Mum Says It’s School’s Responsibility To Ensure Kids Don’t Get Sunburnt!

A mum says she’s annoyed at her 8 year old’s teacher for letting him get sunburnt at school. She believes it was the teacher’s responsibility to remind her son to put his hat on before going outside on a 33-degree day.

Sharing a photo on Facebook of her son’s burnt scalp she says she’s annoyed the school took no measures to ensure he stayed safe while playing outside. The mum took to social media to ask whether or not others agreed that it was the school’s responsibility to keep him from getting burnt.

“The school should be reminding students,” the Victorian mum wrote. “I’m pretty annoyed that in 33 degree heat my child’s school didn’t make sure he had sun cream or a hat on at lunchtime.” She added in the post “ I know he’s 8 and should do it without reminder, but he doesn’t always”.

The post finished with the question, “Do you think the school should be responsible for reminding the kids or not?”

The majority of people who commented on the mum’s post agreed with her saying the school should have enforced the policy of “no hat no play.” Especially on such a hot day.

“My son came home the same yesterday… and he has a hat and sunscreen in his bag and he absolutely should been reminded to reapply at lunchtime and for afternoon sport etc … I dont give a crap how old a primary school kid is… remind the class… ‘no hat no play’ would be my parting words to my class every lunch time,” shared one mum.

While another added, “Every school/daycare/kindy my kids have gone to have had a ‘no hat, no play’ rule… Regardless of how old he is, they have a duty of care while he is on school grounds. I’d be p*ssed as hell.”

While others said her son is old enough to know better, the mum pointed out that the teachers should still be checking.

“Yes he’s old enough to know better… (but) I do feel though that the school should be reminding students especially when so hot.”

Sharing her story and frustration with Kidspot the mum says she feels strongly that the school has duty of care to keep her son safe.“When I saw how burnt he was I was so mad. Initially with him, but then the school,” she said.

“He knows he has to wear sunscreen and a hat, we always do when we go out. I asked him why he didn’t have a hat or suncream on and he told me he had lost his hat. He told me he played footy on the oval all of lunch time. I asked him if any of the teachers had told him to wear them, but they hadn’t.”

The poor 8 year old was left with a bright red scalp and a sore head which could only be treated with regular Nurofen and Aloe Vera spray. Taking days to get back to normal, the mum says she was stunned by the teacher’s response to the burn.

“The day after it happened I mentioned it to a teacher and asked who was responsible for making sure hats and suncream are worn and was told it was up to the kids,” she said.

That may be the teacher’s point of view, but most parents agreed with the mum saying the kids need to be reminded- especially the younger ones.

“Around 90 per cent of people thought it was definitely up to the teacher to remind the children and that he shouldn’t have been allowed out without a hat,” she said. “The saying ‘no hat, no play’ came up a lot.

“There were a few people who thought that at age 8 he should be old enough to remember himself. I took on everyone’s comments and was glad to hear what everyone had to say. Some people were even thoughtful enough to suggest some ways to make him feel better, like putting milk on the burns, which I never knew.

“I think my son has definitely learnt a lesson with what has happened!”

A very hard lesson to learn at that. Who do you think should have been responsible for making sure the 8 year old had sunscreen and a hat on?

Images: Facebook

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