My goodness can you believe just a couple of weeks ago we were complaining about rain and cool temperatures? Well no more. We have now truly hit SUMMER TIME. I have to say this even though I know that all of you know it already, water water water drink lots of water and use sunscreen. Children especially do not know when they need to stop until it is way to late. When they stop and tell you they are thirsty and tired then you really need to be watching them for signs of heat stroke, heat exhaustion, dehydration, or even a heart attack. Yes children can die in a matter of minutes because of too much sun and being over heated.
Simple precaution can make all the difference in summer fun, first remember sunscreen, even if you choose not to wear it your child really needs it. Think of it like this, if he/she get a sunburn he/she is going to be miserable and when our little ones are miserable everyone around them are miserable and the more miserable they are the more miserable everyone else is. See my point? For sunscreen I use Neutrogena pure & free baby sunscreen SPF 60+ or 100+. Now I normally do not endorse any one product but I have had several children with extreme eczema and the only sunscreen the doctors recommended was the Neutrogena pure & free baby sunscreen SPF 60+ or 100+ and it works really good to.
Second: Water water water. Again, you may choose soda, coffee, tea or whatever but the children really need water. Not kool-Aid, sports drinks or any other sweet drink they need water. Plain old simple down to earth water. You say your child doesn't drink water, tell them yes you do. You say I can't get or I can't make my child drink water. I say your right you can't but you can stop offering him all the other sweet drinks and he will start drinking the water. Habits are hard to break but not impossible.
third: REST, now I do not mean a nap, although that is a good idea also but for now I am talking about stopping the running and playing in the hot sun sitting down in the shade drinking some cool water maybe reapply some sunscreen eat some fruit. I suggest doing this at least once an hour. For me I have a timer here and I have it set for 15 minutes and the children know that when it goes off they have to come in, meaning come to the canopy, to get a drink of cool water and then they can go back and play. Then every hour they have to come to the canopy and sit for 15 minutes. I generally use this time to read to the children, give them a snack, sing songs, dray, anything that is sedate and calming. Then the children are welcome to head back out for another hour of fun in the sun.
As you read over this I am sure you can now understand how it is that we can be outside all day in the summer, just a few simple tricks of the trade and life is made easy for this particular provider.
Happy Summer Folks.
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