Sunscreen Saga

[BuggedMei]

Miss Bugged escapes daycare hell to bring you...

The Sunscreen Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaga....*music plays*



Now that its warm enough, and dry enough, the kids are able to go outside twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.

First, the kids were sent home with sunscreen forms. The parents had to give us permission to put sunscreen on the kids AND provide us with sunscreen for us to use. The toddler class (20 kids in two classes) had three parents send sunscreen.

We reminded the parents a few times to sign the form and send in sunscreen, but alas, nothing.

The parents started complaining and all of a sudden, sunscreen appeared in the kids cubbies! Look at that...

*grumbles*

One particularly HELLISH day, my co-worker and I were having a bad day keeping our toddlers from overtaking the classroom in some kind of 300-like manner. Being relatively new I don't know the processes for sunscreen, and honestly it slipped my mind. The kids went outside without sunscreen.

One mother comes and tells us she doesn't smell any sunscreen on her daughter. My co-worker goes white as a sheet and takes all the blame. We screwed up, we'll take whatever blame. No further action needed, right?

Wrong. Mother goes to BossLady. BossLady brings wrath down upon us. Co-Worker continues to take all the blame, its not Bugged's fault, she didn't know.

Now, we slather the kids with sunscreen. An obscene amount. Arms, legs, face, neck, any exposed skin. Fastforward to the playground... one little girl is all red in her eyes and is hysterical. Aw... she got sunscreen in her eyes! I take her in to wipe her eyes and try and calm her down.

Enter Insane Mother 1, the woman who complained to BossLady

IM1:OMGWTFBBQWHAPPENED TO MY BABY!!
Me: I'm sorry, she got a little sunscreen in her eyes!
IM1: WHY ARE YOU PUTTING SUNSCREEN ON HER FACE!?!?!?!?
Me: to.. protect.. her face? You signed off on sunscreen for her and supplied us with some... She may have rubbed her arms and then her eyes...
IM1: *as she grabs her child, who starts wailing again* YOU SHOULDN'T OF PUT ANY ON HER.

Exit IM1, stage left.

Enter, Insane Mother 2. Her kid is a squirmy little monster who while I was applying sunscreen to his face, looked down, ending up with sunscreen in his hair. I wiped as much out as I could but it left an oily look to his hair.

IM2: WHAT HAPPENED TO LITTLE R?!!?!?
Me: He got sunscreen on his hair when we were putting it on him! I'm sorry! We tried to wash away most of it but I'm sure a bath will get it all out.
IM2: WHY ARE YOU PUTTING IT ON HIS FACE HE HAS A HAT.
Me: Well, we were never instructed not to put any on his face, and even with a hat, he could get burnt.. we just want the best for R.
IM2: NO MORE ON HIS FACE!!!

Exit IM2, stage left.

On the last bit of my sanity, I reapply sunscreen to the remaining kids (An hour or so between the last application, per bosslady's orders). IM3 comes to fetch her child.

IM3: Oh, how often do you reapply the sunscreen on E?
Me: About an hour between. We are only out for an hour in the morning, then they are only outside for two and a half hours so once before we go out and once while we are out in the afternoon.
IM3: WHAT!? You reapply sunscreen EVERY 20 MINUTES. My baby will get cancer!!!
Me: *crying a little inside* ...I'll start doing it every 20 minutes....


Will the sunscreen saga continue? I hope not...

Please direct me to the nearest bar, or I may start drinking the sunscreen...

[Green_Fairy]

IM3: WHAT!? You reapply sunscreen EVERY 20 MINUTES. My baby will get cancer!!!

...wtf? where do people find these numbers? it's like the people that use 100spf sunscreen. it's just ridiculous a waste of money.
dude. i'm so sorry you had to deal with that stuff
*note to self: don't be a bitch to day-care workers*

[Hyndis]

Heh, when I was little, no sunscreen. If it was hot in the sun I'd just find shade.

Got hurt? Walk it off.



Good times!

[BookstoreEscapee]

20 minutes?! Unless you're swimming or sweating a lot it's like every couple hours. And it's not like the kids are outside all day long.

[Exaspera]

Why don't y'all just wrap the kiddos in Saran Wrap when they arrive and hang them up in a dark room? That way they'll be all clean and fresh for when Mommy picks them up!! /sarcasm

[BuggedMei]

...wtf? where do people find these numbers? it's like the people that use 100spf sunscreen. it's just ridiculous a waste of money.
dude. i'm so sorry you had to deal with that stuff
*note to self: don't be a bitch to day-care workers*

Some recent study suggested sunscreen may be harmful. I can't wait til the parents read this.

