Over the last several weeks, I have been asked a lot of questions about sunscreen. Everything from how young is too young to use it (never too young!) to what SPF is best (30 is fine, but be sure to apply enough and reapply frequently). A few weeks ago, though, I started getting questions about sunscreen safety and at first thought perhaps some of my more "organic" families were looking for guidance. However, as more parents started to ask the

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We've waited patiently all winter for the first taste of spring and finally we have started to see the green buds of tulips planted last fall and this past week the weather has been warm enough to fire up the grill and take long walks, bike rides and renew our love affair with the outdoors.

In these early spring moments, our excitement to feel the sun on our skin and wear shorts again, however briefly, causes us to forget that the springtime sun

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Bonfires, grilling dinner, spending a sunny day at the pool, roasting marshmallows, playing with sparklers on are the makings of summertime memories - and potential causes of burns. Even the best parents can't watch their kids 24/7 and the hot marshmallow just off the fire seems so fun to play with ...

Burns can be mild or serious with life-threatening consequences. Burns are divided into three major categories:

• first-degree: the skin turns

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I have a confession to make. Even though I am a very fair skinned Irish American woman in my mid 40s, I love the sun and actively seek it out whenever possible, to soak in the warmth and develop a radiance to my skin that the cool and damp climes of my genetic roots didn't prepare my skin for. When I was a child, sunscreen as we know it today barely existed and most people just used tanning oils and even tin foil covered surfaces to increase

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