Too cold for six years olds to be outside for PE for 45 minutes?

[Married2aWelshman]

I'm all for getting the kids outside, particularly mine, but it was 0 degrees in London today and my DD1 told me that they did PE outside and they were all freezing in their tracksuit bottoms and school t shirts, also allowed school cardigans but that's it. No gloves, majority of them already coughing and spluttering as is the January norm. Some of the, crying. It's not like they were playing rugby and sweating their arses off. AIBU to have a word with the teacher in the morning?

message outsode the classroom today to ask us to send tracksuit trousers for Pe as kids were freezing outside in t shirts and shorts
8 year olds, but iPad had not been informed that PE would be outsode, rather than in the hall as usual. I wasn't very impressed with that, to be honest. It was freezing!

"iPad" ??
We had!

My 9yo DD played netball in -3c the other weekend. The only cold people were us poor parents standing watching. The kids were fine.

Actually you CAN get coughs and colds from being cold, a study I read in the lancet had found a link between lower temperature and immunity, this is why we are more prone to such things in winter.

It hasn't been above 0 here since November daytime temps range -5 to -20. A couple days the windchill hit -40.

Kids still walk to school, play outside and do outdoor PE. I believe that they stop outdoor PE at -17.

There was a scout group out making snow shelters last weekend. Bet that was a cold night!

My DCs are at secondary school and don't do outdoor PE in sub zero temeperatures- they do indoor sport i swimming ,gymnastics,badminton climbing etc
Why turn kids off sport unnecessarily?

It's a bad way to teach sport and some of the people on here are either ignorant or deliberately goading.

You should be adequately dressed for comfort and safety. So if playing hockey, for instance, you could be wearing a sweat-wicking shirt, shorts, long socks and proper boots with studs so you don't slip in the mud and break your ankle. You might want to wear gloves if your hands get cold and shin pads too. You might even want to wear a gum shield if the game is a bit lively. That doesn't make you a wuss.

But that's only if you're running about. If you're spending most of the lesson watching the teacher and her pet endlessly demonstrating bullying off it would be wise to wear running tights and a jacket or risk hypothermia along with the boredom.

Anyone who knows anything about playing sport knows you have to take into account people's levels of fitness along with temperature - cold or hot - conditions like slippy mud or hard ground that might cause you an injury.

Unfortunately these threads are twat magnets and I suspect most of those twats don't do sport.

Aibu to expect more from my partner with adhd parenting.

Actually you CAN get coughs and colds from being cold, a study I read in the lancet had found a link between lower temperature and immunity, this is why we are more prone to such things in winter.

no you can't. A "study in the lancet" doesn't mean you can! You get colds from BEING INDOORS with so many other people

👏 This though ! Cold ?! then move more ! Haha x

I just wanted to point out that 0 degrees in the UK is equivalent to about -7 in Sweden because winters here are dry whereas they are often moist in the UK. For instance, it's rare that anyone can build a snowman or make a snowball here because the snow is just powder. I go out in -20 with a normal hat, scarf and a big puffa type jacket down to my knees and I'm never cold like I am in the UK when it's blowing rain at 3 degrees.

Something to think about next time someone says 'ugh it's cold up north!'

Some people's attitude removed me of this sketch from Monty Python.

I don't think anyone has suggested that children be dressed up for an arctic expedition just that they can wear some appropriate outdoor sports kit. You know like even the Army and professional sports teams allow and encourage.

no you can't. A "study in the lancet" doesn't mean you can! You get colds from BEING INDOORS with so many other people

The link is this: if the nose is cold the virus can attach and take hold more easily. So yes, you're more likely to actually be exposed indoors but more likely to succumb if cold. So being huddles together in classrooms then sent out to freeze is the worst of both worlds.

They just need to wrap up properly - my son is currently napping outside at several degree below freezing. He's fine, well wrapped up and I'm a metre away on the other side of the big patio doors. Kids need fresh air and exercise and ours go out in all weathers - wearing decent gear. Bit daft to send them out in crap gear surely? They don't enjoy playing if they are cold/wet.

there is not evidence for this, it was raised, discussed, investigated, then dismissed. Maybe will be raised again, but not current thinking

Maybe you should have sent more clothes in? Both of mine are outside for games in all weathers but they have track suits and base layers to wear with their kit.

My 5 yr old plays rugby in all weathers, but he has base layers on & gloves, wouldn't be happy if he was standing about a lot & not allowed layers/coat on.

God another entitled parent wanting to complain to a school about how precious their DC is to not be doing what their curriculum tells them to 🙄

I grew up in 60s/70s. Primary school boys in shorts, girls in skirts and socks. Our knees were permanently purple in winter with cold and usually bloodied and grazed from falling on evil tarmac playground. Not saying this is a good thing, but we survived.
I'm happy to be out in cold as long as I'm moving. It's when you stop or standing around, it gets into your bones.

Ive been getting annoyed as one of my dc teachers keeps them in or misses pe altogether as she doesn't like the cold. They are kids, they are fine with the cold and most i see need the exercise.

When I was six I was running cross-country, (actually cross village in Bishop Aukland), in blue, thick jersey knickers, knickers, vest, socks & air-tex polo-shirt, the ones with holes in, in snow, ice & freezing wind off the moors. I loved it. I never had a cold or flu. I was fitter than I would ever be. If kids today did more " sport", running, outside activities they would not be obese, house-bound, games-freaks!

Im childfree by choice and i agree with the OP. Loving the lazy stereotyping from a PP that if you are disagreeing with the OP you must be childless

I'm so nesh the cold makes me feel sick. Apologies to those who think I should breath cold smoke in my own house wearing naught but a sack. Heating all the way. I've earned it, I pay for it. I hated PE with a vengeance. Nazi teachers.

Where I live it has to be -28C before the kids get to stay indoors. The school may reduce the length of outdoor play, but not unless it is below -20C and there is a risk of frostbite due to wind.

@UKsounding would they be in shorts and t-shirt? Or perhaps appropriately dressed for the conditions and activity. I don't think anyone had said kids shouldn't go outside.

DD has been known to go out in -30 weather in just pyjamas to see if it "really is cold" By spring when the sun is out she'll be out in -5 or so in just a dress for up to an hour at a time.