Should 9 Year Old Have Help with Bug Spray and Sunscreen?

Why not? Teach them how to NOT get it in their face/lungs/eyes/nose/mouth. That can be dangerous. OR buy a non-spray style just for their facial area.

With Zika, lyme's disease, risk of serious sunburn, etc. I did sunscreen and bug spray for a LONG time on the kids. Could they do it? Sure. Could they do it thoroughly? No. You know how I knew? When the kids when camping with scouts or whatever, they came back with ticks, bites and spots of sunburn (even though much of each of the canisters had been used). Clearly they were not doing a good enough job on their own.

This is one of those things where if you think it needs to be done, do it. Don't worry about your empty nester friend - they tend to wear rose colored glasses on how much their kids did for themselves :)

Good luck!

I sunscreen all three of my kids - 8, 11, and 14. This is a safety issue and I want it done RIGHT every time. I squirt lotion in their hands and they do their own faces, then I go over it with a stick. Then I spray their bodies thoroughly and make them wait a few minutes for it to soak in before getting wet. Now, I'll disclose that we have a backyard pool and my kids swim competitively year round - so they are in the sun A LOT. My husband also works in oncology and loses patients everyday to malignant melanoma. It's a close to home topic around here, and I err on the side of caution when it comes to matters of health and safety. You are fine and normal applying sunscreen and bug spray to your young child.

i think its fine. you can assist her in making sure she gets all the areas down and applying it to areas she cannot reach but she can do where she can see and reach easily.
i am in my 30's and i still wish someone would apply sunscreen and bugspray for me as i always miss a spot on my back or leg and then i get bites or a burn in that area.

I woke my then 17-18 yo up most days for high school and made her lunch daily. Does this mean she was not self sufficient? Absolutely not. She just completed her freshman year of college and is on the Deans List. She is in the honors college of her university which is very selective, she was elected into several leadership positions and manages to get herself to class. Do what you want. Your daughter will tell you if she wants to do it herself. You sound like a loving mom to me. People really shouldn't be so judgy.😊

My husband and I help each other put on sunscreen because there are some areas that are just really difficult to get. When it's just me and the kids, I either ask my (almost) 11 year old to get those spots or I use the spray sunscreen.

I wouldn't worry about the chemicals. Tell her not to let it get in her eyes or in her mouth. You feel safe enough to put it on her skin, so let her put it on her skin.

She might still need some help. Make sure she gets those hard to reach areas.

Just keep teaching her.

My boys are 11 and 13, this summer I let them do their own sunscreen when we were on vacation, I ended up with two boys with burnt spots on their shoulders because they missed that area.

*I* still need help with sunscreen if I'm in a swimsuit because there are areas that I can't reach. Likewise, I help my husband and we help the kids, who are teens.

As for bug spray, I'm pretty sure I was still doing that when they were 9. Kids tend to spray everywhere but where they should, including their eyeballs. There came a point when they started doing it themselves without going blind, but I didn't remember when that was.

You do what you need to do, when you need to do it. Not what someone else thinks should happen.

She's at the edge of where it can go either way. At 9, I still helped my child with his face but he did arms and legs. Now at 11, of course he's totally self-sufficient. I wouldn't worry about what your "friend" thinks.

ETA: Someone below had a good point about how much needs to be covered. My kids wear swim trunks and swim shirts, so we don't have shoulders and backs to worry about. If your daughter is wearing spaghetti straps and/or bathing suits with hard to reach areas, she's going to need help for a while.

Mine would miss areas for sure. We use a spray though. Hard to know where it hits. Back though - obviously would miss.

Quite frankly though, my teens still miss areas. I'm sure they forget the tops of their ears when they wear ball caps.

The best thing to do (and I remind myself to do this with them) is to get them to try and you observe from a distance. That way you have a clue, and can pinpoint areas they need to work on.

I just discovered my young teen is excellent at cleaning bathrooms. I asked him to help out - he did a better job than I did. Sometimes you don't know until you let them give it a go. Poor kid - that's now his chore :)

Added: I agree with JC - people shouldn't be judgy about stuff like this. It's whatever works. All kids (and parents) are different. My siblings (who are empty nesters) make comments like this too. I think people tend to forget over time.

IMO sunscreen is a group effort. Unless you're wearing a swim shirt, someone needs to help with the back. And unless you're in front of a mirror, chances are that you'll miss a spot. My kids do most of the work, but we inspect each other (did I miss anything on my face? Did you get the back of your neck and upper arms? How about the back of the legs?). Bug spray is a little easier because it's a spray and you don't need to worry about thickness of coverage. For bug spray, I have my kids do themselves but had to teach them to spray into their hands and rub on their nose, cheeks, jaw and neck (avoiding the eye area, above the eye because of sweat, and the mouth area).

Our son was doing his own at this age.
It was easy for him.
He wears tee shirts (sun guard shirt when swimming) that cover him up pretty good so he doesn't have any hard places to reach on his shoulders or back that need any sunscreen applied.
Some girls are wearing spaghetti strap or bare midriff tops and let a lot more skin get sun exposed - so they might need help in getting areas they can't reach covered
A big baggie tee shirt is better protection from sunburn - you don't have to reapply it and it doesn't sweat off and you have smaller areas you have to apply sunscreen on (face, neck, ears, forearms, legs,) - and if you've sprayed bug spray all over it - it does the job without the chemicals getting too much onto your skin - and washing the shirt is no big deal.

If/she/can/bathe/on/her/own,/brush/her/own/hair/and/teeth,etc,/how/is/this/any/different?

Heck, I wish I had help applying sunscreen and bug spray at times! Whenever my daughter is with me, she puts sunscreen on me and I put it on her. I sure missed her some weekends ago when she was with her dad, I was on the beach, and I could not get the middle part of my lower back. Ended up with a nice red sunburn there on my back. I have missed the tops of my ears at times, and learned the hard way. My friends and I spray each other with OFF Deep Woods whenever we go hiking in the swamps. I don't see what's wrong about being helpful toward someone, especially if it's someone like your own family member! Some of us don't have 6-foot long arms that wrap around our entire body, unfortunately, and DO need the help ;)

I understand that you don't want her to miss areas that should be covered and a lot of people get help to make sure the back is well covered.

That said, at 9 my now 22 yr old was capable of applying sunscreen, bathing, washing hair, self care, etc on her own.

I think there is a difference between the title of your post (*help* with bugspray and sunscreen) and your question (which sounds like you completely do those things for her).

It is great to help - even adults sometimes need help putting sunscreen on their backs or other hard-to-reach areas. And it is great to provide oversight, since she is your child and ultimately the application of bugspray and sunscreen is a safety/medical issue.

But, you should certainly encourage her to apply bugspray and sunscreen on her own, as much as she can, with your oversight - otherwise, how will she ever learn how to apply it correctly (including maybe once or twice having to learn from the mistake of getting a burn on a small spot that gets missed).

We make kids grow up too fast. Do what you want to do!