I am amazed at the progress in the field of public health awareness over the last couple of decades. It’s heartening to see that health information is much more accessible and easy to understand nowadays. And this includes awareness for our children!
That’s why I love that the AAD (American Academy of Dermatology) has a website dedicated for teaching the younger generation about skin and skin care at http://www.kidsskinhealth.org/kids/index.html. A news release by the AAD in 2009 said the website was “created by dermatologists to let kids learn how to practice good skin care virtually, or risk the consequences of pimples, greasy hair, poison ivy rash, and sunburn.”
The website discusses everything from birthmarks to tattoos to bug bites, as well as how to take care of your hair and hangnails, ingrown nails and nail biting. My personal favorite, which I played around with a little, is a game called “It’s a Skin Cell’s Life”!
This game is really fun! It starts out with Sammy, the skin cell, who walks you through the game and tells you how to earn points by taking caring of your skin, and you can then use these points to buy skin care products. There is also a skin care quiz and a game of pairs and scrubbles, which by the way, I am finding extremely hard to figure out. I’m worried I might be losing my powers!
The game aims to teach children about the importance of such things as washing your face and applying sun screen, and the role of medicine in treating skin problems, such as acne. It even goes a little bit into skin cancer.
Just as proper diet, exercise, and sleep are important, it’s never too early to start talking care of your skin!
This website was actually created after the AAD surveyed mothers and children about what they would like to see on a website dedicated to children. So, let us know if you liked it or not!
Thank you for reading.