No hat, no play is the policy in Australian schools

When are schools here in the U.S. going to adopt a “no hat, no play” policy?

In Australia, this policy is as straightforward as it sounds.  Kids aren’t allowed out for recess or into the playground unless they are wearing a hat.

Here in the U.S.  we lag behind. At our kids field day in Maryland, it was 89 F. yet there were few hats in sight.

On the beaches and playgrounds  in the U.S., hats are becoming more common along with rashies, the Aussie expression for UV shirts, but they’re rarer than back in Australia.

One of the things I notice on the annual pilgrimage home to Australia is how wearing a hat or applying sun screen has become routine.

I’d love to see that here in the U.S. too.

Yes, Australia does have the highest rates of skin cancer in the world. But experts now say a single sunburn in childhood can cause skin cancer later in life.

In the U.S.,  more than 1 million cases of the non-melanoma skin cancer diagnosed yearly  are considered to be sun-related. Melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer, will account for about 59,940 cases of skin cancer in 2007 and most (about 8,110) of the 10,850 deaths due to skin cancer each year.

From a pragmatic view, I’d love it if putting on a hat before kids went out to play or went to the beach became as routine as putting on a seat belt when you get in the car.

So Slip Slap Slop … Slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen, and slap on a hat, as they say in Australia.

Are you doing everything you can to protect your kids? Try this quiz from the American Cancer Society about skin cancer.

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