How cold is too cold for under 5s to play outside

[houches]

Hi there, just a bit of debate which could help me decide if I think I am being unreasonable about something.....

How cold would it have to be for you to ask school / nursery to keep your 3 or 4 year old inside?

Would you be happy for your child to be playing outside for 2 hours in the afternoon when the temperature is 15 degrees C, with variable sunny / cloudy weather, no rain, no wind? The children would have their coats on and be appropriately. They would also be running around the whole of this time in a large garden. Or would you say this temperature is too cold to play out? Or if it is not too cold, at what point would you say it would get too cold?

houches this would be a matter worth pursuing IMO. Kids get miles of benefit from being outside provided adequately attired.

I believe adequate playtime outside, access ad appropriateness of clothing was mentioned in our ofsted report as a positive.

All depends..........as long as they're running around and happy,it's not too cold, is it?

houches are you in England?

as it is a legal requirement within the EYFS that children have access to outdoor play, I tell the parents we can't force the children to stay in, nor will we not let them out, regardless of the weather.

That's ridiculous

Why should everyone have to suffer due to one neurotic parent?

Let that child stay in and leave the others alone

A parent complained in the child care setting and now the children can only go out for 30 minutes so they don't get cold. It has hovered at around 15 deg all week. The children have coats, they are allowed to take them off if they want. Is it fair that now all the children can no longer go out for more than 30 minutes because one of us parents has complained?

Hahahahaaaa if they didn't let children out for more than 30 mins at 15deg or under where I live, they'd all get rickets.

Wrap em up, send em out.

What Worra said!

Tis stupid!

how did a parent of a pre school child even know they ahd been outside for 2 hrs. Does your average 3 yr old really grasp time?? honest question i cnat remember what my 12 yr old knew at that age.

So did the child moan or is it a contolling parent?

and wait until that child is a teenager and refuses to wear a coat at all!

Can the other parents not complain that their children's movements are being restricted?

Surely common sense should prevail and the nursery address this one parent's concern appropriately.

How strange.

Absolutely agree, if anybody is not going to be allowed outside, it should only be the insane cautious parent's child, not everybody.
Even that seems unfair, if the kid was happy playing outside.

I've been opening up the French doors in our living room and letting my 18mo son roam freely between the house and the garden every afternoon for the past week (obviously I'm with him). I think it is really good for him to get fresh air and exercise and he is sleeping really, really well as a result.

Who is this loon, and who is the muppet who is pandering to this nonsense?

Of course 15C is not too cold!

-10 and wind?

It is your job to send your child in with appropriate clothes for the temperature.

By -10 I of course mean sub zero.

However,if there are health reasons with said child then nursery should be aware but should not affect all the other children

15 degrees is a summers day in Scotland!

Just looked at the forecast for the next few days. Weds 16, Thurs 17, Fri 16. Just looked also at the average day time temperature, June average is 15, March average is usually 7 degrees C so we are having June type weather right now! I am wondering what is going to happen if it really does get to 17 degrees on Thursday.

houches where are you - Scotland, Wales, NI, England, somewhere else?

We can link to relevant info for you, but not without knowing where you are

Surely EYFS guidelines indicate more than 30 mins?

At 4yo are there Reception children? How do they spead 30 mins over lunch and breaks?

Why not complain that the children don't play outside with coats on in the warm for 2 hours, then the nursery will have to let them. Until the other parent re-complains and they have to stay in. Then you can complain again so they can go out! They the evil parent re-re-complains...

The nursery can't let just one parent dictate what the whole nursery does. If they think it's right to play outside they should. If the other parent isn't happy, they could keep that child in. Not great, but if the other parent still isn't happy, they can take the fuck train to Off Town.

As a nanny in Canada I took the young children out in below zero temperatures for shortish periods of time, depending on the wind chill and of course appropriately dressed.

I'm all for outdoor play and agree with the posters who say it's about being appropriately dressed.

i would never ask nursery to keep my kids inside.

inuit kids seem to manage just fine

kids don't shrivel up and die if allowed out to play. so there is no lowest temp, especially not in the UK! it never gets that cold.
as long as parents are sending them in suitable clothing iw ould expect them to be able to play outside as much as they like