Keeping it Cool

www.fridayschildmontessori.com

It’s been so hot lately!

We hope you’ve all been managing to

cope with it and even enjoy it.

The hot climate is one reason why a

lot of people choose to live on the

Gold Coast.

We certainly hope that you’ve been

able to get some time off work so that

you can go swimming with your

children, either at the beach or in the

pool.

Children can often get grumpy when

they’re hot, especially when it’s humid

as well as hot.

The human body, especially bodies

that have European ancestry, still

doesn’t seem to have got over the Ice

Age and we seem to have more

physical mechanisms to cope with

cold than we do for coping with

extreme heat.

As parents, we’ve probably read all

the advice and all the rest of it written

in colder climates that talks about the

importance of wrapping small people

up warmly because little bodies lose

heat quickly

(although this might be a matter of

debate – this writer once lived in a

colder climate and saw a small child

trying to run around outside in his

underpants in the sleet and howled in

protest when his mother tried to put

warmer clothes on him and/or bring

him in out of the cold).

But forget about all that in the heat.

Choose clothes that let heat escape

rather than trapping body heat.

If you have a small baby and he/or

she is indoors, you might want to let

him/her go around in just a nappy

and nothing else (incidentally, cloth

nappies are cooler than leak-proof

disposables).

You should ensure that your children

are protected from the sun, but look

out for loose styles, and light natural

fabrics like cotton and linen (silk’s a

bit too fine for busy kids).

Ideally, summer clothes should be in

lighter colours that reflect the sun’s

rays a bit more than darker ones, but

these show the dirt very easily – you

have been warned.

Apart from clothes, what can you do

to help your children stay cool (in

both senses of the word) when the

temperatures are soaring?

The following ideas might be helpful.

1. Evaporation cools us down, so if

the day is hot but not humid, try

soaking clothes in cold water.

This is particularly helpful for people

large and small who don’t sweat as

much as others, and it’s amazing how

quickly a dripping wet T-shirt will dry

off on a really hot, dry day.

Wet clothes feel a bit funny at first

and are a bit harder to put on, so you

may need to help your child get the

clothes on, even if he/she normally

can get dressed solo.

2. If humidity is a problem, the key

thing is to get air circulating.

Hand-held fans made from cardboard

taped onto a stick after being

decorated can be a good craft activity

that will keep small hands occupied

and produce something that keeps

them cool.

You can also try making a “cold tent”

out of a wet cotton sheet draped over

a string tied to two fixed points.

This makes a good playhouse that

protects children from the shade and

also keeps them cool if they flap he

sides of the tent to get a breeze going.

Don’t worry about drips if you try this

indoors – they’ll dry soon enough!

3. Keep up the fluids.

Water is best, as you’ve probably

heard. However, most children seem

to like plain water if it comes frozen,

and ice will certainly keep them cool.

You can try making novelty ice blocks

to jazz up drinks of plain cold water

by dropping a leaf of mint, a

strawberry or some other berry, or a

wee piece of some other fruit in the

ice cube tray before filling it up with

water and freezing.

Also keep an eye out for novelty ice

cube trays in interesting shapes –

silicone chocolate moulds can double

as ice cube trays and come in a

number of novel shapes.

You could even try making giant ice

cubes in muffin tins if you’re very

keen.

Watching an ice cube melt and the

resulting puddle evaporate is a good

way for children to discover the

different states of matter – basic

science!

4. Ice cream is a wonderful part of

summer but too much isn’t good for

you or for your children.

Why not make your own at home to

avoid endless trips to the convenience

store at the end of the room?

The easiest way to make a healthy ice

cream is to pop three or four bananas

in the blender, add a dollop of

yoghurt and maybe a bit of vanilla or

cinnamon, whizz the lot up and then

freeze it overnight.

Children can do this with only a

wee bit of supervision.

Other possibilities include home-

made popsicles made with fruit juice

(popsicle kits can be bought in most

supermarkets) or sorbet made by

putting stewed fruit in the freezer “as

is”.

Or you can get fancy and try an old-

fashioned ice cream recipe with lots of

real cream.

With all home-made ice creams that

are frozen in a big tub, you get a

better texture if you stir it every hour

or so (children can do this, and

standing by the freezer for a short

period of time is another way to cool

down).

Or freeze whatever you’re making in

a flat tray with a bit of a lip on it (e.g.

a baking dish) and run a fork through

it when it’s solid to make a granita

sort of thing. The tray method is

usually a bit quicker, too.

5. Take a tip from the folk in

Mediterranean countries and take a

siesta in the middle of the day.

This may mean that you and your

children end up getting up later

and/or staying up later at night, but

you do avoid the heat of the day.

Our bodies seem to naturally get an

energy slump about lunchtime and

this is the hottest part of the day that

we ought to avoid in order to be sun-

smart.

It’s a pity that Australian culture was

so heavily influenced by British

traditions (“The British detest a

siesta,” as the song “Mad Dogs and

Englishmen” tells us), as we could do

with a siesta tradition over here!

This article is brought to you by:

Fridays Child Montessori