If the skin cancer doesn't get you, the osteo will.

I have never had to worry about hats or sunscreen too much….
Just a thought… If our weather is changing and kids are being forced to not adapt… how the hell are we gonna evolve…

Thumper turned up his collar because Kim Hughes did. I turned mine up because Gary Sobers did (admittedly, a few years earlier).
-This is not to point out our age difference, nor that we are/were both hero-worshipping wankers, but to make the point that even black guys take precautions against the sun. Must be a reason…

I’m not too sure that one’s 100% correct Thumper, my doctor told me last time I checked that it’s the over-abundance of Melanins that causes Melanoma…

On the other hand, I’ve never heard anybody complain about getting sunburn on their melanoma’s so there could be something in that…

If you were a weird, pale, easily grilled kiddie like me, you learned to wear the stupid hat pretty quickly. Pain can be a great tutor

Allow the kids to have the consequences of their actions. Stop trying to wrap them in cotton wool. Grazed knees and the odd broken bone are part of being a kid, ferchrissakes.

Utter shite. Never wore hats and sunscreen as a kid, ate whatever my body asked for. played on the road, fell out of trees, got hit by cars. made mistakes and learnt from them.

When are all these good-for-nothing-don’t-do-this-or-the-sky-will-fall-in wankers just piss of and let the kiddies learn to fend for themselves, the same way many of us grew up.

here’s somthing for the mix – theres some good evidence to suggest that not getting enough sun on you can be a fast track to skin cancer as well! I heard a radio story last summer abour research that seemed to suggest that people who get a lot of sun year-round – like construction workers, farmers etc, but who are careful to avoid sun-burn if they can, reported far fewer cases of skin-cancer than pasty office types who only get out on the weekend and end up turning pink at the cricket or down the beach.

My kids have to where a hat at school. I don’t make them wear one any other time unless they want to – I also dont let them play outdoors in the heat of a summer afternoon either.

I can remember circa 1989 ny primary school ( St Michaels in Kaleen ) was just phasing in this type o fpolicy.
We were still to have the covered play areas and what not. I think if I had a choice I would prefer rickets than cancer….

For a so-called ‘developed country’ we sure are incompetent when it comes to managing our health. We have little concept of health which isn’t just non-illness and we cling like the proverbial charred fat to the bbq grill in following every piece of empirical study saying that sunlight is good for you; sunlight is bad for you; chocolate is good for you; chocolate is bad for you; wine is…- forsaking plain common sense.

Still, I may not get much support here for this view.. I seem to remember the high praise from RA members here on the ‘all you can eat’ restaurants around town. I hear there’re plans to syndicate ‘The Biggest Loser’ show to Somalia and Ethiopia.

think of the hair dresser bill

Having been through my fair share of family skin cancer related illness I am quite happy that I was made to wear a “silly legionnaires hat” as a child.

They’re by no means a new phenomenon, I remember that this style of headwear was mandatory in country schools decades ago when I was growing up. with the same policy as today – “no hat, no play”
Admittedly you learned pretty quickly to remember your hat!

Although I can see why this policy needs to be reassessed in Tasmania, hats for all those two-headed children must cost a bomb!