June 2011 Archives

Last week, I blogged about new FDA rules that should make it easier for you to find the right sunscreen. What I also want to mention is that you can step up your family's sun protection with UV blocking clothes. That doesn't just mean rash guards for kids to wear on the beach. These days, UV clothes come in all kinds of styles and choices.

More people are looking for sun protective clothing, especially designs that are a bit more fashionable that in the past. The latest study shows in increase in melanoma diagnoses in younger women, so making UV clothes more appealing to women could make a difference. I like Patagonia because they have options for the whole family and it's a great place to look for sun protective clothing when we are going on an active vacation. If you want sun protection in everyday clothes, Mott 50 has very fashionable options for men and women.

UV protective clothing has a different rating system than sunscreen, which uses UPF (ultraviolet protective factor) instead of SPF. The UPF system indicates how much ultraviolet radiation the fabric absorbs. UPF 50 is the highest rating a fabric can have. Normal clothing does offer some UV protection. The rule of thumb is, the tighter the weave, the higher the sun protection. So you don't need a whole new wardrobe for sun activities. Wearing sunscreen is your best bet. UV clothing is icing on the cake.

As parents, we make our kids wear hats and put on sunscreen before they play outdoors, but how good are you about protecting your own skin? 

If you've ever spent time staring at the dozens of sunscreens on the store shelf, you've probably felt as overwhelmed as I have. So many choices! Hopefully, with new FDA regulations for sunscreens, choosing the right one for you and your family will be more straightforward.

When I was a little kid, I remember a bottle of SPF 8 sunscreen that smelled like coconut and lasted for several summers. Then my mom got wise and made us wear a higher protection sunscreen, SPF 15, every time we went outside. By the time I was in high school, I tried to stop the freckles spreading across my cheeks by using an even higher SPF. Vanity made me a convert to sunscreen early while my friends were still using tanning oil.

Avoiding skin damage is a good reason to use sunscreen daily and skin cancer is another reason to slather it on. The new FDA guidelines set a standard that require products to be "broad spectrum" or effective against blocking both UVA and UVB rays. UVB rays cause sunburn while UVA rays cause sun damage and skin cancer. The FDA will also limit labeling to SPF 50, since there is no proof a sunscreen offers any more protection than that. Also, it will get rid of the terms "water-proof" or "sweat-proof" and set a standard for water resistance for up to 80 minutes.

Children who are sunburned are at higher risk for skin cancer later in life, so it's crucial for parents to stay vigilant. While the FDA works out the new guidelines with sunscreen manufacturers, you can look up the safety and effectiveness of your favorite sunscreen here. 

Kellan is one lucky little guy. This year he gets to spend Father's Day with his dad and his grandfather, since my husband's parents will be in town. We don't have any big plans, because for some reason it always ends up being less thought out than Mother's Day - I guess I should take the blame for that one - still we always find some way to acknowledge dear Dad.

In honor of fun, fabulous dads everywhere here are some interesting facts about Father's Day.

·      Celebrating Father's Day originated in the United States and was first celebrated in 1910 in Spokane, Washington thanks to Sonora Dodd. She wanted a way to honor her father who raised six children on his own.

·      In 1966 President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a proclamation making the third Sunday in June Father's Day. President Richard Nixon made it an official national holiday in 1972.

·      If you bought your dad a tie or t-shirt, you aren't alone. A recent consumer survey found clothing is one of the top Father's Day gifts, along with electronics and a night out like dinner or a sporting event.

·      According to the Census Bureau, an estimated 154,000 fathers are stay-at-home dads while their spouses work outside the home.

·      Hallmark counts 94 million cards exchanged each Father's Day, making it the fourth most popular occasion to send cards. 

Happy Father's Day to dad's everywhere! Do you do anything special to celebrate Father's Day?

How do your kids do on long drives? My son doesn't do so well. He's good for about an hour and after that he demands to get out of the car. I can understand not wanting to be stuck in a car all day but a couple of hours drive to the coast isn't that bad, is it? This is not a question I would ask my kid, by the way, because I know what his answer would be.

