Parents are being reminded about the importance of using sunscreen after two brothers in Oklahoma got severe sunburns on a day care field trip to a splash pad.
Seven-year-old Connor and 5-year-old Trae are currently in a hospital in Galveston, Texas, after suffering second and third-degree burns, NBC affiliate KJRH reported.
Their mother, Shaunna Oxford, said her sons complained of burns after she picked them up from the Happiness is a Learning Center day care in Vinita, Oklahoma, on Friday. She said the boys were taken to a splash pad by the day care and left to play outside with little to no sunscreen all day.
"I'm very concerned, actually, because I'm afraid any sunburn they get now is going to affect them later," said Patricia Cedillo, of Mesquite, who brought her family to the splash park at Klyde Warren Park in Dallas Tuesday.
"If we're going to the pool, we usually make sure we've got [sunscreen] on 30 minutes before we go out, reapply every hour-and-a-half to two hours," said Cedillo.
Doctors recommend SPF 30 or higher for children, which should be re-applied every two hours.
Babies less than one year old should stay out of the sun altogether or use full sunblock, and everyone should use special care in water.
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"The thing about being in the water is you don't feel yourself getting hot," said Maury Contreres, a nurse practitioner at Children's Health Dermatology in Dallas.
"So if you're going to be in a lake, you're going to be in a pool, you've got to really pay attention to the two hour mark and then get out and reapply," added Contreres.
At the Boys & Girls Clubs of Arlington, staff members keep kids inside, out of the sun altogether, and cancel field trips in triple-digit temperatures.
"If kids are outside at all right now, it's because they are probably going from one thing to the next," says Greg Parker, Vice President of Operations for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Arlington.
In Texas, day care centers can apply sunscreen only if parents request it.
