A Little Bit of Fresh Air….

I collected Miss E from day care yesterday, blessed little thing was still asleep. Not a problem, the carers were happy to wake her up.

Off they went…. out the door.

It was about 8 degrees C yesterday and there was Miss E, happy as larry sleeping in the ‘box’ outside (obviously appropriately rugged up).

Miss E sleeps well.

It’s quite common here in day cares for children to sleep outside.

A friend of mine came from a few years in Denmark, she said that it’s apparently quite normal in most Scandinavian countries.

“The theory behind outdoor napping is that children exposed to fresh air, whether in summer or the depths of winter, are less likely to catch coughs and colds – and that spending a whole day in one room with 30 other children does them no good at all.”

At Forskolan Orren, a pre-school outside Stockholm, all children sleep outside until they reach the age of three.

“When the temperature drops to -15C (5F) we always cover the prams with blankets,” says head teacher.

“It’s not only the temperature that matters, it’s also how cold it feels. Some days it can be -15C but it actually feels like -20C (-4F) because of the wind,” she says.

Prams outside a cafe — *Image captionBabies often sleep outside cafes in Copenhagen too*

“Last year we had a couple of days with a temperature of -20C. On those days we brought the prams inside some of the time the children were sleeping, but most of their sleep they spent outdoors.”

If it helps with the kids not getting colds over winter, then I’m happy for it.

For the same reason, we fling our windows wide open every day. The cold air streams through the house and theoretically should kill off any germs lurking.

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