Sports days in the heat being cancelled

[LovelyBath77]

Kind of wish ours was. It's meant to be really hot this week and it will be at 1.30pm. Poor kids.

I grew up in the dessert

Sounds a trifle hot.

MagicNumberyThings
Excellent.

I'm sure when I was little our sports days were never cancelled if it was hot. But then we never wore sun cream either we were reckless in the 1980s

My dcs were at primary in the 80s. I don't remember a sports day being cancelled. However, if it was very hot, several parents (including me) would keep their children home that day. It wasn't an unusual thing to do. It was our decision and the school were fine with it. Some kids cope better than others with the heat. The teachers acknowledged that.

(And before anybody chimes in to say they would have been fine sitting under a tree or a gazebo with hats and water. . .
We didn't have trees or gazebos on the playing field! It was 4 hours of relentless sun beating down on your skin!
Not the sort of sunshine you get at the beach, or in the park, where you can cool off in the sea or sit under a tree. Or go home if you want.

My son, ran the 800 and 1500 metres this week, yes it’s hot but come on now.......

My girls felt ill after theirs today...I've had two days in a row of them and I have fucking sunburn and a headache it has been too hot for it really.

Ours has been postponed - yes they have water, sunscreen, hats etc but there is absolutely no shade on the school field and it was 30^ so way too hot, for the adults/kids watching never mind the kids during their races.

Yep they were reckless in the 80s. Probably why I've had a number of suspect looking moles removed over the years.

My son gets unwell when he gets too hot and has been rushed to hospital a few times because of it. He would not cope with sitting for several hours in the sun ( getting at the very least very distressed) but thankfully his school has enough sense to not put him through that.

I'm glad some schools are moving sports days to the cooler part of the day or cancelling altogether.

I live in the Lakes and everyday this week people have needed rescuing from walks because they've come down with heat exhaustion or sunstroke. Several people have gone off in ambulances and there have been plenty more collapses or people really feeling unwell.

All these posters going on about hot countries - they're not stupid enough to hold sports day in the middle of a summers day with limited access to shade and cold drinks!

But then we never wore sun cream either we were reckless in the 1980s

Probably why melanoma is the fastest growing cancer in the U.K and why more and more people are suffering from skin cancers.

Why do people use these threads to say things like that? Sitting out in the midday sun and frying yourself isn't a smart thing to do!

I don't really understand why the posters who are being eminently sensible (sitting in the shade/indoors, factor 50 cream etc) are being lambasted here!

No wonder that by secondary school many kids have got the message that sports and activity are not important! That's the point.

Some of you 80s people have very short memories!

I can remember Sports Day being cancelled on more than one occasion. I can also remember, in the 70s, outdoor activities at a holiday camp being cancelled during a heatwave. People were sleeping in their chalets all afternoon instead. That was in North Wales.

It's vital that we model ignoring sensible sun precautions to children. All the better to keep our melanoma rates rising. Pass the baton etc.

The song Mad Dogs & Englishmen was written in 1931. Other countries just don’t do these things in the middle of the day in summer.

I got severe heat stroke from sports at when I was younger (7or8). It's not so much the running around it's sitting in the full glare of the sun at the hottest point of the day - even with factor 50 and hats, water etc it must be reviewed on the current temperature etc.

Alexander, "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" was written about India. Not about the much cooler Britain.

Dreading our sports day if it's still this hot (secondary teacher). About 4 hours in a massive open space with zero shade. Sigh...

So the advice in a heatwave is avoid the sun between 11am and 3pm, and stay in the shade.

Except for sports day.

I still worry about my 15 year old, but because he’s been brought up to respect the sun and his skin, he puts on sun cream and seeks out any shade he can.

A day of sitting in this heat would be hell for me. Moving it earlier to the morning is sensible.

Ooo ooo can I be the predictable Aussie who comes on the thread for a bit of a giggle?

Where I live, ‘cancelling’ school sports would not even be discussed unless the temperature was over 37-38 degrees. Even then, it’d likely go ahead, with a bit of extra attention given to normal hot weather protocols.

To be clear, we are not acclimatised here to year-round hotter weather than the UK (today has light snow forecast, by the way). We also do not have a ‘siesta’ culture. We just go about our day in sensible clothing, with regular sunscreen applied, cool drinks a-plenty. As my Norwegian friend says, there’s no bad weather, there’s only lack of sensible preparation.

It’s time for my extreme Aussie weather anecdote, right? My wedding was on a 42 degree day. Outside, for the most part. Including an outdoor dancefloor. There were shady areas, seats and lots of drinks.
I provided individual wooden/paper fans.The youngest guest was 9 days old. Oldest were a group of 6 in their late 80’s-early 90’s. Everyone danced, all afternoon from lunch to supper. No one fainted, no one left early or cancelled. No one even complained.

It really can be done without a lot of unnecessary drama. I can’t help but think that pushing one’s ‘discomfort level’ a bit is an important life skill. Especially if you’re a kid. Cover the basic safety aspects, by all means. Then have at it, and no whinging allowed.

Ooo ooo can I be the predictable Aussie who comes on the thread for a bit of a giggle?

I'm an American and I'm giggling a little too. One of the first posts mentioned 27 C, which is 80 F. It's warm, but hardly hot. We do our sports days in May because summer break starts around the beginning of June. But, on my daughter's sports day this year it was 86 F (30 C) and it wasn't overly hot.

There wasn't any shade at my dcs sports day. Kids were sitting out in hot sun whilst teacher flounced around with an umbrella! Was a good few years ago now but still annoys me to think of it. Most parents hate sports day when its hot. Would be more sensible on late spring. YANBU

Just seen the Aussie and usa posts-well bully for you! Slip-slap-slop!

All you arseholes patting your own backs and banging on about your precious kid who managed to run a marathon this week in 30 degree heat and how you're actually from the core of the fucking Earth and your sports days were never cancelled

Are you really stupid enough to think that just because YOU or your child cope with it, everyone will?

Yes they should be cancelling/postponing or streamlining sports days in this unusual-for-here heatwave. People aren't used to it and heatstroke can occur no matter how much sun tan lotion you slap on.

I might be a little sensitive but one of my dc had a sudden onset of heatstroke this week. Slathered in lotion, hat, water bottle. Sensible kid who alternated playing in the sun and playing in shade.

There's no warning. One minute they're playing in the sun as normal. 5 minutes later they say they feel a bit odd. 5 minutes after that they fit, lose consciousness, and you have to watch teachers putting them in the recovery position when you call 999.

I have such a new respect for the sun now and wish people would stop taking the piss. Heatstroke can be deadly and it's not a competition to see who can withstand the most heat.

Kids went into school for a half day the other day, smothered in sunscreen with hats on. Came home red. It's equivalent to most Mediterranean countries out there at the moment and as people have said, you've kids sitting around waiting in places with no shade and younger kids who'll take off their hats and a few who'll sweat off their sun cream. I can totally see why they'd call it off

To the Aussie and American sniggering, maybe just maybe your children are acclimatised to the heat? Here in Ireland we're excited at 19 degrees in the summer!!