Objective To examine the role of parental beliefs, roles, and anticipated regret toward performing childhood sun‐protective behaviours. Methods Parents (N = 230; 174 mothers, 56 fathers), recruited using a nonrandom convenience sample, of at least 1 child aged between 2 and 5 years completed an initial questionnaire assessing demographics and past behaviour as well as theory of planned behaviour global (attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control) and belief‐based (behavioural, normative, and control beliefs) measures, role construction, and anticipated regret regarding their intention and behaviour to protect their child from the sun. Two weeks later, participants completed a follow‐up questionnaire assessing their sun protection of their child during the previous 2 weeks. Results Hierarchical multiple regression analysis identified attitude, perceived behavioural control, role construction, anticipated regret, past behaviour, and a normative belief (“current partner/other family members”) as significant predictors of parents' intention to participate in sun‐protective behaviour for their child. Intention and past behaviour were significant predictors of parents' follow‐up sun‐protective behaviour. The regression models explained 64% and 36% of the variance in intention and behaviour, respectively. Conclusions The findings of this study highlight the importance of anticipated regret and role‐related beliefs alongside personal, normative, and control beliefs in determining parents' intentional sun‐protective behaviour for their children. Findings may inform the development of parent‐ and community‐based sun protection intervention programs to promote parents' sun‐safety behaviours for their children to prevent future skin cancer incidence.