Mindless educators and No Hat No Play

If you don’t like the amount of sun the kids are getting during recess tale your child and let them play outside after 3pm for the next 2 hours without a hat. Your call.

HenryBG said :

I-filed said :

Hats all year is the go. Ask any woman who spent her youth as a beach babe in Australia and then moved to Europe – they are invariably thought to be 10 or 15 years older than their real age …

The bizarre practice of roasting yourself for hours on end, day after day, resulting in thick leathery skin is not the issue here.

The issue here is that at our latitude and at this time of year, the sun is low all day, providing little UV, which we need for health reasons.

Children spend all day indoors and have two short breaks outside, during which they should be getting some sun on their skins.

The consequences of not enough sun due to the over-zealous sunsmart cover-up Taliban includes the rickets/bones issues mentioned above, plus,

Multiple sclerosis
Type 1 diabetes
High blood pressure
Tuberculosis
Schizophrenia
Depression

My God, I think it’s happened!
What’s that me dahlin?
I agree with Henry Higgins!
That’d be Enery BG, me love. And are you sure as what e’s researched heverything?
But it’s happened! It’s happened! I could post all night!
‘ats off then me love. All them ‘ats hoff.

Peak UV time at the moment is between 11.40 – 12.00 and at 10.30 am they’re still getting 90% of the peak UV for that day. Sensitive young skin can and does burn easily, it’s also teaching them (hopefully) life long sun safe habits.

I-filed said :

Hats all year is the go. Ask any woman who spent her youth as a beach babe in Australia and then moved to Europe – they are invariably thought to be 10 or 15 years older than their real age …

The bizarre practice of roasting yourself for hours on end, day after day, resulting in thick leathery skin is not the issue here.

The issue here is that at our latitude and at this time of year, the sun is low all day, providing little UV, which we need for health reasons.

Children spend all day indoors and have two short breaks outside, during which they should be getting some sun on their skins.

The consequences of not enough sun due to the over-zealous sunsmart cover-up Taliban includes the rickets/bones issues mentioned above, plus,

Multiple sclerosis
Type 1 diabetes
High blood pressure
Tuberculosis
Schizophrenia
Depression

Hats all year is the go. Ask any woman who spent her youth as a beach babe in Australia and then moved to Europe – they are invariably thought to be 10 or 15 years older than their real age …

Yes some sun smart policies are a bit over the top. E.g girl guides subscribe to a sun smart policy that has girls excluded from outdoor activities if they have no hat to wear at 6pm in may. When the sun has set. Take heart in the fact that the public education system loses interest in this by the time they reach high school.

Kids need firm limits and structure – even your kids. Young kids (generally) have no sense of time; and certainly not enough to think “oh… it is late May, UV is down slightly, I’ll be alright outside without a hat”. Starting to play with the “do this… except when…” will go down as well with a young kid as a verbal list of 10 instructions.

How about you just get on board and wholly support the staff – at least in front of your kids? If you disagree with the ruling, attend your P&C and move a motion to have it modified. The School WILL listen to parents because they are absolutely obliged to – and the P&C is the CORRECT forum.

All the comments here seem to fall into two categories:
-do it because it is the rule
-agree with OP because kids need sun and activity
if you feel point 2 gives enough reason to modify the rule, approach the School the right way; and if enough of the School Community feels the same way, you will have given your kids a good lesson in how to do things the right way. I’m not aware of any High Schools that enforce the SunSmart policies, so at worst, you are only up for a few years of this minor inconvenience.

Rules won’t change because you whinge and complain about them.

My son attends a “SunSmart” school and I think the teachers all do a great job to protect him, his mates and themselves for that matter from too much sun (this is Australia) . The school enforces a hats on policy when UV levels reach 3 and above- this is what the Cancer Society in Canberra recommends, so I am happy with this. In fact, currently hats are not really enforced at his school because UV levels are under 3 all day in Canberra. This is not rocket science people. Perhaps more schools should upload a SunSmart Web Widget to even better assist with their SunSmart responsibilities. http://www.actcancer.org/sun-smart/Free-SunSmart-Apps-and-Web-Widget.aspx

miz said :

Agree with the poster on this subject. We need sun at this time of year for the Vit D.

