Age vs Playtime Outside

[seadog8]

Our daughter just moved from the infant room to a toddler room.
She is 1 1/2 years old. My wife stayed with her for a half day last week
to get her accustomed to the new room.

She was very upset when the teacher took the kids out to the playground
for 2 hours without water.

I was wondering if anyone knew if there were laws that listed the time
allowed for each age group to be outside . Even 2 hrs with water
seems like a very long time for 1 year olds.

I searched online for laws about this but couldn't find anything.
thanks.
Carl

[Thriftylady]

I don't know about laws. I usually will take the kids outside and if they ask for drinks we come in and get drinks. I think it also depends on the temps and such. Is your daughter able to communicate that she is thirsty? It doesn't hurt to talk to the teachers about it, they may have lost track of time or something. Also there may be a new teacher in the room that was unaware of policies or whatever. I think that open communication is the key, if you see something, it isn't horrible to ask about it, try not to be accusing though, noone likes to feel accused.

[daycare]

What state are you in?

In CA we are required to make water accessible to the children at all times.
I require each child being a reusable water container from home and we fill them each morning and then again throughout the day.

When the state comes to inspect they check to see if they have access to water.

[Blackcat31]

What was the temp outside?

What was the weather like?

Why would she sit with your DD for 2 hours and not go get her some water herself if she was upset about her not being provided any?

As a parent, if I was seriously concerned about my child being dehydrated or in need of water, I am going to go get her some no matter where I'm at.

Did your wife ask the teachers what their normal outdoor procedures are? If she did, what did they say about it?

Have you been back and left your child? Did your wife stay again?

[Cradle2crayons]

My thought is... maybe because the mom stayed there for all that time they assumed SHE would go get her child some water?

Where I live, due to the high humidity and heat indexes, I am very careful on how long we are outside... the time of the day.... the age and medical condition of the child... and having access to fluids and shade as well as sunblock etc.

If the temp was in the 60's... I likely would take them outside right after a meal or a snack and yes... I may wait until we get back inside to give them a drink and yes... it may possibly be 2 hours between drinks.

However, weather like that here is few and far between.

I agree with others... if your wife was THAT concerned, why didn't SHE get the child some water? ask questions? ask to talk to the teacher or director the next morning at drop off? anything?

[seadog8]

thanks for all of the replies to my post.

to answer some of the questions. I think the weather was about 75 deg.
My daughter is 1 so she wasn't able to communicate about being thirsty.
Not sure why my wife didn't go inside and get water, but she did communicate with the lady that was backing up the director who was on vacation. The lady
told her she would have to talk to the teacher about her schedule.

I'm planning on meeting with the director today to discuss the issue.

[Josiegirl]

Honestly, to me 2 hours outside without water sounds like quite awhile. We're outside as much as we can be, weather permitting, but it seems like we're always in and out, either for diaper changes, potty breaks, or thirsty kids. But I'm a home daycare as opposed to a center.

I guess if the center allowed your wife to stay there for half a day, that's normal. I'd have issue with that though; it disrupts everything while taking care of children. I'd be more focused(maybe that's not the right word I'm looking for, distracted I guess) on a parent than the kids and that's not the way it should be. I know that's not the issue of your topic. Sorry.

[rosieteddy]

I take all ages of children out 10am-12pm everyday.The children have a large cup 8oz of water at 10:00 .We do not go in and out they are able to play and wait to use the bathroom.Of course if they really need to go or its extremly hot we come back in use the bathroom and get drinks.Infants are often fed their bottles outside. I have been doing this job for 30+years and haven't lost anyone yet.

[cheerfuldom]

I guess this wouldnt bother me at all, provided they where offered drinks and food on a reasonable schedule for the rest of the day.