Strollerderby

It's pretty basic to me that you should put sunscreen on your child if they are going to be out in the sun. It goes along with making sure they are fed, washed, and changed. I don't know, call me crazy.

I have to say, I think the dad pulled a stupid, but I don't think it's abuse. If my sister in law can let her five year old jump off the roof of her dollhouse into a rosebush once, I think this guy should get a second shot here. I'm totally seconding the bitter separation there. My friend had a crazy ex that seriously tried to convince CPS that feeding the kids Otter Pops for dinner while they were sick was abuse. Bur?

And you *can* get third degree burn from sun exposure, although I didn't know you could get them from 90 minutes of exposure. My dad had third degree burned patches of skin, and mostly second degree burns, when I was a kid. We went boating, and he fell asleep on his stomach for six hours.

i think sunscreen is incredibly important also, but sometimes you forget. it happens, he's human. criminal abuse is a little crazy. At the most i think he should take parenting classes for the childs age group. baby didnt come with a manual, dads still learning.  (my parents never put sunscreen on me ONCE)

Im wondering if the boy had a skin condition or something though? third degree burns??

I wonder if Sarah would find it necessary to put full body Kevlar on a two year old with a bicycle. Third deg. burns are not possible from solar radiation. An obvious case of vindictiveness and false reporting, but which authorities must take seriously.

I understand forgetting the sunscreen--it's a Bad Parent moment, not a crime. And I find it very, very hard to believe that the kid would have 2nd and 3rd degree burns after 90 minutes--I burn like crazy, but I've never had anything like that happen to me. Either mom is lying or the kid has a condition.

If anyone returned my child to me with 3d degree burns, damn straight I'd call the police.  

BUT it's hard to understand how that could result from the conduct described, so something's clearly very wrong with this account of the facts.  Dad's stated conduct just can't equal second and third degree burns.  

I think there's something else happening here -- the burns aren't as bad as reported, in which case charges seem bizarre, or the burns were caused by some conduct other than being in the sun without sunscreen for 90 min., or the child has a medical issue (in which case dad surely should have known).  

Or maybe Dad said they were in the sun for 90 minutes but it was in fact much longer. A possibility. I've had blistering sun burns from forgetting that my feet (!) needed lotion too, so I can see how it could happen.

If he is convicted of abuse, it could be a pretty ground-breaking case. What's next, legislation that sunscreen must be used, along the lines of car seat legislation? While science has shown that childhood sunburns can significantly increase risk of skin cancer, I'm not sure if legislation is the way to go. This case might set an interesting precedent, though.

Second and third degree burns are ABSOLUTELY possible from sun exposure. Especially if you are very fair skinned. Just ask my first cousin who always had to wear a t-shirt in the pool. He was packed in ice in the tub more than once after experiencing 3rd degree sunburns while the rest of us who got the same sun exposure were pink, but okay.

Of course sunscreen is important.  And, yes, I have forgotten to grab it (let alone apply it) before rushing off for a couple of hours with kiddos in tow.  

I have a cousin whose son is so fair that he came home from school in Early April (in the upper midwest!!!) with a near blistering sunburn - just from thirty minutes of outdoor play.  She took him to the ped all worried and was instructed to do the sunscreen thing on his face every day and on the rest of him as soon as it got warm enough (50 degrees here in MN) to wear shortsleeves.  Some people really are that sensitive.  Also, sometimes it takes a little time for the burn to show - I think many of us have had that happen.

90 minutes my arse.  My mother was an RN and my step-father an MD and we got the sunscreen lectures enough to know that while yes you can get second degree burns with blistering in the sun, 3rd degree burns (muscle and tissue damage) are much more rare and would take way longer than 90 minutes, unless this father was on top of the equator.  If this kid got blistered after 90 minutes, I'll eat my shoes.  Sorry for the kid, by the way.  What ever is going on, Dad is a schmuck.

No "John D" I would not find it necessary to put kevlar on a 2 year old riding a bicycle.

A Helmet, yes.

Yeah, that's a bit ridiculous...criminal charges.  I wonder what else is going on.

Adam

<a href='http://adam-finch.eachday.com'>http://adam-finch.eachday.com</a>

Crikey!  My parents never once put sunscreen on me.  We lived near the beach and I remember many, many painful, uncomfortable nights where I had blisters, chills and nausea caused by the sun.  My parents were good.  They made sure we were clean and fed, but at the time, sunscreen wasn't really a big thing.  

Because of my own experience, I always put sunscreen on my kiddos.  They hate it -- "mom, it's February!" -- but I don't care.

But still, I can't see charging someone with child abuse for this.  I don't know the full story, but if it is as stated, he wasn't intending to harm his child and probably didn't have a clue that 90 minutes in the sun could do much damage.  Give the guy a warning and give him some literature stating the importance of sunscreen.

I ended up with second degree burns all over my legs after about an hour on a beach in Hawaii, and I had used sunscreen, although it was a low SPF  so I can believe that it is possible he was burned that badly. And babies and toddlers have very delicate skin too.   I think the Dad was an idiot for not using sun screen but I don't think it was child abuse.  

A few thoughts...

Dont' some medications make you more susceptible to sunburns?  If the divorce is acrimonious I'd venture a guess that the mother could have given her something to speed up the process.

Also, ever since my friend Sarah Toller died of melanoma at 30 (after having only ONE minor sunburn as a child) I am religious about sunscreen, verging on nazi, to be honest.

que-sarah-sarah.blogspot.com

There was a case recently (past year or so) where the parents were similarly charged.  The cop was at first ridiculed, but after the child died -- not so much.  So -- yes -- this can be quite serious. Look, if your stupidity led to someone's injury or even death, you would be charged.  Why is this so different?