You can soak up vitamin D quite nicely through your forearms. My quack last year actually prescribed 15 minutes a day in the sun with bare forearms to correct a vitamin D deficiency.

“Obviously, most teachers are sensible about this sort of thing.”

Where’s the obvious part? Aren’t they just following a policy that could soundly and roundly reamed for not following? As someone else said, they’re instituting good behaviours. If the parent is too negligent to provide a hat or the kid forgets, they suffer the consequences.

It’s a good, early lesson that if you forget or lose stuff, you miss out.

Agree with the poster on this subject. We need sun at this time of year for the Vit D.

“Mindless Kid forgets to pack hat in school bag and it’s everyone else’s fault.”

Fixed further….(your welcome)

I know it sounds a little harsh, but these are the small lessons (that are harmless) that teach kids responsibility. I know my kids have come home on several occasions now, saying how they couldn’t play in the playground because they forgot their hat. It finally sinks in, no matter what age…..
The kids still seem to lose jackets, jumpers and everything else, but they always remember to bring their hat home.

As my kids leave for school every morning (during non-winter months), they check their bag to make sure that their hat is in there. They are now the ones that remind us that it is hat “time” again. Nice little life lessons.

And Sammy’s comment about ambiguity is spot on. Kids don’t understand this, so straight forward, understandable rules are the right way to go.

Regards

Bob

Yep, I’d say mindless parent.

By your logic I think I should be allowed to do 80km/h in a school zone when there aren’t any kids around. I should also have the option to NOT wear a hard hat on a construction site when under a concrete slab because nothing can fall onto me there.
I have actually got a mild sunburn recently on a cold winter’s morning watching my kid play sport, before lunchtime. It was only an hour or so, but I used my “common sense” so had nobody else to blame but myself.

“Mindless parent forgets to pack hat in school bag and it’s everyone else’s fault.”

Fixed That For You.

(You’re welcome).

cranky said :

How the hell ….

I see your point cranky, no one in their sixties now has had any form of skin cancer in the last 20 years.

cranky said :

How the hell did we baby boomers make it to 60+? Can’t remember ever being issued with a hat!

When you were kids your generation hadn’t yet had a chance to piss the ozone layer away with CFCs. Thanks for that.

Secondly, a number of you are now dying of melanoma.

cranky said :

I realise that sunlight CAN, on rare occassions, cause problems.

Two-thirds of Australians will get skin cancer; Melanoma is the fourth most common cancer in Australia and kills more than a thousand people a year.

cranky said :

But this is just more of the Nanny state.

What a silly thing to say about a policy that applies to children when they are in the care of the state. A “Nanny” policy is entirely appropriate!

They’re not making adults wear hats, and they’re not making children wear hats when they’re in the care of their parents.

In order for a school to be accredited as a “SunSmart” school, they have to have a policy like No Hat No Play for all months except June and July. Since the school holidays fall in July, this includes all but 6 weeks of the school year. Many schools choose to keep the policy year round for consistency.

My son and I have very fair skin, and frankly a policy like this is very important. We were both out in the sun for about 20 minutes on Sunday without a hat, and guess what? At this time of year people can still get sunburnt. I think the policy is probably designed for a range of people and their needs, not just your child.

How the hell did we baby boomers make it to 60+? Can’t remember ever being issued with a hat!

I realise that sunlight CAN, on rare occassions, cause problems.

But this is just more of the Nanny state.

They let one child play with no hat then you let all the children play with no hat. Not much of a policy.

Your child was dealt with appropriately for not having their hat. Start supporting your school and the teachers that work there.

