s/o heat and kids playing outside?

[littleWMN]

At what point do you keep the kids inside? It's 95 right now and my two oldest (elementary aged) are outside playing right now. They have water and are playing in a little pool at a neighbor's house. My oldest will play outside in ANY kind of weather. My middle two are much more finicky.

 

Just curious... how hot before you keep them inside?

 

Kids will be playing baseball in this heat all summer (heat indeces over 100). THAT scares me, but perhaps because I'm not used to it? My oldest three are girls and not much into sports.

[july19]

My son is a sweat-er....he sweats in the wintertime, I swear. And he feels it, too - he gets very nauseous when he's out in the elements too long. Even while maintaining a good hydration level, he simply cannot stand it. He also has a severe allergic reaction to mosquitoes and has eczema, so a lot of excess sweat brings the rash on worse.

 

Sorry, I'm rambling today. To answer the question, anything above 90F, I have him stay in.

 

I think it really depends on the child. As a kid, I could play in 100+ degree softball games for hours. My husband, too. But my mom is like my son, she is a fast sweat-er and then promptly needs to lose her lunch.

[eternalknot]

I never keep mine inside if they want to be out. I just make sure they stay hydrated, and for my white kid I make sure he's wearing a hat to protect his face.

[regentrude]

As long as my kids WANT to play outside, they may. I make sure they have access to drinking water and remind them to drink. If it gets too hot for them, they will want to come inside.

It is 96 here right now. DS just spent four hours at the park in a creek. DD is off to the barn to ride horses and do farm chores.

[Mommy22alyns]

It's been mid-90s and humid here. The girls are like me and hate it when it's hot outside. We let them stay in unless they're swimming. We need to go get our little pool for this year.

[Cera]

I don't make them go out if it is over 100 but I don't keep them in if they want to go out.

 

Their play is different when it is very hot. They will sit in the woods and play pretend rather than run around.

[littleWMN]

Okay, thanks, I feel better. :)

 

I meant to say our summers are like this (we are in the south) and I've never blinked at letting oldest stay outside and play. I remind her to drink water and she's very pale so she wears sunscreen too.

 

I've been reading the others posts and thought maybe I needed to be more cautious. My middle two would rather stay inside so I have to make them play outside sometimes (but don't if it's too hot or too cold).

[Parrothead]

The only time I limited outside play was when we were in AZ. During the dog days of summer if dd was not in the pool she was inside.

[justamouse]

For the most part, we're out every day. Now, I must say, since we have the pool, even on the worst of days they're out there splashing and playing (I'm either being a lifeguard or swimming with them). But even when we didn't have a pool, we had a sprinkler and they would ride their bikes and just play all day. I would just make sure they were hydrated.

[littleWMN]

I dream of a pool! We've talked about it. But my 5 year old has special needs (cognitive) and I just don't think it's a good idea for us for that reason.

 

We do sprinklers and last year we had one of those blow up waterslides. Was super fun! :)

[ChristusG]

It just depends on the kids. My two really do not care for the heat. They don't like to play outside in it. And when they do, they want me to sit out there in a chair and watch them. Sorry, Mommy doesn't really do 100 degree heat. So mostly, they choose to play inside during the summer months. But we do have a pool and they swim for about an hour each day.

[Pretty in Pink]

My boys are out most every day regardless of the temp. I do try to keep them indoors between ten and two when the UV index is supposedly at its highest. Beyond that I just make sure they take a water bottle and refill frequently.

[tkdkidsmom]

:iagree:

 

On super hot days they are out in the morning and again in the late afternoon when we have some shade in our yard.

[mamachanse]

We hibernate here from June through August. We are in AZ. :001_smile: Usually 90* and under we can handle.

[Chelli]

I have a three-fold reason that my kids don't go outside during the summer until about 5:30 pm until dark, unless we are in a pool (but even then we are out by noon).

