We have had a few periods of scorching sun in the UK recently, haven’t we? Makes a change. I even got the paddling pool and my swimming cozzie out at the weekend.
When I was young and carefree, heat waves were all about sunbathing with a homemade cocktail during the day and then beer gardens in the afternoon. These days, with two kids and a body that cannot handle hangovers anymore, it’s more about keeping the kids safe and happy and maybe enjoying an alcohol free cocktail just before the sun goes down in the evening.
Looking after kids in a heatwave is hard work.
They still want to go outside to enjoy the weather and have some fun, but they are also totally unequipped to cope with said weather. They get hot and sweaty within minutes, and after a few hours the heat exhaustion sets in, the tears about sweaty backs or ice creams melting too quickly start to flow, and us parents are left trying to maintain order while feeling equally fraught from the heat.
You know me. I don’t like to leave days like this to chance, so I have come up with a number of ways to keep the kids safe and happy during a heatwave. These have reduced the tantrums and kept my kids from getting burnt or dehydrated, and I hope they can do the same for you! 🌞
The Morning Is Your Friend
I treat a hot day with the kids like I would treat a day on holiday; I make the most of the mornings when it’s cooler and places aren’t as busy.
Have you seen the park at 2.30pm on a scorching hot day? Feral kids tearing around with bits of ice cream wrapper stuck to their legs while their parents melt on a blanket nearby, too exhausted to deal with little Dexter’s bad behaviour. No thanks 🙅
Get there in the AM. It will still be busy, but the queue for the swings won’t be eight people long, the bins won’t be overflowing and swarming with wasps yet, and you will escape the worst of the heat.
It doesn’t have to be the park of course, but if you are going out, even if it’s just into the garden, start early. That way, the kids can wear themselves out just in time for the hottest part of the day, when you will strategically head back inside. They will come in more willingly too. They won’t be feeling like you have stolen summer from them.
Cooldowns
This leads me nicely on to cooldowns. I build my day around cooldowns.
Kids don’t tend to notice they are overheating until they have actually overheated. And by then it is too late. One minute they seem fine, the next they are bawling out tears that are 50% saline and 50% sun cream.
Think ahead to how you can break the day up with time in the shade. It doesn’t have to be indoors. If you’re at the beach all day, for example, you plan to come back into the shade of your beach tent for an ice cream after an hour or so in the sun. Or you go into a cafe for a snack. If you’re at home you simply go inside for a picnic lunch or a freezer lolly in the coolest room in the house and stick a film on.
You don’t need to be regimented, just have some idea of how the day will look. Oh, and give the kids some warning, tell them what’s going to be happening next. That way they won’t look at you with a face full of betrayal when you say it’s time to go in 😂
Getting Kids To Drink
I know this is a nightmare for some parents.
My two are actually fine with this, but my friend’s little girls are absolute masters of avoiding liquid. She tells them to have a drink at least 400 times a day, and when she manages to pin them down they take the tiniest sips then instantly lose their juice bottles.
She has a million and one techniques to get them to drink, including:
- Lets them pick a new juice bottle each summer
- Silly/fun straws
- Novelty ice cubes (this makes juice roughly 10x more fun)
- Ice pops (they think it’s a treat and don’t realise it’s basically just water)
- Watermelon slices and grapes from the fridge
- Zero sugar fizzy drinks once a day as a treat
All of these things make it easier for her to keep her children hydrated on hot days.
Also, make sure they see you drinking throughout the day. Kids copy what they see more than they do what they are told.
Avoiding Sun Cream Drama
This is something I have had to deal with unfortunately. My little girl doesn’t mind, but between the ages of 2 and 5 my little boy acted like I was covering him in acid when I put the sun cream on. My gosh, the screams…
Anyway, my top tip here is to apply sun cream when the kids have fewer clothes on. Why? Because they will cry about it getting on their sleeves, or their shorts, or whatever. Get them in their undies, and then hit them with the factor 50. The clothes go on 5 minutes later when they’re not all sticky anymore.
You’ll still end up with some in your hair or on your own clothes. I’m afraid I don’t have a solution for that.
A few other tips:
- Ask them to put some on you first or at the same time
- Ask them what order they want to do it in. Face, legs, or arms first?
- If they have a sibling, get them to put the cream on each other and ‘help’.
I’ll be honest, none of this worked with my little boy – there was no elegant way of getting sun cream onto him, it was a wrestle every time – but other Mums I know have reported more positive results! 🧴
Water Play
Another way of keeping the kids cool without spoiling their fun, is using water.
Water play doesn’t have to mean a massive paddling pool or expensive water pistols. We have a paddling pool, but it only comes out every now and again, because let’s face it, it’s a massive pain in the bum.
The rest of the time, we make do with plastic buckets of water and plastic cups. Everyone has access to the outside tap for reloads and we go to war in the back garden. It’s great fun. Everyone gets soaked, we laugh like loons, and it cools us all down.
A dip in the sea has a similar effect, and if your local park has water fountains, plan ahead and take a bag of towels and extra clothes. Heck, even a damp flannel on the back of the neck is useful for a 6 year old who is boiling alive.
It can also be fun to paint stuff with water. For younger kids at least. During a heatwave the water evaporates quickly and they enjoy watching it for some reason. Let them ‘paint’ the walls of the house, or the fence posts, or the patio, then let them throw the leftover water at each other 😂
Enjoying The Sunshine But Surviving The Heat
I’m quite proud of that heading, it sums up perfectly the aim of the game – if I do say so myself 💁♀️
You want to enjoy the sunshine, but survive the heat, and you do that by remembering that heatwaves with kids needs a little bit of management.
You’re not the fun police, you just need to make sure that everyone drinks enough, protects their skin, and that no one ends up having a hot, tired, thirsty, headachy tantrum. Neither the kids nor you. Because honestly, a heatwave tantrum is on another level to almost any other kind I can think of.
So let them enjoy the sunshine, let them create memories outdoors that aren’t just you chasing them around with a sun hat yelling about drinking more water. But plan your day, retreat to the shade at strategic intervals and have something planned for when you do.
Keeping kids happy and safe during a heatwave will never be relaxing or stress free. You will 100% be dealing with a sticky mess at some point. But they can be filled with far more lovely moments with a bit of forethought.