By Andrea Little
Sunglasses look great on babies and children – so cute! But there are so many more important reasons for them to wear sunnies.
Here are just five:
Active Kiwi kids are out in the sun more than adults.
A lot of exposure to the sun happens when we are children – and parents are encouraged to get their kids outdoors as much as possible.
“Kids should definitely wear sunglasses while they are outside,” says Dr Michael Jones, an Australian pediatric eye specialist. “Putting sunglasses on your kids should be part of the everyday sun protection routine. Kids get exposed to an extraordinary amount of sun in their early days and it really does have a cumulative effect. We’ve got to make sunglasses part of that slip, slop, slap routine.”
Children’s eyes are more sensitive to the sun than adult eyes.
Your kids have “new” eyes. The lens allows in about 70% more of the sun’s radiation than an adult’s eye, with the potential for eye problems such as cataracts and cancers in later life.
Encourage your kids to wear a sunhat, BUT be aware that sunhats don’t protect the eyes from UV radiation reflected upwards from water, sand or concrete (or snow).
A child’s eye will gradually store up the sun’s radiation.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says children’s eyes more easily absorb UV radiation and up to 80% of a person’s lifetime exposure to UV will occur before the age of 18. It makes sense to reduce this as much as possible.
Banz sunglasses, with their top specs – 100% U.VA and U.VB-blocking lenses, a top Eye Protection Factor of 10 and which meet the Australia/New Zealand Standard for Sunglasses and fashion spectacles AS/NZS 1067:2003 for sunglasses – are ideal.
See next page for two more great reasons for kids to wear sunnies…
