Teachers not taking kids outside daily because it is too cold - Page 6

[UUMom]

Originally Posted by siobhang

,
A few years later, my parents moved to Ireland, where the temperature never got below 45 but never got above 60. and the high humidity caused a bone chilling damp that meant you never got warm, even with two hot showers and layers of wool. No wonder people drink.

I am laughing with genuine hysteria at your post. It rocks. My godmother is Irish (born there), my p g'parents are Scottish & French (from the north). I am totally roaring at the truth.

No wonder I slip on my boots and layers and get done what needs to get without the whiiiiiiiiiine.

[siobhang]

Originally Posted by UUMom

I am going to keep checking, because I now wonder if more people in the north die heat-related dates over those folks in Southern states. That's an interesting thought.

I know that a few years back, there was a massive heat wave that hit most of the country - Illinois to NY and down through the south were in the high 90s/low 100s, with high humidity, so the "misery factor" was around 110-120 (i.e. the temperature it feels like).

One thing I remember is that in Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana, PA, NY, there were scores of deaths related to the temperature - mainly old people whose A/Cs had died, people who got heatstroke working in the sun, little kids in hot cars, etc.

I remember that they did not report any deaths in MD, VA, and down south. I think this is because we are all used to those temperatures and know how to deal with them.

It all comes down to what people are used to. I saw this first hand around here two years ago when we had two big snow storms in a row, and then a smaller (but not inconsiderable) storm a few weeks later.

Normally, DC metro area people freak with snow, canceling school, closing the government, buying all the milk and toilet paper off the supermarket shelves, etc. But by the time of the third storm, nothing closed. There were fewer accidents, even. No one rushed out to by TP and milk. It was odd - suddenly we were used to snow.

It all reset the following year, of course... ; )

[siobhang]

Originally Posted by UUMom

I am laughing with genuine hysteria at your post. It rocks. My godmother is Irish (born there), my p g'parents are Scottish & French (from the north). I am totally roaring at the truth.

No wonder I slip on my boots and layers and get done what needs to get without the whiiiiiiiiiine.

heh, one of my best friends is half Irish, half French Canadian, who grew up in Boston. She has beautiful Irish skin, meaning she burns if she thinks about the sun for more than 5 minutes.

She lives in DC now, and the weather here drives her nuts. She is like a furnace - she has lived here for over 5 years and only pulled out her "cold weather" clothing for the week a year ago when it got down into the teens.

But she melts in the summer. She literally tries to arrange her life so she never has to go outside when the temperature is over 90, because she gets really sick. Honestly, she goes green, it is sort of fascinating with her red hair.

[TellMeWhy]

My kid's school policy is that if it is not a clear day over 35 degrees, they don't play outside. Which is odd seeing as we live in OR, it rains constantly.

[s_kristina]

Originally Posted by siobhang

heh, one of my best friends is half Irish, half French Canadian, who grew up in Boston. She has beautiful Irish skin, meaning she burns if she thinks about the sun for more than 5 minutes.

She lives in DC now, and the weather here drives her nuts. She is like a furnace - she has lived here for over 5 years and only pulled out her "cold weather" clothing for the week a year ago when it got down into the teens.

But she melts in the summer. She literally tries to arrange her life so she never has to go outside when the temperature is over 90, because she gets really sick. Honestly, she goes green, it is sort of fascinating with her red hair.

You just reminded me of something that happened many years ago when I was in elementary in Michigan. We were having a heat wave either just before school ended or right after it started. The school didn't have air conditioning so they kept all the lights off and fans going in every room. They wouldn't let us outside for recess because it was "too hot" at about 90 and they even cancelled school a couple days because of the heat. On the other hand my dd's pre-k class went to the zoo over the summer when it was around 100 and as we live in FL there is never a day when it isn't humid. The kids all had a blast, but the teacher who has only lived here maybe 5 years after moving from the northeast was complaining the entire time about the heat. Surprisingly it gets really hot and rains during August in FL

[mommy68]

Originally Posted by catchat

My son's K teacher said she often had children without proper/warm clothing (it's very cold here). They didn't head to the playground much once winter came.