If a school has a policy, it’s not teacher’s role to change it on the basis of their own opinions or personal preferences. Teachers are required to abide by policies. If you don’t agree with the policy, you should get some information together, some science even, and take a proposal for a policy change to the school board.
I personally agree kids probably could do with a bit more sun in winter. But each school needs to work out their own policy, because teachers are obliged to stick by school policies.

grunge_hippy said :

Ko. said :

You’re a parent who thinks their child should be an exception to a rule.

What a surprise.

+1000000

When will parents get that? Stop making excuses for your children’s behaviour. You are doing them no favour.

And god help your kid if you are openly disagreeing with the school/teacher in front of your child. Kids NEED parents and teachers to be an united front. They NEED rules and consequences. If you disagree with the teacher on this, your child might think that’s OK and disagree on much bigger issues.

Good lord. If the worst thing you have to complain about is a teacher making your child wear a hat, you have it pretty damn good. Is this really the most important thing that happened in your life today?

Ko. said :

You’re a parent who thinks their child should be an exception to a rule.

What a surprise.

+1000000

When will parents get that? Stop making excuses for your children’s behaviour. You are doing them no favour.

You’re a parent who thinks their child should be an exception to a rule.

What a surprise.

I think it’s much easier to just enforce a rule like this 100% of the time. Kids don’t deal well with ambiguity.

This is not a Public vs Private School debate on hat policy. If your school has a Sunsmart policy, be they public or private, then they must follow the terms of that policy. See http://www.cancer.org.au/cancersmartlifestyle/SunSmart/SunSmartschools.htm for more information. Our school has signed the Sunsmart agreement, and I am happy to support the school in that, even if sometimes I think it’s unnecessary. The Cancer Council knows more about skin cancer than I do.

I used to work at a non-government school and we were required to enforce a no hat no play rule year-round (there was no exception in June and July), so it’s not exclusive to public schools. I didn’t have a problem with this, but I did feel like a bit of a goose trying to enforce it on young people with higher levels of melanin in their dermis.

One group of particularly adamant melanin-blessed students were so vocal that I adjusted a persuasive writing assignment so they could give a presentation to the school board in an attempt to have the rule waived for students who were blessed with lots of melanin. They performed very well, and presented a very balanced argument based on the reduced risk of skin cancer for people of their skin colour, but the board (understandably) denied their request on the basis that it looked too much like setting a rule based on race.

We had a lot of fun trying, though.

longshanks said :

OK, I acknowledge that “mindless educator” was not a good choice of words. I just find it disappointing that a teacher would not be willing to apply a bit of common sense in this instance.

So because you/your child forget to take a hat, you find it disappointing when it is a known requirement for playing outside that this rule is enforced and you/your child must learn to abide by societies rules in order to be able to do the fun things.

Is it also disappointing when you get pulled up for forgetting not to drive after 12 beers….12 beers being the fun, not driving being the hat

Is it also disappointing when you get a ticket for parking in a 2hr park for more than two hour….Driving to work in a nice warm car being the fun, not parking all day in a 2hr spot being the hat

“Mindless parent tells teachers how to do their job… again”

Give your kid a hat they have in their bag every day of the school year and stop your whining.

Teacher applies your version of common sense and someone as equally whiny as you complains about it

longshanks said :

OK, I acknowledge that “mindless educator” was not a good choice of words. I just find it disappointing that a teacher would not be willing to apply a bit of common sense in this instance.

I’m sure the teacher finds it disappointing that you didn’t pack your kid’s hat. They probably also find it disappointing that you’ve appointed yourself the sole arbiter of “common sense”.

As far as the policy itself is concerned, the policy it is both good and important from September to April (the months highlighted by the Cancer Council), I do not see how it is valuable from May to August, when kids are already exposing less skin to the sun due to the colder weather.

Well, there’s your answer – find out who sets the policy and complain to them.

jessieduck said :

No, you lost me when you called them a mindless educator. It’s a policy that offers the broadest scope of protecting your child and gives them good habits.

