Your child's first Greek summer: sun and heat without the drama

If you grew up in Manchester, Hamburg or Toronto, nothing prepared you for July in Greece. The light is beautiful and the sea is warm, and by one o'clock the pavement is too hot for a small hand.

Greeks have managed this for a few thousand years. Their main trick is simple: they go indoors at midday.

The midday rule

The AAP advises limiting sun between 10:00 and 16:00, when the UV rays are strongest. In Greece this has a name, mesimeri, and the whole country shuts for it. Shops close. Children nap. The beach empties at one and fills again at five.

Follow the locals. Beach in the morning until about eleven, lunch and sleep at home, back out in the late afternoon. Your child gets the sea and misses the worst of the sun and the heat. This one habit does a lot of the work.

Under 6 months

Keep babies younger than 6 months out of direct sunlight. Shade from a tree, an umbrella or the pram canopy. Light clothing that covers arms and legs, and a hat with a brim.

If shade is truly not possible, the AAP says a small amount of sunscreen on small areas such as the face is acceptable.

In the heat, a baby under 6 months should not be given water. Offer the breast more often, or extra breast milk or formula in the bottle.

6 months and up

• Sunscreen: broad-spectrum, SPF at least 15 and up to 50. Reapply every 2 hours, and after swimming, sweating or towelling off.
• Clothes: cool, loose and covering where possible. A long-sleeved swim top saves a lot of arguing about cream.
• Hat: a brim all the way round, wide enough to shade the face, ears and back of the neck.
• Sunglasses with at least 99% UV protection, if your child will keep them on.
• Water, often. Have it to hand and offer it before they ask.

Heat is a separate problem from sun

A child can overheat in full shade. Children sweat less than adults and can become unwell quickly.

• Dress them in light-coloured, loose clothing.
• Keep the house cool: shutters closed through the day, as every Greek household does.
• Move running about and sport to the cooler ends of the day.
• Never leave a child alone in a car. Not with the window down, not for one minute. The inside of a parked car becomes dangerous fast.

When to get help

Call your child's doctor if, after time in the heat, your child faints, seems confused or uncoordinated, has a severe headache, a fever, intense thirst, has not passed urine for many hours, is vomiting, is breathing abnormally, or has muscle spasms.

If your child is hard to wake, not making sense, or struggling to breathe, call 112.

One more thing

You will see Greek toddlers in the square at eleven at night in August, wide awake, eating ice cream. They slept from two till five. That is not bad parenting. It is how a hot country fits a child's day around the sun.