I agree. In most schools the teacher can't take some of the class outside and leave the others indoors that do not have proper winter attire. That wouldn't be possible in most schools unless there is an assistant teacher on hand or a volunteer.

[savithny]

There was a poll once on another board I frequent.

Schools all have policies. They ranged from "We stay inside if the temp or windchill is below zero F" (Alberta, Canada) to "We stay inside if the temp drops below 40 F" (South Texas).

Here in Upstate NY, the school policy is if windchill or air temp are less than 10 degrees, they stay in. I think its sensible - at those temps, bare skin begins to freeze in less time than they spend outside, and between kids with substandard winter gear and kids who forget or lose it or just take it off, you just don't know everyone is protected.

I know many families in warmer climates just don't bother with warm weather gear. In discussions about "what to buy for DD/DS for a winter coat" on that other board, I'm frequently bemused by what people consider "winter coats." They're buying things I'd think of as coverups for brisk fall weather and calling them "warm winter coats."

[karne]

I am a fanatic about making sure my kids have good winter gear, and I manage without huge expense by utilizing consignment/e-bay. I think my DD's school has a reassonable outdoor policy, and the kids are pretty hearty. BUT, I do make sure that directly after school is outdoor playtime for my kids, even before homework. I think it's really important to have outdoor time as many days of the week as possible.

[UUMom]

Originally Posted by karne

I am a fanatic about making sure my kids have good winter gear, and I manage without huge expense by utilizing consignment/e-bay. I think my DD's school has a reassonable outdoor policy, and the kids are pretty hearty. BUT, I do make sure that directly after school is outdoor playtime for my kids, even before homework. I think it's really important to have outdoor time as many days of the week as possible.

I agree beyond what you can imagine. Our biggest problem in the US is complacency. Many people in this thread are saying, " Kids in the south are poor, they can't afford coats", so therefore we need to be asking, "How can we make sure childrens' needs for activity and play can be met at the same they stay warm? Lets figure out a way to get sweatshirts and warm coats on these kids!"

If someone on this thread can give an addy, a point person, we can at least make sure the children mentioned in this thread can be clothed. It won't take much if we all help. George isn't going to do it, and waiting around for the next election is ignoring the needs of these kids *today*. I've already donated about 20 coats this season to local shelters. I can certainly help. We can say "What about all the other children? It's beyond one school?" And to that I answer : "We can 't trust our government to do a thing, so we must do it, and we'll need to, and we can't wait for fat-ass wanna be kings to care". These kids can't wait. Spare the rhetoric about how government doesn't care. We *so* already know that.

[savithny]

Originally Posted by UUMom

I agree beyond what you can imagine. Our biggest problem in the US is complacency. Many people in this thread are saying, " Kids in the south are poor, they can't afford coats", so therefore we need to be asking, "How can we make sure childrens' needs for activity and play can be met at the same they stay warm? Lets figure out a way to get sweatshirts and warm coats on these kids!"

If someone on this thread can give an addy, a point person, we can at least make sure the children mentioned in this thread can be clothed. It won't take much if we all help. George isn't going to do it, and waiting around for the next election is ignoring the needs of these kids *today*. I've already donated about 20 coats this season to local shelters. I can certainly help. We can say "What about all the other children? It's beyond one school?" And to that I answer : "We can 't trust our government to do a thing, so we must do it, and we'll need to, and we can't wait for fat-ass wanna be kings to care". These kids can't wait. Spare the rhetoric about how government doesn't care. We *so* already know that.

You know, I agree with this, but I have an observation on this...

Growing up in a very cold climate in the 70s, it was my observation that even the poorest families made warm clothes a priority. There were class differences in what warm clothes were (wool coats and beanie hats vs. snowmobile suits), and the warm clothes were often handed down from older sibs, neighbors, or other families, but you saw very few kids being sent in clearly insufficiently warm clothes.

