Winter outdoor policy.

[Peacefulbird]

Hi, a question please for caregivers in Ontario.

Have anyone seeing a posting or change on winter outdoors cold warning policies. I checked the Cceya doc. I couldn't find it. Yesterday, it was supposed to get -18 c in my city but my back yard has is nestled in a sunny area so it got to be -11, when a parent picked up their child and they have their older one in a preschool they mentioned that children should not be taken out even at -10 according the new Ceya Doc.

I have never had an issue in regards of my decisions of when can children be taken outdoors but -10? We go out even for 20 min. When it is -20 when it is sunny and play a bit on my deck and get indoors.

Please if you know about this change let me know or what is your outdoors policy during winter. Thank you.

[Busy ECE mommy]

My cutoff is -12 including windchill, as I have infants in care as well. When I was at a centre, preschool age was -15 cutoff. Not sure about new regs. For cceya.

[Peacefulbird]

My cutoff is -12 including windchill, as I have infants in care as well. When I was at a centre, preschool age was -15 cutoff. Not sure about new regs. For cceya.

Thank you so much. I guess I will have to follow, - 15 sounds more reasonable.

[Lee-Bee]

I can't help with that document but I thought I'd note that our school system here uses -25 and over they do not go out. -20 to -24 they do not go out for more than 20min at a time.

I believe this is the windchill included since today was indoor recesses all day and it was -28 with wind but not that cold without windchill.

I am a firm believer in no matter how cold it is, it is still worth getting everyone dressed and going outside even if it is only for a lap of the backyard then back in. The process helps break up the day and allows even a few minutes of moving! Of course a group with lots of immobile babies does change things.

For a parent commenting on the -10...we are Canadians we CANNOT remain indoors for 4 months of the year. We need to adapt and dress properly.

[Busy ECE mommy]

The schools have completely different regulations and higher windchill cutoff due to ages of children and mobility. Licensed daycares have much lower tolerances for temperature based on ages and how mobile a child is. So if you’ve got non walking infants and toddlers, they are not as able to move around to keep themselves warm. I think we used -10 including windchill for children under 18 months in a centre. I guess it depends on the needs/ages of your group in unlicensed care. I’d be curious to hear what regulations are in place for providers who work from home with licensed agencies.

[Peacefulbird]

I absolutely agree. My group gets motivated to dress themselves because we're going out. I allow enough time to let them practice even if it is only 20 minutes.

The family or mother that did the comment, she knows my policy but, because I do not have open spots she had to take the older one to a preschool, where her main complain besides others is that there isn't enough outdoor time so, when she asked that was their answer. ��