A Note About Outdoor Play and Gear:
Outdoor play is an integral part of what we do at Nestling House! From providing a rich sensory environment to boosting mood, to fostering a positive relationship with the natural world, there are hundreds of reasons why spending time outdoors is good for us! As it gets colder, our work as teachers to get children outside, and sometimes to keep them outside, can become more challenging. This is likely why a lot of childcare centers drastically reduce their outdoor time during these colder months. It is such a privilege to work in an environment where the caregivers care about the value of playing outside in all kinds of weather and are committed to putting in the extra effort to carry out that part of our philosophy! One thing we can do as adults is to model a positive attitude towards the weather and braving the elements!
As temperatures continue to drop, layers will be immensely helpful (extra pants, sweatshirts, socks). While we strongly encourage children to keep their gear on to stay warm, there are few points to keep in mind. Children can be fiercely independent, and trying to force children, for example, to keep a coat on, can backfire tremendously in terms of adults being able to follow-through on the expectations being set. This is why we like to set expectations that we have control over, eg: “You must have your coat on before we go outside. You may put it on, or I will put it on for you.” Whether a child keeps a coat on is a lot more difficult for us to control (and frankly not usually worth it!). Additionally, we often project how we are feeling as less active adults onto how the children are feeling, when in reality, they are running around playing and likely feeling a lot warmer than we are. (Have you ever started raking leaves in a jacket and had to take it off because you were too warm?). Finally, I’d like to add, in case it’s a concern, that cold weather itself doesn’t make us sick (see myth #4: the facts and fictions of cold and flu season)! ☺
Of course, if we start noticing signs of a child feeling too cold, we will do our jobs in keeping them safe, but often at this point, the natural consequence does the work for us! The best thing we can do is provide the proper gear to keep our kids warm and stay positive! For a detailed guidance on how to dress your child for outdoor play in the winter, I really like this blog post:
https://wilderchild.com/blogs/news/how-to-dress-your-kids-for-outdoor-winter-activities