First, we live in south Texas and pretty much every day is a UV day. Since my kids have a lot of Irish in them (thanks to my fam), Irish + intense sun = skin cancer.

Second, the mornings and afternoons are HOT, but in the early evening until dark the breezes kick up, the live oak shade covers the backyard, and all is good (except mosquitos, but that's easily solved).

Third, my oldest dd is like her mom...we don't sweat, just pass out. While my friends in school thought this was the greatest blessing ever, I've hit the deck quite a bit in my life. My dd7 has already passed out twice in her life from getting too hot (she hasn't learned to recognize the signs yet), so it's just easier to keep her in.

[Joyofsixreboot]

Mine go out whether it's 100 or -10. They are dressed appropriately and have water. Mine spent a good part of the day in the kiddie pool and running between the swing and trampoline. I'm not sure where the 10 yo was but he came home and had been swimming in his shorts.

[Cricket]

The only time I limited outside play was when we were in AZ. During the dog days of summer if dd was not in the pool she was inside.

 

We attended a 4th of July picnic one summer and it was 116 that day. As long as you stay wet, stay in the shade and drink A LOT, it's tolerable. We like to attend the rookie league baseball games. This year someone got the bright idea to start the July and August games at 11 a.m. :confused: It was bad enough to attend games at 7 p.m. and still 110 degrees! I think we will be skipping a few this year.

 

ETA: Our dc are usually inside unless they are in the pool as well!

[Wheres Toto]

I don't judge just by temperature but by other factors. For the next two days we have Code Orange Air Quality Warnings and Heat Advisories. The air quality warnings are a nightmare with my asthma and my kids are currently too young to be outside without me so the next few days we won't spend much time outside. When it's really hot we will still go outside as long as we can be in the pool. We will avoid the hottest/sunniest parts of the day because my kids are both blond hair and blue/hazel eyes with very fair skin.

 

Right now our yard is all torn up and our fences are missing so we don't spend a lot of time there - if we're outside it's at the playground or the pool.

[Maverick_Mom]

My kids and I have different levels of heat tolerance. I start to get cranky when the temperature reaches 80; at 90, they're excited because they can play in the stream or run through the sprinkler.

 

So as long as they want to play outside at higher temps, I don't mind. But I do keep an eye on them and make sure they're not outside too long without a break.

[melmichigan]

Well my kids weren't out today. We have a heat advisory, now at 20 minutes to nine at night the heat index just went down to 90 degrees. My kids aren't yet acclimated to the heat and humidity we have been having over the last few days, you'd think it was August already. As the summer continues and they are out more then it doesn't affect them as much. The olders go to summer day camp starting the end of June. :party:They are out all day then.

[Peela]

It gets well over 100 degreesF here for weeks on end each summer- I have never considered "making" my kids come inside. As long as they are not getting too sunburned or dehydrated, theres no problem I can see.

[Pamela H in Texas]

I figure we played outside in it, the kids can also.

 

Now, air quality is another matter. Earlier or later in the day may need to be done on more problematic days. Obviously what is problematic may depend on the child.

Edited June 8, 2011 by 2J5M9K

[Dmmetler]

My DD really can't handle heat well-it takes almost nothing for her to become flushed and nauseous. So I look for indoor play options-and take advantage of them. On a really hot day, I figure that there are worse things than Chick-fil-A :).

[WiseOwlKnits]

I usually keep the kids inside if it's over 90-95. Having said that, DD is going to camp this week and it's outside 7:45-3:15 all week. It's been over 100 degrees all week so I'm a little worried about her being outside in that heat for that long.

[mamalbh]

We don't have any weather restrictions for playing outside.

 

I have a simple heat solution - a spray bottle. Seriously, most kids don't drink nearly enough when it's hot, BUT they enjoy spraying each other & being even a tiny bit wet makes a HUGE difference in how one feels in the heat. If I don't want to deal with wet clothes we fill up a large sandbox with water & they play their toys in it (even my 9yo enjoys it) - just their hands being wet helps.