After reading the ridiculous story about the sunburn- I just thought I would see what everyone thought of either letting or not letting kids go outside on Spare the air days? I live in the Bay Area and today is one, and it is 100 degrees outside with zero wind. I let the kids go outside this morning to play (it was even getting warm at 7:30 am). I had them come in at 11am and we ate an early lunch and I put them down for an early nap because all of them were TERRIBLE today.

Of course I put tons of sunscreen on them and gave them water , but do any of you keep the kids inside all day on Spare the Air days?

I hope these kids have a REALLY long nap today! It was a horrible morning!

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I have never heard of "Spare the Air Days" ....

We go outside pretty much every single day.

How long, how often and how many times are dependent on the current weather.

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I have in my outdoor policy that I may not go out above 85 degrees depending on the humidity. That said usually we are out early. Or in the afternoon my patio is in the shade and I will fill the pools and water tables if it is hot.

Today, we didn't go out. It is hot and MUGGY. I had one kidlet and I have a million things to get done (both of my own children are moving out in the next month and I am hosting an off to college party for my son) Dd moves this weekend! DCG painted, playdoh, pom poms etc. Then my son and I had to run to return a pan to a friend who has 7 kids so dcg had a blast over there! They had a great time running around inside with the a/c on! This afternoon I was going to fill the pool but could here thunder during nap... which never turned into rain;(

I am worse about going out in the heat than I am in the snow! But we usually try to at least get an early morning walk in.

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Here is what I got from the Spare the Air website (I guess it is just the SF Bay Area)

During the summer months when ground-level ozone, or "smog," becomes a pollution problem, the Air District issues Spare the Air Alerts for days on which air quality is forecast to be unhealthy.
These advisories are posted on our website with our daily air quality forecasts, recorded on our 1 (800) HELP AIR forecast phone line, announced in local newspapers, and broadcast on local TV and radio stations. The EnviroFlash AirAlert email system also notifies registered Bay Area subscribers.
In the Bay Area, the summer Spare the Air season generally runs from April through October when clear skies, hot temperatures, lighter than usual winds, and strong temperature inversions combine to create smoggy conditions. Spare the Air Alerts are declared for days forecast to have ozone concentrations that exceed federal health-based standards.
On these Spare the Air days, we urge residents to cut back on any activities that cause pollution - such as driving, using oil-based paints, gasoline-powered lawn mowers, or household aerosol products like hair sprays. People who are sensitive to unhealthy air are advised to limit their time outdoors, particularly in the afternoon hours.

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Oh okay... I understand now...

Makes sense... I guess that type of thing isn't really common here. The last time we had warnings about air quality it was because of the wild fires in Canada.

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I wouldn't let kids out on those days. We recently had poor air quality alerts due to Canadian wildfires, and I kept the kids inside on those days, too. I just can't justify letting them out when we get warnings that the air is unsafe for children to breathe.

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It was like 90* at 10am! No way!

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I don't make outdoor decisions on temps alone. It is very humid in this part of Ohio, and it can be 80 or 85 and miserable outside, yet a 100 day can feel better than that 85 day. We are far enough from the bigger cities that we do get air quality alerts there, but it doesn't usually affect my home. Winter or summer, I judge outside time on all the factors that day.

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I live in Arizona so we have about 5 months straight where highs are over 100 and 2 additional months above 90. We still go out everyday because there is no way I would keep the kids in for 5-7 months a year . I do adjust the activities and time spent outside. From April to October, we go out first thing after breakfast and spend 30 minutes to an hour out depending on temperature. We also use sunscreen and take water with us. My dh works from home so if any of the kids want to go in early, they are welcome to go in at any point. When highs are above 100, I always do some kind of water play outside (such as a water table, sensory tables with water, squirt "guns," water balloons, sprinklers and a wading pool).

On the days there are heat warnings (usually when the high is expected to be more than 111 degrees), we don't go out at all. This usually happens about 2 weeks per year.

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I have this chart printed and hanging by my front door. It's also in my policy handbooks, and on my website. We have had 90+% humidity here in KC lately...it's MISERABLE. This chart is a good visual of how the humidity affects the heat index.

https://www.daycare.com/news/images/temps.gif

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I also follow the spare the air day and I never go outside above 90

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We are in central FL. Its miserable, hot and muggy everyday and thats if we are lucky to not have an afternooon storm to make it even more humid. We play in water 3-4 times a week lol. Luckily I have a shaded yard with a big tree over us

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If it is very hot and humid with a health warning then we all stay in .

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I am so glad that others follow this too! When the canadian wildfires were clouding up our whole city, we stayed in quite a bit, because it was muggy too and suffocating outside. It seems like this summer has been muggy, muggier, and suffocating. The one day it was not, it was 50-60 mph winds. I was excited for the summer, but it has been pretty disappointing this year

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I watch the air quality as well as the temperature. My personal cutoff is 95 degrees as we usually have very little humidity in my area. But on bad air days, no matter what the temperature is, I limit our outside time. So many children in this area have asthma and other breathing problems that it is something we have to watch.

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We have had a "air quality alert" on our weather report the last few days. It is stated as "a code orange air quality alert means that air pollution concentrations within the region may become unhealthy for sensitive groups including children, people with asthma, heart disease, the elderly, etc.".

We went out yesterday but within 10 minutes it literally felt like you couldn't breathe out there - it was stifiling and everyones cheeks were bright red! So today we chose not to go out.

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I'm in Orlando and can't cope with the miserable heat. My windows are literally fogged up because it is so hot outside compared to inside. We might go out for 15 min first thing in the morning, but after that there is no way! You are brave!

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