Let me be clear about something: Brush On Block is not a beach brand. We make sunscreen for workdays and school mornings, sports practices and the ten-minute walk to lunch. Everyday life, not vacation life.
That said, when our family headed to the beach for holiday last year, I was quietly, and somewhat smugly, looking forward to it.
I work in sun care. I’d spent two years building a sunscreen routine with my daughter from the ground up: the basket by the door, the matching brushes, the side-by-side morning ritual. We had a system, and it was a good one. And now we were taking the show on the road, and we were going to show the rest of the family how it was done.
Day one: great. Day two: pretty good. Day three: my daughter looked at our regular sunscreen options – the powder, balm, and spray (which was also in testing and new-ish to our option set) – and decided with the absolute conviction that only a two-year-old can summon, that she was not doing it. No argument, no negotiation. Just: no.
To put it mildly, I was annoyed. Me! The sunscreen professional, humbled at the beach. Somewhere, the chapter of my parenting book I was never actually going to write, How To Raise a Kid Who Loves Sunscreen, dissolved quietly into the sea air.
Then I Let Her Choose Her Sunscreen Format
I had tucked a sample of our new BOB KIDS SPF 30 Sun Lotion into my bag before we left. We were still in pre-production testing and the trip felt like a good opportunity to try it.
I pulled it out mostly in desperation at this moment, not with a lot of confidence. More like, “what about…this?”.
And then, because something told me not to just swap one thing for another but to give her some say in what happened next, I asked her, “Do you want lotion, powder, or spray?”
She pointed at the lotion, with an excited smirk, but no drama.
I squeezed a little into her hands and she went to town, squishing it between her fingers like paint and proceeded rubbing it up and down her arms as though she were Picasso and her skin was the canvas. I got her legs while she got her arms, then we switched. I did a few swipes on her face – forehead, cheek, cheek, chin, nose – and we rubbed it all in together.
Then my husband came out with his sunscreen purposely only half-rubbed-in, white streaks across his face, unbothered while asking “did I miss any spots?”. My daughter took one look at him and dissolved into giggles. She walked over to help, very seriously, the way toddlers do when they’re “in charge”. My sunscreen pro in the making.
Sometimes the easiest way to build sunscreen habits with kids is simply letting them choose their format.
What “Do You Want to Choose?” Actually Does
I thought about that moment a lot when we got home. Because what shifted wasn’t the sunscreen, it was the question.
She didn’t refuse the sunscreen. She refused being acted upon. The moment she had a say rather than having to play into an assumption, the resistance evaporated. She wasn’t performing compliance of our routine, she was making the decision herself.
That distinction matters, especially with toddlers. Compliance is fragile. It falls apart the moment the environment changes, which is exactly what happened on that day three of beach vacation. Routines went out the window, and everything felt different. Ownership is sturdier, it travels.
And the only way to give her ownership was to give her formats to choose between.
Why Different Sunscreen Formats Work Better at Different Moments
Every reapplication that day, and for the rest of the week, became a choice. Lotion, powder, spray, or balm. Some of the decisions were practical, like after a long morning at the beach, the SPF 50 Spray On Lotion was perfect for that midday sun, pre-nap application. Post 3pm-sun after nap, SPF 30 KIDS lotion and SPF 30 KIDS powder brush was the perfect combo to get back to sandcastle construction. The balm made its appearance for quick ear, undereye, and tops of feet coverage.
What I noticed, and what I don’t think I fully understood or considered before having this full-scope sunscreen set, is that there isn’t one right format for a kid. There’s a right format for a kid in a particular moment, in a particular mood, at a particular point in the day. The lotion that was magic for day three morning was completely uninteresting the next morning. The spray that was a dud on day three was magic on day four.
Having all of them available wasn’t redundancy, it was the whole point.
The Book I’m No Longer Writing
The choice question has become a permanent fixture in our sunscreen routine, not just on vacation. Some mornings at home she wants the brush, some mornings she asks for lotion. It changes, and I’ve stopped trying to figure out why.
I’ve accepted that the goal was never to find the one sunscreen that works. The goal is consistent protection. And consistency, especially with small kids, sometimes requires a menu.
I thought building a habit meant building a fixed routine. Same product, same time, same sequence, every day. And that works, until it doesn’t, which is often exactly when you need it most. A vacation. A mood. A Tuesday when she woke up on the wrong side of everything and I’m running late for my first call.
What actually builds the habit, is the consistency of the intention, not the format. “We protect our skin before we go outside” is the rule. Whether we do that with lotion or powder, spray or balm is just details.
She’s the one who taught me that. And honestly, it's part of why the BOB KIDS Sun Lotion exists. We had already decided on the spray, and we weren’t sure we needed another format. This beach trip was a part of answering that question.
The goal isn’t one perfect sunscreen, it’s building the habit.
A Few Things Worth Knowing if You’re Building Sunscreen Habits with Little Kids
Lotions are often easier to start with for very young kids. The sensory experience of rubbing it in is something they can participate in immediately, even before they have the coordination for the brush or balm. The BOB KIDS SPF 30 Sun Lotion has a texture that is genuinely nice to apply. It’s not thick or greasy, and it rubs in without a lot of work. The citrus scent is fun, and she notices it every time.
The BOB KIDS SPF 30 Mineral Powder Brush is still our daily driver at home, especially for face, scalp, and reapplication later in the day. It’s fast and she can mostly do it herself, and it doesn’t require stillness.
The BOB KIDS SPF 50 Spray On Lotion and BOB KIDS SPF 40 Sun Balm are our utility players. They're good for specific situations, great to keep in the go-bag.
All are water-resistant so I never think twice about a splash pad opportunity or too much sweat in this Texas sun, and they’re all compact enough I truly don’t think twice about always keeping at least two in the bag.
I've found that the choice between them is worth more than any single one of them. You certainly don’t need them all, they all work fabulously on their own. I don’t offer all four options every time, but having the choices around keeps her engaged and keeps her feeling like sunscreen is something she does rather than something that happens to her. As best I can tell, it's that feeling that makes a habit stick.
Trish Byron-Wilcox works at Brush On Block and writes from the perspective of a parent navigating sun protection in real life, not ideal conditions.
