Here comes the sun. Hide your child now!

We recently discussed how people are dying nasty deaths because they can't manage to get 15 minutes of exposure to sunlight a day. Today we look at why you should be afraid to ever expose your child to the sun's harmful rays at all.

A helpful worry-inducing article from one of my favorite panic inducers, Parent's Magazine, provides many reasons to be afraid of the sun.

According to the article, "new research has found that overall sun exposure in childhood -- not just burns -- significantly increases the risk of skin cancer."

The author warns that normal approaches aren't going to protect your child. SPF 50 sunblock only works if you slather on a gallon of it, and reapply every time they even think about taking a swim.

Tans are bad: "We know now that the more sun your child gets, the more likely he or she is to develop basal-cell and squamous-cell skin cancers," says Dr. Eichenfield. "Any sign of color means that the skin has been damaged."

You can run, but you can't hide. Those harmful UVA rays will sneak in through closed windows and give us all cancer.

What to do?

Slather on the broad-spectrum sunscreen (remember when we used to call this "sun tan" lotion?).

Limit the time your kid spends in the sun during 10:00am and 4:00pm.

Make sure they wear a broad-brimmed hat, sun protective clothing, and sunglasses.

Hey kids, let's have a Burqa party!

Germophobe? If not, this article can help

Another classic worry article from Parents Magazine: "Germ Warfare: How to Keep Your Kids Healthy." The gist of the article is that germs are everywhere, but you can fight back. The article helpfully notes that if you aren't afraid of your kitchen (sink, counter, refrigerator, cutting boards), bathroom (towels, sink, tub, toilet), supermarket, atm, elevator, pens, office, etc, then, (as Yoda once told Luke) "you will be ... you will be."

Some gems for those considering going over to the Mysophobia dark side:

• Using cashier pens: Pens provided to sign credit card purchases are "superb carriers of cold viruses," Dr. Schachter says, as are pens in doctors' offices and at the bank, and those offered by delivery people -- so carry your own!
  
• At the ATM and in the elevator: Press all buttons with a finger or knuckle that you're unlikely to use to touch your eyes, nose, or mouth. Better yet, use a key on your key ring or a pen from your bag.
  
• Washing your hands: Unless the liquid hand soap in the public bathroom is in its own sealed bag (chances are it isn't), it's likely a breeding fiesta for bacteria. Rinse well with warm water and use your own hand sanitizer.

And finally "Avoid close contact with people who have the flu, advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Droplets in sneezes and coughs can travel up to 6 feet. "

Since it's so hard to detect if people have the flu before they get within six feet of you, it's just safer to just stick to a classic hoop skirt.

Drug-Resistant Bacteria Can Kill You

Staph infections are on the rise. Antibiotics don't work on it. According to a very
worry-inducing article in Parents Magazine

In some cases, the germ can turn a tiny skin wound into a potentially life-threatening boil or abscess. In others, it morphs into a systemic infection that causes deadly forms of pneumonia, as well as muscle, bone, and joint disease. What's most alarming is the fact that this form of staph doesn't respond to commonly used antibiotics -- and it seems to be growing ever more virulent.

In a few years, MRSA has turned into the single most common identifiable cause of skin and soft-tissue infections in emergency rooms, reports the New England Journal of Medicine. One recent study, conducted in 11 cities, found that MRSA caused nearly 60 percent of skin infections treated in hospital emergency rooms.

Although the subhead at the top of the article claims that it will tell you how to "protect your child from this potentially deadly germ," it basically says that we're all doomed.

Beyond washing your hands a lot,

there's not much parents can do -- except get used to the many unanswered questions that still surround MRSA. Alyson Martin closely watches over baby Heather -- now 14 months old -- but she has come to terms with the fact that she'll probably never know how or why her infant contracted MRSA: "It's a mystery I'm just going to have to live with."