It is not an uncommon scene to see parents along the sides of a playground all rugged up on a cold day while the children run around in t-shirts and shorts. This may have made you wonder whether children feel the cold at all. There are a few things to consider.
Adults are naturally more inclined to be concerned about being cold. We recall times when we were sick and try to avoid this as often as possible by staying warm and comfortable. Children don’t have these concerns. We tell them not to be out in the cold, but as they don’t associate this with any actual threat of illness, or feeling of being cold and worn-out, as such, it’s less of a bother to them.
Being out in cold weather can also cause some health problems. As adults, our nails may become cracked, our lips get chapped, and our skin may become dry, red and sore. Children don’t always suffer these problems as readily as adults (particularly as we age), so they are less inclined to find it necessary to avoid cold environments.
In the playground scenario, it is typical for children to be running around a lot more than adults. Body activity generates heat, and this keeps us warm. The more we move the warmer we are as our muscles convert energy to heat, so naturally you wouldn’t be as prone to feeling the cold. As such, it is normal to see children running around dressed in one or two layers fewer than the parents sitting on the park bench nearby.
Children also tend to have a lot more pent-up energy than us older folk. This means that they are less likely to sit still and more likely to be continually moving – sit next to a child on a long plane trip and you’ll notice this very quickly. All of this movement generates heat.
Of course, all this exercise does need some freedom of movement, which can be restricted by bulky jumpers and scarves, so it is much easier for children to throw these off and climb along the monkey bars.
When out in the cold, one of the best options is to ensure children are in long sleeve clothing to cover their skin from the cold and ensure that the material is breathable. This will allow them to move around freely and still have fun.
Babies and very young children do have an alternate store of heat. This is called brown fat, which diminishes over time when skeletal muscles take over the bulk of the heat generation. This brown fat sits in areas across the body and simply converts energy into heat, which can’t be created through movement at these earlier stages of life.
So the overall answer is that yes, same as adults, children should be kept as warm and comfortable as possible – even if the cold may not be an immediate concern for them. It is right to run around after a child to put on their jumper or scarf, as well as yell out to get them to come in from the rain on a cold day.
They may not be concerned about it, but maybe part of our job as adults is to carry the concern and make the – albeit less fun – decision to stay warm on a cold day.