One way we try to make road trips more bearable is playing music especially for the trip. Remember the days of mix tapes? Just like that! When a song really speaks to Kellan, he cannot get enough.  Last year it was "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da" by the Beatles and we listened to it too many times to count during a car trip to Seattle. 

This year I'm going to make him a playlist of songs he already loves and a few new ones with themes he relates to. Hopefully we can avoid repeating the same song over and over again. I played Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" for Kellan yesterday and he was hooked after thirty seconds. That one is definitely going in the mix.

Do you listen to special music or books on tape? How do you make summer car trips fun?

Many fruits signal the summer season, from stone fruits to strawberries, but if I had to pick a favorite I'd have to go with watermelon. I recently found an old food magazine that highlighted the world's love affair with watermelon and also provided some unexpected recipes.

Watermelon is 92% water so it's obviously a refreshing and tasty way to cool off on a hot day, but it also contains nutrients like lycopene and Vitamin A and C. There are several varieties, including a yellow flesh watermelon, that are available year round but I like the good old-fashioned oblong watermelons with the seeds. It reminds me of seed spitting contests between my brother and me during the summer.

I've been making watermelon salad all week after finding a recipe that includes mint, feta cheese, lime juice, and olive oil. The sweet, tart, and salty tastes are absolutely delicious when combined. The next recipe I'm going to try is watermelon salsa.

Do you have a favorite summer food?

One thing I did while visiting my mom last week was help her go through old boxes. Talk about a goldmine of memories! In one box I found my complete collection of Sweet Valley High books. By entire collection, I mean 40 books. I had no idea I liked the series that much.

That was a fun discovery, but many of the books my mom has stored are old paperbacks I'm not sure anyone would read again. Thankfully, most paperbacks can be recycled just like phone books or magazines. If you feel like your old books still have an audience, consider donating to a charity. There are organizations that ship paperback books to our troops overseas and to hospitals in your area. You can also find out if your local library accepts book donations. The American Library Association has a list of book charities across the country to help you get started.

Now I can edit our own library when we get back home.

I have been feeling like a bad parent lately because I haven't really planned anything for Kellan's fourth birthday, which is coming up in a couple of weeks. He has been looking forward to a party for months now. He really just wants to have friends over, but I know parents are required to make the day especially festive.

Not that I'm against pulling out all the stops on birthdays. I love birthdays! It's just that it seems like even the youngest kids have these extravagant celebrations. Spending thousands of dollars for a child's party has become the norm for some families. If that's a parent's priority, that's certainly his or her prerogative but I definitely want to take the less is more approach.

So in the end, I'll probably throw something together that's worthwhile for the kids and the parents (they have to hang out for a couple of hours too after all). It won't be nearly as, um decorative, as some parties but as long as it involves friends, family, and fun I'm sure my son will find his big day to be just as memorable.

With a recent World Health Organization announcement that cell phone radiation may be connected to certain types of brain cancer, I'm thinking more about how my family uses cell phones. What really makes me pay attention is the concern that children may be more vulnerable to cell phone radiation than adults. 

An easy step to take if your kids have to talk on a cell phone is to use the speaker mode. The phone does not have to rest against their ear and the whole family can join in on the conversation. 

For adults, it's important to get a comfortable set of earphones that plug into your phone, not the wireless kind, which may also put you at risk for radiation. More states are banning hand-held cell phone use while driving and it may be a matter of time before your state adopts the ban. Also, keep your cell phone calls short and use a landline whenever you can.

How do you handle cell phone use by your kids?

Is there anything cuter than baby animals? Not counting our own babies, of course! There's even a website called Cute Overload dedicated to showcasing the cutest in cuddly creatures. Kellan is quite taken by babies lately. He loved the piglets at our favorite farm. He now pretends some of his smaller stuffed animals are babies and the bigger ones are the mamas. Never mind that they aren't even the same species. In his world, a sea turtle can be mother to a baby bunny.

While he's just as interested in human babies, so far he's expressed more of an interest in having a hamster or a kitten than a baby brother. Yep, no pressure there! We recently got a book called Baby Animal Pop, which Kellan loves to read. It's a fun pop up book that lets you talk about all things baby with your own little one. Interactive, educational and adorable - that's my kind of book!