Now I live in a similarly cold climate. I ride a bus to work that starts in a very poor rural area, and again, I see the adults on the bus wearing better (from the warmth standpoint) winter gear than the upper class students on campus do. The coats are old, the boots too, the gloves often doubled up, but the priority is given there. In the schools, the same thing happens... there's an active "market" in neighborhood hand-me downs of snowpants, parkas, boots, and more. Our coats have come from neighbors, gone down to siblings, and then over to neighbors again. And every fall, there are bins all over town to drop off used coats and winter gear that you don't have someone to hand down to.

But that is cultural. That's the expectation that its going to get cold and the knowledge something has to be done about it. I think down south, with less of a culture of snow and ice, there's just not the awareness and the prioritizing of warm clothes. Culturally, maybe folks down there have responded to cold weather by staying inside, because they know it won't be that long before it warms up??

This isn't really an objection to your point, though. In fact, my experience confirms the need for communities to share resources and get involved...

[UUMom]

Originally Posted by savithny

You know, I agree with this, but I have an observation on this...
.

But that is cultural. That's the expectation that its going to get cold and the knowledge something has to be done about it. I think down south, with less of a culture of snow and ice, there's just not the awareness and the prioritizing of warm clothes. Culturally, maybe folks down there have responded to cold weather by staying inside, because they know it won't be that long before it warms up??

This isn't really an objection to your point, though. In fact, my experience confirms the need for communities to share resources and get involved...

I lived in San Diego for several years and worked with extremely poor families there. I am amazed at how well prepared they were for whatever cold there was in SD. The mexican children were always in warm layers. We never had a problem with children not having warm clothing. Indeed, sometimes I worried the children were too warm. I often saw children in 50 degrees (morning temps, before the sun burned off the clouds) in ski jackets.

It may well be cultural, but it still doesn't make sense to me to not realize there will be some cooler to cold days...even in a warm place like San Diego. I dont know why these children were kept warm, but some children in the south are not?

I don't understand why people would not, as a commuity, figure out how to make sure children in individual schools got the activity they needed during a long school day.

[*Melissa*]

I know this was touched on earlier, and reminded me of this thread when I came across it today:

From Wikipedia (Old Wives Tails):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_wiv...uses_pneumonia


Staying out in the cold without a coat causes pneumonia

False

Pneumonia is caused by bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae. Variations on this tale include that someone who stays out in the cold will catch a cold or the flu (which are both known to be caused by viruses).[11]

This tale was not debunked until fairly recently. As public awareness of the cause of disease increased, the tale evolved to include a number of different pseudoscientific explanations. One popular explanation is that a low core body temperature negatively impacts the effectiveness of the human immune system. This intuitively makes sense, as we know fever, an elevated core body temperature, is one of the immune system's defenses against infection. However, studies have shown that there is no statistical correlation between lowered core body temperature and decreased immune response. [12] Still, this old wives' tale, in its modern, pseudoscientific version, is still prevalent

[beanma]

Originally Posted by savithny

Culturally, maybe folks down there have responded to cold weather by staying inside, because they know it won't be that long before it warms up??

I live in the OP's neck of the woods and I think you hit the nail on the head with the above. Kids (at least my kids) aren't back in school from winter break just yet, so I don't know if they would have gone out recently, but we've just had a pretty cold snap for these parts with lows in the teens and twenties and highs in the 30s. Today and for the next four days highs are supposed to be in the 60s and 70s, though! I imagine teacher just wants to wait until it's warmer to go out.

We have coat drives down here, too. I don't know anybody who doesn't have a winter coat (although I am sure there are a few folks), but I do know a lot of kids who don't always come prepared thinking that it's going to be chilly in the morning and then warm up in the afternoon when sometimes it stays chilly all day long. The weather is very up and down here and made moreso IMO by global warming. You might have an ice storm one week in December like we did 5 years ago that knocks out all the power (for a week!) and then you might have lovely 70 degree days in January that feel like spring! You just never know what you're going to get. I have also heard Yankees say that their blood has thinned since they've moved down here and the cold bothers them more now.

I think the teacher was being a bit slack myself if the kids wanted to go out, but I imagine that she was cold herself and projecting that onto the kids.