OK, I acknowledge that “mindless educator” was not a good choice of words. I just find it disappointing that a teacher would not be willing to apply a bit of common sense in this instance.

As far as the policy itself is concerned, the policy it is both good and important from September to April (the months highlighted by the Cancer Council), I do not see how it is valuable from May to August, when kids are already exposing less skin to the sun due to the colder weather.

My daughter’s school (non-government) has hats off at this time of year, except for the more formal hat on the way to and from school. Sun hats are only worn in terms 1 and 4.

This seems sensible to me.

Or maybe the teacher’s afraid that he might OD on vitamin D, seeing as 15 minutes of sunlight is supposed to get you your RDI.

When you consider how many people are not getting enough vitamin D and risk getting osteoporosis when they’re older, (and its not just an old persons problem nowadays) robbing them of their mobility.

Chance a spot that might turn nasty against bones that brake easily.

Not that I would wish cancer on anyone but the idea of spending the last years of my life in a wheel-chair or bed ridden, costing the health system thousands, not being able to do anything…brrr.

No, you lost me when you called them a mindless educator. It’s a policy that offers the broadest scope of protecting your child and gives them good habits.

jessieduck said :

I feel sorry for your kids teacher. They are not a mindless educator, they were enforcing an excellent policy. Kids have to learn to follow rules or deal with the consequences. If they left their hat at home, they have to play inside.

Suck it up and treat teachers with respect.

Just about everyone (Cancer Council, medical professionals) agree that people need protection when the UV index is 3 or higher. There is also a growing recognition that due to the effectiveness of the various Sun Smart campaigns over the years, Vitamin D deficiency in children is increasing.

Please explain to me what is excellent about a policy which prevents children from gaining the benefit of exposure to the sun at a time when there is absolutely no risk of damage to the skin? After all, at the moment the maximum daily UV index is 2, so at 10.30am it’s even lower than that.

I do my best to treat everyone with respect – including teachers. However, this is not about “follow the rules or deal with the consequences”. This is about one teacher blindly enforcing a rule without any room for science or common sense, or any regard for what is best for the child.

Don’t feel sorry for the teacher – feel sorry for the pupils.

As someone in their early 30’s who has had a number of skin cancers removed/treated, I fully support the mindless educators that are trying to enforce sound habits to prevent future health issues for your children. Even in winter the sun can cause skin damage.

As previously stated, suck it up and make your kid wear a hat.

Read this: http://www.cancer.org.au/Healthprofessionals/patientfactsheets/Lifestyle/Be_sunsmart.htm
Realise that the UV radiation is there even on a winter day. (Extra care should be taken between 10am and 3pm when UV levels reach their peak.)
If you feel like it every morning before sending your children to school check the UV index for the day http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/charts/UV.shtml
Be glad that the teacher is enforcing a school policy that protects your child.
Find something else to whinge about – how about the lack of authority teachers now have to reinforce these rules thanks to parents whinging about silly things

Master Cholet goes to an excellent child care facility and they do enforce a hat rule through the summer months. I am always surprised however how soon they are asking for us to put winter hats in their bags – probably the end of April. I think it’s still a bit warm for a winter hat then, and still continue to put his summer hat in with said winter hat so they can make a choice. More often than not there are no hats on – kids just being kids and taking them off, not lack of enforcement.

At this time of year, I’m not bothered if he doesn’t have a hat on at that time in the morning though. I note that the Sunsmart website says from Spet through to April is when protection is required. So I’m with you OP. Our excellent child care facility is also a sunsmart centre.

OP: Obviously, most teachers are sensible about this sort of thing.

Unfortunately, some parents arent sensible and are sue happy, and they ruin it for everyone else.

I feel sorry for your kids teacher. They are not a mindless educator, they were enforcing an excellent policy. Kids have to learn to follow rules or deal with the consequences. If they left their hat at home, they have to play inside.

Suck it up and treat teachers with respect.