At what temperature is it too cold for kids to go outside and play during recess? The answer to that question seems to have changed since I was in school.
Recently I was in La Farge on business and headed to Cashton, with stops at the high school and the Organic Valley distribution center, before heading back to the office in Westby. I decided to take the back roads shortcut that eventually took me through Amish Country. I often travel those roads through the heart of the Kickapoo and Driftless Area. This is wild country, where you get the feeling you’re time-traveling back to how this country looked when our ancestors first arrived here. The countryside is breathtaking.
From La Farge I traveled north on Hwy. 131 through the Kickapoo Valley Reserve. I turned west on County P and continued along the winding road that runs alongside Weister Creek and Wolf Valley. The temperature was zero and the wind chill had to be much lower. When I reached the intersection of P & D, I turned north on D, heading through Amish Country. During that trip, I didn’t meet any other vehicles. Was everyone staying inside because it was too cold to venture outside?
I passed the intersection of D and Wang Ridge Road. From there I could see the farm on Wang Ridge Road where my mother grew up. I passed the old Clinton School that my mother attended. Someone lives in it now. As I continued toward Cashton I passed a one-room Amish School. The children were outside playing during recess. It was one below zero! The girls were sliding down a hill next to the school on their sleds. They didn’t have long pants or snowsuits on. They all wore their traditional dresses. The boys were engaged in a lively game of hockey on a small frozen pond below the school. Some had ice skates and others just had boots on. All the students looked like they were having a ball.
The Amish school and sledding hill in the background
The pond where the boys were playing hockey.
I didn't take photos when the children were playing
because the Amish don't want their photos taken.
The scene reminded me of my days at Smith School, a one-room country school. We were also outside playing in all kinds of weather, regardless of the temperature. We didn’t even know about the wind chill factor in those days. It was just “really cold,” but that’s what winter in Wisconsin was like. You got used to it and dressed accordingly.
We played Fox and Geese in the snow, built elaborate forts and had snowball fights, dug tunnels and caves in the huge snow banks, walked to Birch Hill to ski jump and sled, and hiked through snowy fields to the pond in our back forty, where we played hockey. None of us had skates or equipment. We made hockey sticks from tobacco laths. I don’t remember what we used for a puck. There were no rules because none of us knew anything about hockey, except that you scored by hitting the puck into a goal. Our goal posts were tobacco laths stuck in the snow at the ends of the pond. We slid around on the ice in our boots, often taking some nasty spills. Those were not organized sporting events with adult coaches. They were simply a bunch of kids of all ages, choosing up sides, making a few rules, and having fun.
When the bell rang, recess was over and we headed inside to thaw out. We got cold, we got wet, sometimes we got banged up a little, but we had fun doing all those activities with our friends. Seeing the Amish children playing outside on a cold winter day brought back memories of those same types of activities from my school days.
When I got back to the office I was telling people about the Amish children playing outside. I was told that the children in area schools had to do inside activities that day because it was too cold for them to play outside. I can understand the concern for safety in cold weather, but I thought it was quite a contrast between the two cultures. Given a choice between the two approaches to recess in cold weather, I’ll have to side with the Amish children because that’s the way we were brought up. That cold weather built character and toughness. It seems like we’re raising a nation of couch potatoes, who aren’t allowed to do anything that has an element of danger or may cause them discomfort. Many kids don’t even know how to organize and play a game unless a grownup coaches them and tells them what to do.
So how cold should it be before kids aren’t allowed to play outside? I looked on the Internet and was astounded by some of the replies. One said they should stay inside if the temperature was below 40 degrees. Another said below freezing (32 degrees). Others said below ten degrees and below zero. I think those first answers came from southern climates and the latter from the upper Midwest. As one person said, “If kids can’t go outside unless its at least 32 degrees, they won’t have recess all winter.” Amen to that.
There’s an old Norwegian saying, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes.” So bundle up and try to enjoy the winter. Otherwise it’s going to be a long five months.
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