Parents can lower their children’s risk of getting skin, cervical and lung cancers by teaching them healthy lifestyle behaviors, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Wearing sunscreen can protect your child against skin cancers. Just having a few serious sunburns has been associated with a greater risk of skin cancer later in life.
- Federal officials also urge parents to make sure their daughters receive the Human papillomavirus vaccine. HPV is the main cause of cervical cancer, according to the CDC.
- Lastly, health authorities say it’s important to educate children about the dangers of smoking and to not expose them to secondhand smoke. Not smoking is the best way to prevent lung cancer. Federal statistics show that one in five high school students was a current smoker in 2009.