Summer advice has a habit of travelling badly. A good deal of what circulates in the UK was written for somewhere hotter and sunnier, and it shows: the hours given for staying out of the sun are the wrong hours, the factor recommended is higher than the evidence supports, and the dangerous plants named do not grow here.
What follows is the UK version — the sun, the heat, the insects and the ticks — with the official figures rather than the inherited ones.
NHS advice is specific, and almost every figure in it differs from the one in circulating American material.
Sunscreen is the last line rather than the first. Shade, clothing and timing do more, and the NHS is explicit that sunscreen alone is not enough.
Babies under six months should be kept out of direct sunlight altogether — shade, a pram cover, long sleeves, rather than sunscreen as the solution. From six months, the ordinary advice applies with more attention paid to the bits that get missed: ears, the back of the neck, the tops of the feet and the backs of the hands.
There is a tension worth naming. Keeping children out of the sun is correct, and it is also why children under five are advised to take a vitamin D supplement all year round — the body cannot make vitamin D from a UK winter sun at all, and a well-protected child makes less in summer too. Both pieces of advice are right at once, and the supplement is what reconciles them.
A close-weave long-sleeved top and long trousers or a long skirt block more than any lotion, and the counter-intuitive part is that covering up is cooler in strong sun rather than hotter, because it keeps the sun off the skin.
A wide-brimmed hat that shades the face, neck and ears beats a cap, which leaves the ears and neck exposed — and the neck is where burns get missed. Sunglasses are worth having with a CE mark and the British Standard marking, wraparound or wide-armed so light does not come in at the sides.
Children overheat faster than adults: more surface area for their mass, less efficient sweating, and no inclination to stop when they are enjoying themselves.
Water rather than squash or juice, offered regularly rather than waiting to be asked, since thirst arrives late in a child who is busy. A shaded spot arranged on arrival, and quieter indoor activity planned for the middle of the day rather than fought over at two in the afternoon.
The signs that a child has had too much are tiredness and irritability out of proportion, headache, dizziness, cool pale clammy skin and a lot of sweating. The response is shade, loosened clothing and cool drinks. Hot dry skin, confusion or a child who stops sweating is a different and urgent matter, and needs 999 rather than a sit-down.
One absolute: a child is never left in a parked car, not for a minute and not with the window open. The inside of a car rises to dangerous temperatures remarkably quickly, and a shaded space does not stay shaded.
Mosquitoes, midges and horseflies are a nuisance rather than a danger here. Repellents containing DEET work best, and the concentration matters more than the brand; products aimed at children use lower strengths and the labels carry age guidance that is worth reading rather than assuming.
Covering arms and legs at dusk does much of the work. Bites get worse from being scratched, and an antihistamine or a soothing cream is usually the whole treatment. A bite that becomes hot, spreading and increasingly painful over a day or two is worth showing to a GP.
This is the part of the old summer advice that was right and under-weighted. Ticks are present across much of the UK, in long grass, bracken and woodland edges as well as in parks, and a small proportion carry the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.
Light-coloured clothing makes them easier to spot, tucked-in trouser legs make them harder to reach, and the useful habit is a check at the end of a day outdoors — behind the knees, the groin, the armpits, the waistband, the hairline and behind the ears, which are the places they attach.
Remove one with fine-tipped tweezers or a tick removal tool, gripping as close to the skin as possible and pulling steadily upwards without twisting or crushing the body. Do not burn it, smother it in petroleum jelly or pull it off with fingers. Clean the bite afterwards.
What to watch for is an expanding circular rash, often but not always with a clearer centre, appearing days or weeks later, or a flu-like illness in the weeks after a bite. Either warrants a GP appointment, mentioning the tick — Lyme disease treated early is straightforward and is much less so if it is missed.
Summer is when drowning risk rises, and it is a large enough subject to sit separately under water safety for children. The short version is that paddling pools get emptied after use, open water is colder than it looks whatever the air temperature, and inflatables belong in a pool rather than the sea.