Recess Temperatures

[sundial]

At our school, the only time we didn't play outside:

• when it was raining cats and dogs
• when school was out

[Crankin]

Yep, we have the cars sitting at the end of the driveways, cul-de-sacs, and streets here. Can't leave those precious things alone for one second!!!
Seriously, this phenomena left my own children wickedly hysterical when we moved to a development on a cul de sac. The cars would be lined up, back to my house. On days it was raining (or G-d forbid, snowing), my kids would go out, appropriately dressed, with an umbrella, snow boots, whatever the weather called for. The mothers would invariably beckon them to wait in one of their cars. My kids always refused, except for the time the bus got stuck in the snow and they did take a ride (I had left for work). Now, we are talking about middle school and high school aged kids! I am sure I was branded as the evil mother of Boxborough. They even commented once to my son who was scraping the snow off of the roof of his car, preparing to go to school, when he was a junior or senior. Like how could I be so mean as to make him clean his car and drive himself to school?
Oy.

[shootingstar]

The mothers would invariably beckon them to wait in one of their cars. My kids always refused, except for the time the bus got stuck in the snow and they did take a ride (I had left for work). Now, we are talking about middle school and high school aged kids! I am sure I was branded as the evil mother of Boxborough. They even commented once to my son who was scraping the snow off of the roof of his car, preparing to go to school, when he was a junior or senior. Like how could I be so mean as to make him clean his car and drive himself to school?
Oy.

Well, uforgot is preaching to the choir. But hey, more stories..

I started shovelling snow off our home driveway when I was 11 yrs. onward. Of course I didn't do the whole thing and of course, mother tried to time it so that the snow depth wasn't too deep.

Which meant we went shovelling even twice during the whole day.
Forget about the snowblower...parents couldn't afford it. And didn't really exist big time for home owners in 1970's.

And what was the motivating factor for my mother to send her children out shovelling snow, with younger ones playing in snow, while she did housework (and probably we got out of her hair)? So my father, the sole breadwinner working in evenings until 1:00 am, at restaurant could drive into the driveway properly. We were conscious we were doing for our father, not really playing in snow. But there was no time deadline. We took breaks, etc.

No, we were not paid an allowance for this outdoor 'snow' work. No money.

I'm sorry....shadow of history looms.

[uforgot]

Wow, so much feedback! Yes, I'm by St. Louis and it does get pretty cold in the winter. The kids should ALL have coats and gloves, but the parents don't always come through. The PTA collects coats and our FCCLA always hands out brand new gloves to the elementary students that need them.

40 seems downright balmy here right now. Not sure what our average January temp is, but I'm guessing it's in the high 20s. We have snow and sometimes we have windchills below 0.

I haven't had a chance to read all replies, but I will when I have time and I really appreciate all who chimed in.