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.

Do they often hold sporting events at the hottest time of the day in the Caribbean, India etc? I always thought that in hotter climates this was avoided when possible.

Meanwhile in places like Dubai and in most of Asia....... OP there are things like hats and sunscreen lotion. They don’t run for long distances either. I used to run cross country in 30deg heat in top of sports day. I promised I survived....

ffs get a bloody grip

will getting a grip stop me burning? Or coming out in a rash due to the sun?

Or maybe, just maybe, people are different.

The human body is a weird and wonderful thing with many permutations. Being able to cope with heat doesn’t make one superior, only different.

My parents are from the Caribbean and they had sports day and somehow managed

Well duh!!

I think you shot yourself in the foot there. I'm going out on a limb here and assuming your Caribbean parents didn't have red hair, pale skin and freckles.

Even if said parents are redheads, if they're from the Caribbean they would've been somewhat used to the heat. In a way that a red head from, say, Sunderland is not.

CHILDREN WHO LIVE IN A HOT CLIMATE HAVE ACCLIMATED. THEY COPE BETTER WITH HEAT BECAUSE THEY HAVE CHANGED PHYSIOLOGICALLY. It's like saying mountaineers are snowflakes for needing to pause at stages on the way up Everest. The Sherpas don't, after all.

Even if said parents are redheads, if they're from the Caribbean they would've been somewhat used to the heat. In a way that a red head from, say, Sunderland is not.

Or indeed my Midlands town .

Yes people do acclimatise - I haven't managed it yet. 3 hours in 30C... Nice in the Caribbean. I've been to Jamaica and Barbados - there was the sea, and also it rained a lot so you just got in the sea when it was raining. There was probably some breeze.... there certainly wasn't the full heat of the sun directly on you with no shade.

I'm clearly such a pansy!

Mine are in secondary school. They are blonde very pale skinned and freckled. Sports day runs from 9:30 to 2:30 in a field 10 minutes away from school with no shade. Mine don’t compete in anything but are expected to sit in the heat and watch.

After last year when my sons legs got so badly burned he could barely walk afterwards I made the decision that they won’t ever attend again. They have otherwise 100% attendance. And I don’t care if that makes me sound like I mollycoddle them - I don’t actually but I see no benefit to anyone for them being there.

@picklemepopcorn I like that analogy - altitude sickness? Well it never happens to me! It didn't happen to my parents. Crikey.. nobody died!!! Oh...

Certain skin types burn in certain situations. Shocker!

I have 2 redheads and if I don’t make sure they’re wearing sunscreen they burn. This is not me being an overly protective parent, it’s a biological fact.

My dark skinned Greek Cypriot friend ignored advice to get skin protection when on a Nile cruise and as used to the sun as he is, he burned.

How anyone can discount people actually being physically damaged by the sun is beyond me. Just because it’s never happened to you, or your kids, doesn’t make it untrue.

Blood volume, plasma volume, concentration of salt in sweat, temperature at which sweating starts... all these change after two weeks exposure to heat.

Living in a hot climate increases your ability to live in a hot climate. Red headed freckled people who generally live in a cool damp country don't rise well to the challenge of a week long heat wave.

Prickly heat.
Sunburn
Nausea
Headaches

Not pleasant. All you lucky folk who aren't affected, don't give those of us who are a hard time for trying to protect our children.

2years ago my sons sports day turned out to be a scorcher, Luckily they put gazebos out for the kids and even went and brought ice cReams for them from the local co-op, last year was cloudy and a bit chilly so no need, but I suspect will do the same as a few years ago as it’s suppose to be 23 here on Monday. Infants in the morning and juniors in the afternoon. Can’t see my Dd as I have to work but will see my DS as his starts at 1.

I'm one of those 'forriners' from a warmer climate and

1. school has already broken off in my country.

1. Skin gets more sensitive, doesn't really build up resistance in average circumstances.

1. I can't cope with the heat at all! I burn and get heat fatigue faster than my then 1 year old... My ghostly pale English born child is far more resistant than I ever was. I burned and suffered my entire childhood as my mum refused to acknowledge that my skin just doesn't agree with the sun. She remembers I burnt badly once, I recall being in agony every sodding year.

I tan except my face, most of my tan is accrued from th3 school run... my DS looks like he’s been to Greece for 3 weeks, he is soo soo tanned. Lucky as his dad burns like hell. He got his genes from me 😊 they make them wear hats whilst waiting. My DS is only doing the egg and spoon race he told me, he’s not very sporty. So he mostly sits and throws his bottle around or licks the grass 🙈

Picks the grass 🙈. Not licks... 🤓

In Nigeria most sport was played after 5pm in the afternoon, after the heat of the day. Farmers go to the firlds from dawn to about 10am, then again after 4pm. At lunchtime you rest (even if you dont eat -
most peopleI knew only ate twice a day). Big shade-giving trees were planted around sports pitches and public spaces. No-one sits in the sun.

Thank you Waterlego -and yes for Dad too a seemingly innocent mole has now resulted in incurable melanoma in the brain- the increase in melanoma in this country is shocking and most cases are preventable by not getting sunburnt.

kathmacc 💐 My heart goes out to you. In our case, our dad as we knew him ‘disappeared’ before our eyes in a matter of days, he looked like my dad but he wasn’t really there at all. Absolutely heartbreaking. The period between diagnosis, deterioration and death was short. At the time, it was overwhelming, and actually has taken me years to get my head round (in as much as one ever can). But the distance of time has helped me to see that the speed of it all was a blessing. I’m so sorry; wishing you gentle days.

Our school is making the call tomorrow whether or not to cancel Thursday's sports day. Having read the official met office/health protection England advice, it seems to indicate children should not be expected to take part in strenuous physical activity if temperatures are 30 degrees or more, which seems reasonable to me - I would think the school will judge based on weather forecasts as they stand tomorrow. They do have gazebos for some shade at our sports day but that doesn't really help with hundreds of kids and parents there.

To be fair, schools may just be following Public Health England advice which is that children should avoid vigorous exercise and stay in the shade when temperatures reach 30 degrees centigrade.

Considering a Met Office warning was issued for heatwave conditions advising people to stay out of the sun from 11am until 3pm, I don't think it's that odd for sports days to be cancelled.

I assume the people moaning about "snowflakes" are the same people who drive during severe snow and ice alerts, causing accidents just to prove how tough they are...

Sounds very sensible barbarian. Did anyone suggest that was snowflakery, or is the idea that basic heat precautions like don't sit out in the middle of the day is mollycoddling a peculiarly British trait?

Hot country sports day here. We have it in Feburary. When the temps are "only" mid 20s. There are shaded benches for all parents and kids, there is plenty of chilled water, and most of the kids find the weather on the cooler side - many are still in trousers rather than shorts. There is no way we would gave sports day mid summer (indeed, outside play gets banned when it is above 38C, so sports day wouldn't happen mid May til about September anyway)

The problem with sports day is 90% of it is sitting around waiting for something to happen. I can't imagine many adults would enjoy being told "OK you have to go and sit in the sun doing nothing for 3 hours during the hottest part of the day".

Well said WTFdidwedo