Be Sun-Safe this Fall with Coppertone Kids

Sun safety is a Big Deal in our household. Alfie is English, and my kids are half-English, and we all know fair skin is particularly vulnerable in sunny places like California. Alfie lived in Australia for 5 years, and he saw first-hand how the strong Australian sun have sent melanoma incidence rates skyrocketing in the fair-skinned Australian population.

THAT is what happens without sunscreen, and it's a very bad thing. I still feel pangs of parental guilt looking at it.


The sun always shines here in California, even in the fall, so sunscreen application doesn't stop after Labor Day. UV rays are present year-round, even cloudy days; in fact, those cloudy days are even more dangerous because they lull you into a false sense of security! I periodically blog about the things we do to keep our family safe in the sun, and most of those summer tips apply to the rest of the year. Okay, we don't exactly seek shade -- quite the opposite, in fact -- during those nippy fall days, but covering up is a no-brainer, so give yourself a pat on the back for that one! But we still wear hats (to protect us from the cold as much as from the sun) and put sunscreen on our faces.


In my very first sun safety blog post, I mentioned my favorite sunscreen for kids is
Coppertone Kids Continuous Spray, and that hasn't really changed. I HATE applying sunscreen lotion, so being able to just spray it on my kids is a godsend. But in the fall, I only need to put sunscreen on their face, since they're in long sleeves and pants anyway, and the continuous spray doesn't really work for faces. It gets in their eyes and stings, so I prefer the Coppertone Kids Sunscreen Stick SPF 55. It's just as effective as sunscreen lotion or spray: you get 55 SPF, waterproof formulation, and broad spectrum UVA/UVB protection -- but I don't have to get any icky-sticky lotion on my hands. I just swipe the stick all over their faces and necks, and voila, they're protected!


When Coppertone offered to send me a stick of Coppertone Kids 55SPF Sunscreen Stick to try out, I gladly said yes, because we go through a ton of these sticks. We keep them in our hallway closet, in the kids' schoolbags (so they can apply it on themselves at lunchtime) and in the car, so we can be sun-safe everywhere, even if we forget to apply lotion before leaving the house. They're hardly take up any room at all, so there's no reason not to stash one in every car or soccer bag or purse!


Coppertone also sent me a bottle of Coppertone Water Babies SPF 100 Sunscreen Lotion, which I admit is not my favorite medium -- I've already said I hate the stickiness of lotion -- but it's probably your best choice for applying lotion for babies and toddlers because it's got an SPF factor of 100. They do have a Water Babies spray and a sunstick, but they only go up to 50 and 55 SPF, respectively -- so getting lotion on your hands is a small price to pay for protecting your baby with the highest SPF rating possible.


So before you go apple picking or head out to watch a football game, don't forget to apply sunscreen! With so many options, why wouldn't you take just a couple of minutes to protect your family against the sun's rays?

Disclosure: I received product samples from Coppertone, but was not paid to review the products or give my opinions. Product information is provided by the featured company/product and is clearly indicated as such. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.