Recess Temperatures

[Jolt]

Holy crap. Kids are definitely being turned into a bunch of wimps. I was in elementary school in the early '90s and never remember being kept inside due to cold temperatures (grades K-2 in Virginia, 3-5 in Massachusetts). At my school in Westwood, MA we also were outside in the mornings after arriving on the bus, until the actual start of school. The only times I recall being inside (in the cafeteria) is if it was raining, not if it was cold out. We just made sure to have warm clothing and snow boots when needed, and had fun playing until it was time to go in. We also had TWO recesses--one 15-minute morning one, and a half-hour one after lunch. I wonder if that school still does...probably not. On a related subject, who else has noticed that now the school buses stop at every kid's house to pick up/drop off rather than having just one bus stop for each neighborhood? Or is that just around here? It drives me crazy--holds up traffic bigtime, definitely not environmentally friendly b/c of all the idling and slow driving it creates (at a time when one would think that would be a consideration), and since when can kids not walk a block or two to the bus stop? Especially when we need to be helping them get MORE physical activity, most definitely not less!!

[OakLeaf]

Weeeeellll, I don't think kids should be walking on roads with no sidewalks, to wait in someone else's lane or yard. It's unnerving enough for me, as an adult, to run on rural roads. I wouldn't walk my dogs on the road leashed, when I had dogs, and if I had kids I certainly wouldn't allow them to walk in it. To me, that's a completely different issue from whether they go outside at recess, and whether their parents have to drive them a quarter mile (or less) down the lane and sit with their cars idling until the bus gets there.

[Jolt]

Weeeeellll, I don't think kids should be walking on roads with no sidewalks, to wait in someone else's lane or yard. It's unnerving enough for me, as an adult, to run on rural roads. I wouldn't walk my dogs on the road leashed, when I had dogs, and if I had kids I certainly wouldn't allow them to walk in it. To me, that's a completely different issue from whether they go outside at recess, and whether their parents have to drive them a quarter mile (or less) down the lane and sit with their cars idling until the bus gets there.

You bring up a valid point about roads without sidewalks, but the thing is that some of the places where I've seen this had perfectly good sidewalks. That's when it's really ridiculous.

[Tri Girl]

Don't you kinda think we're all becoming spoiled rotten candy a*#@s who are all a bit wimpy. Think of what our ancestors of 100+ years ago would say to us if we could talk to them right now. They lived without electricity, air conditioning (or heating for that matter), fast transportation (unless a buggy was fast), telephones, internet, etc etc.
I suppose the longer we're on this planet and the more technology we have- the wimpier we ALL get.
I'm glad I was born in this era- I don't think I would have lasted a week in the 17 or 1800's.

[Jolt]

Don't you kinda think we're all becoming spoiled rotten candy a*#@s who are all a bit wimpy. Think of what our ancestors of 100+ years ago would say to us if we could talk to them right now. They lived without electricity, air conditioning (or heating for that matter), fast transportation (unless a buggy was fast), telephones, internet, etc etc.
I suppose the longer we're on this planet and the more technology we have- the wimpier we ALL get.

I completely agree! And even now, many other people in the world still live without those things--and yet we're the ones who complain the most when things don't go the way we want them to, while the people in some of the poorest countries often seem to have the best attitudes. Not to say that all our technology etc. doesn't have some major benefits--it does (better medical care etc. for example) and it's just plain nice to have. However, it has the down side that it allows us to be wimps and to become a really inactive society that has a lot of preventable chronic disease.

[Cataboo]

You guys are acting like it's impossible to turn off your air conditioning or turn down your heat and put a few sweaters on. I never use my air conditioning despite 90-100 degree summers & 90+% humidity around here. I don't see the point in spending a couple hundred a month on electricity for air conditioning. I see the point in my pipes not freezing for heating though. I've lived in various places that were impossible to heat and I just made sure to have a ton of clothing layers on and several down blankets on the bed.

Yes, it is impossible to do without my internet access.

I can't really remember what temperatures we were allowed outside in for recess when I was young, but I'm fairly certain the standards weren't so hardcore in Virginia. We had a great big gymnasium, and I know there were days that we had recess in the gym playing dodgeball, playing with a big huge parachute, gymnastics, rhymthic gymnastics, and square dancing. I still had a lot of fun. As far as I know, I am not a fragile lily because of my time spent indoors.

middle school - we had to change into these ridiculous shorts & t shirts for gym and we didn't go outside if it was cold - we played basketball, line danced, did gymnastics or wrestled.

High school - we only had to take 2 years of gym, I think. We all severely disliked one gym teacher because he used to force us to go out and run laps when it was cold (those shorts & t shirt gym uniforms were not very warm) But otherwise, we did a lot of indoor sports in the gyms when it got cold.


If you've got a big indoor gym with lots of active things for kids to be doing... I really don't see anything wrong with indoor recess when it's cold or wet.

[OakLeaf]

In my area, public elementary schools aren't built with gyms any more (unless they're multi-use buildings, in which case recess would probably be too close to lunchtime to be able to get all the tables removed and set up again). There's no more PE in the schools (and league athletics are pay-to-play).

Not sure what it has to do with this thread - but doing without AC in high humidity means doing away with carpeting and draperies (and possibly even drywall). That's fine if you're building a new house or moving into an existing one that was built with high humidity in mind, but not even remotely an option for someone who can't afford their electric bills. We hadn't been in our house a year when Charley/Jeanne/Francis/Ivan hit, and didn't understand this. Oh, man, do I regret replacing the damaged carpet with new carpet.

[Veronica]

If you've got a big indoor gym with lots of active things for kids to be doing... I really don't see anything wrong with indoor recess when it's cold or wet.

What is a gym? New public elemantary schools aren't built with them.

All of you have no concept of being "on" for four and a half hours. Imagine you are a lifeguard and you must watch the pool for four and a ahlf hours without a break.

Having been a lifeguard I can tell you that being an elementay teacher requires much the same vigilance.

Veronica