AIBU that young children should not have to stand out in the midday sun for an hour?

[UndertheCedartree]

School fair today and my 7 year old Y2 daughter was in the Infant cheerleading display squad and was performing today.

The children had to arrive at the display
field at 12.45 for a warm up for their performance at 1pm. The display field was in the full midday sun with no shade. They did their warm up and then waited for their performance.

It was then announced that the cheerleading display would start after the drumming. The drumming group were in the shade. After about half an hour I went and asked how much longer until the cheerleaders would perform as they had now been in the sun for 45 min. No one knew. Another 15min and I again went to inquire if the cheerleaders could perform as they were in the full sun and the drumming could continue afterwards as those children were in the shade. Bearing in mind the cheerleading performance was less than 10 min long and the drumming was clearly a long programme. Again no will to do anything no one knew how long the drumming was on for.

15 minutes later the children finally got to perform. They were all clearly so hot and tired at this point the performance while wonderful of course was a bit lack lustre. I felt so sorry for them!

After the performance a lot of the families went straight home rather than spending at the fair. My dd had a drink and a go on the bouncy castles and had had enough after that. I barely spent anything compared to last year. So it was a shame all round.

YANBU, that's very poor planning for such a hot day.

Why didn't the dance group bring a gazebo or something?

Forgot to say, YANBU

Yep. Unacceptable.

However, someone will be along shortly to insist it isn’t a teacher’s job to take care of children and we are too soft on them, kids don’t melt in the heat, what a bunch of snowflakes.

Bit hot for a bouncy castle. Would rather stand still in the sun than jump about on a hot plastic structure with other sweaty kids but that's just me.

@benjispruce - god, yeah! But kids like them!

No, that’s madness. Very poor planning.

YANBU, and really shocking that a bouncy castle was up in that heat.

A bouncy castle event was cancelled in our village, and the local farm park also deflated theirs for H&S reasons.

Poor management, I's ask to see the risk assessment for the event if I were you, sounds like there weren't any serious adverse events this time, but next year, they might not be so lucky.

x post - re Bouncy castles/inflatables, I believe there are actual guidelines now relating to wind speeds and air temperatures in which they are allowed to operate at public events.

There have been a few tragic fatalities in recent years and I think the H&S rules have been tightened up.

It was one day of sun , surely you sent your child with a hat , sun cream , bottle of water etc and why did they have to stand surely whilst waiting to perform they could sit on the grass / ground . So basically the question is should children have to be outside in the sun and based on that question YABU because any other day of the week when it’s hot and the children are at school most of them will spend their lunch breaks running about in the sun out of choice .Your dc wasn’t that badly affected obviously or she wouldn’t have wanted to bounce on the castle afterwards .

My piint was op that you are very angry about your child standing around in the heat but quite happy to let them go on a bouncy castle after all that standing and performing in the heat!

point

Yanbu op. Very poorly planned.

I would have moved my child to a position of shade whilst they were waiting.

@benjisspruce - I had no idea that there was an issue with bouncy castles in the heat. Naievely I suppose I didn't think the school would operate them if there was an issue. She had a drink, an ice lolly and some pizza before she went on the bouncy castle. But only had a little bounce before she wanted to go home.

@floralnomad - yes she had all those things. However she couldn't wear a hat for the cheerleading (cartwheels etc) For some reason they kept making the children walk round the edge of the field, do group high fives etc and listen to pep talks. So no they didn't get to sit down which was very strange.

Lunch break is different - it's only for half an hour in a playground with plenty of shade/opportunity to sit down/have a drink. Not really the same atall. Usually I would buy her the wristband for the bouncy castles and she'd be off for at least an hour. She lasted 10 min andthen wanted to go home.

@Hadalifeonce - I would have done but she really wanted to stay with the group and the teacher was adamant that she stay with the group and I didn't want to make too much of a fuss. I did end up pulling her out for the last 10 min for a drink and sit in the shade. The teacher wasn't happy and it made my little girl a bit on edge.

Yanbu op. Very poor planning indeed.

Yabu. It was an hour. Not all day.

When these events are planned, the organisers have no idea what the weather will be on the day.
During the run up, both th parents, and whoever is looking after the group on the day do have a good idea of what the weather is going to be like At that point they do things like slather in sun cream and provide hats and water. One whoever was in charge of the group became aware they were going on later than anticipated, then it was up to them to move the group back into shade.
tbf, children aren't actually going to melt, sitting still, waiting for an hour. She was clearly not unwell as she was happy to eat pizza and go on a bouncy castle afterwards.

A bouncy castle exploded last summer on a East Anglian beach and a small child died it was a very warm day and the air pressure inside had increased too much I believe.

Dd is also not allowed on them on hot days / windy conditions.

But yes as other posers said if she was that hot and bothered she wouldn’t have wanted to go on the lunch castle.

YANBU. My eldest gave up Irish dancing at fairs for this very reason. She loves her dancing but the hot sun and thick costume was too much. They had two fainters a couple of years back and she's refused ever since. She did make a comeback this year though because it was cold and pissed it down!

@rockbird - I think we'll definitely make sure she isn't doing an after school club that will perform at the school fair next summer. The children were so excited about the fair but we didn't get to enjoy it this year as we had to leave after half an hour.

To those saying 'well she wasn't unwell as she went on a bouncy castle' - no I never said she was unwell, however the sun definitely affected her as she only had 10 mins on the bouncy castles and then wanted to go home. Nornally she would be on them for more like an hour. Also even though she wasn't unwell I know some of the girls went straight home as they weren't feeling right. Bearing in mind this was one of the heat wave days - it wasn't just like a normal hour in the midday sun.