed specifically for children in different sizes and styles. Most of the sunglasses have strapping so that they can be hanged on the neck.

g) Of sunscreens and what to look out for
Numerous studies have shown that prolonged exposure to the sun affects our skins. Some studies have even linked this to skin cancer. Because of this, we are bombarded with lotions and creams that purport to help us protect our skins from the ultra-violet rays that damage our skin. Flow true these studies are is a story for another day.

All you need to do in the mean time is take precautions by ensuring your children’s skin is sun protected from an early age to save them the risk of skin damage. With this in mind, sunscreens are the best possible options. They come as lotions, creams and gels to protect your child’s skin from UV radiation. You can apply to you child’s whole body and even consider other products that are formulated to suit the lips.

Genuine sunscreens normally have the abbreviation ‘SPF1, meaning sun-protection factor that comes in numbers such as 15,30, 45, or even more. This numbers indicate the degree of sunburn protection provided by the sunscreen, the higher the SPF number the higher the sun protection. SPF refers to the total amount of sun exposure and not the length of time you are exposed to the sun. For this reason, it is advisable to apply a lot of sunscreen to enhance the effectiveness of the SPF of the product. Most of the sunscreen requires that they be applied at least 30 minutes before going outdoors.

Here are some guidelines when choosing sunscreens for your children:

■ Carefully read the label on the bottle to make sure that it is a broad spectrum UVA and UVB protector that blocks both UVA also known as ageing ray and UVB rays – burn rays.

■ The SPF level should range anything between SPF 15 – 30. Plowever, if your child is particularly very light skinned, you may want to consider using SPF 30.

■ If your child has sensitive skin, lookout for sun protection creams that are hypoallergenic. It may be a good idea to test a small patch of skin for reaction to new sunscreen before using it on your baby. You could do this by applying on the skin under your child’s arm almost by the armpit, overnight.

■ The sunscreen should be water resistant or water proof. This is because swimming and sweat can result in ineffective sun protection. This is particularly good when you do not want to reapply the sunscreen every often.

■ Check out for ingredients like avobenzone, titanium dioxide or zinc oxide of over 5 per cent. This will guarantee your children protection against IVA and UVB rays.

END: BL37/28-29