Yes, please be nice to us day-care workers. ; ; We really only have the kids best interest in mind, even if it means sacrificing our sanity.

Why don't y'all just wrap the kiddos in Saran Wrap when they arrive and hang them up in a dark room? That way they'll be all clean and fresh for when Mommy picks them up!! /sarcasm

ITS TOO DARK
THERES TOO LITTLE PLASTIC WRAP
ITS NOT DARK ENOUGH
THIS PLASTIC WRAP IS WRONG
MY BABY IS NOT IN THE DARKEST PART!

....is what they would say!

[Stormraven]

I've been known to burn - lightly, but burn nonetheless - in 20 minutes, with SPF 45 sunblock on.

[TexasT]

When I worked at a daycare I once had a parent complain that we didn't call when her child got sunscreen in her eye. She needed to be alerted immediately so she could take her to the hospital, she said. The parents were worse at the daycare than most elementary schools, which is saying a lot.

[bankworking]

Makes me glad that my old daycare working days were with older kids. Still had a few crazy parents, but it sounds like most of the crazy rules and parents comes before the kids reach school-age. Either that, or my own boss-lady just didn't reign the fury down as much. She was more of a do-nothing sort of boss lady. Nice enough to talk to, but was mostly there for show.

[Exaspera]

When I worked at a daycare I once had a parent complain that we didn't call when her child got sunscreen in her eye. She needed to be alerted immediately so she could take her to the hospital, she said. The parents were worse at the daycare than most elementary schools, which is saying a lot.

The helicopter parents. And this DOES continue through college, I know.

[Treasure]

I've given up on sunscreen - it doesn't work... or not on me anyway - and being a Rennie, I'm more than used to "roasted breasts"

That being said; when I was a wee thing, mom did slather me in sunscreen, (usually once, sometimes if she noticed that I was starting to turn pink, from the heat, then she'd reapply but that might be 2-3 hours later, or more) while my aunt coated her BLOND children in Iodine/baby oil, my mother's reasoning - the same for why she used sunscreen herself "b/c when I'm 60 black lace will still look sexy on my lily white ass, and you'll just look like a wrinkled up old piece of leather"

There is no difference in protection between 30spf 50spf 70spf and the studies mentioned earlier are showing that the very ingredients that are supposed to protect from the sun, react with it and can cause skin cancer, esp in spf's higher than about 45-50 (if I'm remembering my #'s right)

The worst sunburn I ever had, i was about 8-10, and we'd gone to Disney Land, and my ears got sunburned, they blistered and burst - my ears were the only thing that got burned, we didn't think about putting sunscreen on them.

I've had some pretty bad sunburns too - best thing ever is vinegar, takes it from red and angry to tan... and if you chill your vinegar 1st, it feels amazing! (make sure to rinse your cloth - don't resoak in vinegar w/o rinsing it will get gross)and as to the debate between "apple cider vinegar" and "white vinegar" either one works, but the apple cider one will smell better...

[Mystic]

What did humanity do for thousands of years before 1938 when sunscreen was invented? That goes for many of these modern wonders we can't seem to go a day without.

Modern "technology" is turning us all into wussies. :P

[Magpie]

Ever looked at traditional clothing in equatorial countries? If you're going to wear short sleeves/tank tops/shorts etc then sunscreen becomes a lot more useful. Especially if your ancestors are from an area that used to get a lot less sun. I know that at ~44N (I have no clue where I actually am) the sun is ok for me, unless I expose a part of it that isn't used to the sun to it for a long amount of time. I still put on sunscreen, because my ancestors generally didn't live long enough to worry about cancer.

[HawaiianShirts]

20 minutes without sunscreen = cancer?! I should be dead a hundred times over by now.

[tollbaby]

I'm so glad I go to a privately-run home daycare. My sitter is smart enough to know what to do for my kids, and I'm smart enough to LET HER! God I hate these harping helicopter parents who don't actually want to be bothered raising their kids themselves, but will criticize your every move when you try to take care of their little pwecious. My sister-in-law is like this, and it drives me nuts.

edited to add that my mother never once bought sunscreen when I was a kid. I buy it for my kids now, but it's the spray stuff, and meant for children, and the sitter sprays it on them once before they leave for school in the morning and once when they get back from school and go play at the park across the street from her house - actually, most often, they do it themselves (my kids are 8 and 11 now).