Are you actually going out in this heat?

[OhImVisiblyOver25]

I feel so bad for keeping my kids in (we have air con) but I just can not bare this heat and my kids are so fair I don’t like them being out in the sun for too long. Aibu for staying in this week? It’s supposed to be back to a normal temp next week and we are going away so they will have plenty to do.

What... bordering on negligence to take kids outside?? That's ridiculous. Suncream, hats, drinks, walk on the shady side of the road... many precautions which one can take when out in the sun!

Families the world over must be horrendously negligent then - they even send their children to school and make them live their lives as normal 😱

I don't quite get what you're trying to argue here? In the UK, temperatures rise until about 2-3pm (depending where you are; it'll vary depending on whether you're somewhere rural or somewhere built up). It really, really, really isn't a good idea to adjust start times back and work a full day in the heat. This is not what people do in really hot countries (I'm not talking France). They take a break in the middle of the day, and resume afterwards.

It is not sensible to finish work, in a heatwave, in the early afternoon. 1-2pm is hot. I think you tried to make out you were talking about an earlier time by saying lunchtime, then early afternoon - but whatever you want to call it, it's still too hot.

There is no reason we couldn't do what many people do, in many countries, and have a long break in the middle of the day.

Just get them up and out and back in before 11am. We have to take a Spanish approach to this and have siestas. Early mornings, sleeping in the afternoon and back out at night. Take the DCs out at 7/8 pm until it gets dark. They shouldn't be indoors 24/7 for days at a time.

A bit of an overreaction! I don't live in a hot country, but our summers are hotter for longer than the UK's, with generally higher temps (until your current summer) and we just carry on as normal. The idea of people having siestas is ridiculous. And yes, we do get cold as well, and the same thing applies.

This isn't the weather of a really hot country. It is normal summer weather for much of France, Germany etc. I am talking about practices in countries where this weather is the norm for much of summer. People in France and Germany start earlier and finish at lunchtime, before the peak of the heat at 2-3pm. This is sensible.

Obviously in much hotter countries practices are different. But the temps here for most of this summer have been between high 20s and mid 30s not mid 40s!

I really don't know what you are arguing or why you are responding to people then saying you didn't even read their posts. Bizarre.

Agree. Some sensible small adjustments like more frequent sun cream application, increased fluid intake etc are sensible. Suggesting everybody needs to hide all afternoon is a tiny bit OTT!!

in my opinion it’s verging on negligence to take kids out in this heat.

Here we go again!!! Where I live the hottest time of the year is generally when the kids return to school after the summer holidays (it's been the same for as long as I can remember), and I can assure you they aren't hiding inside all day.

I think we are talking cross purposes.

I am talking about the current heat waves in the UK, where temperatures have several times been over 30 and approaching 40.

This is not a normal summer temperature range for Germany or France.

There is no point comparing what people do in 'much hotter countries'.

I really don't know what you are arguing or why you are responding to people then saying you didn't even read their posts. Bizarre.

Also - and I'm fairly sure you know this already - when I said I hadn't read you saying something, that was a polite way of pointing out you'd changed your argument. I hadn't read it, because you hadn't actually said it.

I'm up at 6.30 am taking the dog out, back for his breakfast then out again - he sulks if less than three walks a day so I get first two out of the way by 9 am and then he's fine till it cools down later in the evening. I'm not making my kids go out no, it's miserable for them. We stay in with the curtains drawn and multiple fans going. In the evening at about 8 pm I open all the windows so the breeze can blow through till we go to bed, which cools everything down enough for us to sleep and it's actually pleasant to get up the next morning.

It's been like 32, 33 in London today and genuinely quite pleasant outside. Better outside than inside! Sitting inside with the curtains closed "on devices" all day sounds awful. Yeah, I wouldn't maybe expect the kids to spent the whole afternoon in the park on the roundabout or sth in the blazing sun, but what's wrong with playing in the park, using the shade, having plenty to drink and wearing sunscreen...?

This isn't the weather of a really hot country. It is normal summer weather for much of France, Germany etc. I am talking about practices in countries where this weather is the norm for much of summer. People in France and Germany start earlier and finish at lunchtime, before the peak of the heat at 2-3pm. This is sensible.

I never experienced this in Germany and I lived there for ten years. It was just normal working hours whatever the weather and I certainly don't remember it being as hot as this.