# When playing outside is dangerous to kids' health



## Anastasiya (Jun 13, 2006)

So.....

The kids were outside all day long today, from 7:30 till 6:30, and now that I've tucked them all into bed, I checked the weather for tomorrow. Turns out today was an ORANGE LEVEL OZONE day, which says kids should stay inside.

What?!?!

Our parents never had to worry about this stuff.









Do YOU keep your kids inside on heavy ozone days? I hate the thought of keeping them indoors when it's gorgeous outside....today was in the low 80s, breezy and beautiful.


----------



## DahliaRW (Apr 16, 2005)

I didn't know there were ozone warning levels - what does that even mean?


----------



## Anastasiya (Jun 13, 2006)

Apparently the fumes from running ACs, lawn mowers and vehicles get heated up by the sun and the ozone created sits on the ground level. We end up inhaling it.

Here's what our weather report said:
CODE ORANGE AIR QUALITY ALERT HAS BEEN ISSUED

AUG 30, 2011. UNDER CODE ORANGE CONDITIONS

GROUND LEVEL OZONE CONCENTRATIONS ARE EXPECTED TO REACH LEVELS THAT ARE UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS.

CHILDREN AND PEOPLE WITH ASTHMA ARE INDIVIDUALS MOST AT RISK UNDER THESE EXPECTED CONDITIONS. ..[editing for length]

IF BREATHING BECOMES DIFFICULT MOVE INDOORS.


----------



## Anastasiya (Jun 13, 2006)

More on ozone: http://www.apcb.org/pollution_prevention/code_orange_days.aspx

Needless to say, this stinks. It used to be that kids were made healthy by being outdoors most of the day. Now you just end up endangering them by sending them out. We are ruining our world with all this crap.


----------



## Anastasiya (Jun 13, 2006)

This makes me feel a bit better. They explain the coding on page two.
http://childcare.about.com/od/caregonewrong/a/ozonehealth.htm


----------



## mandalamama (Sep 1, 2004)

i can't go out on orange days because of my asthma, but my daughter doesn't seem to have any problems at all. she's very active outside, super healthy. i still watch for signs of anything unhealthy, though. she's more at risk of skinning her knees or digging in dirt that wild animals have pooped in.


----------



## abiyhayil (Feb 8, 2008)

thanks for posting this, it's sad that we have to worry about this and what long term effects this may have on our children's bodies and their children ..


----------



## Anastasiya (Jun 13, 2006)

So, why doesn't this stuff get indoors through AC units?

Indoor air certainly can't be healthy, either.


----------



## elmh23 (Jul 1, 2004)

Well, I grew up in the late 80's and early 90's living in Los Angeles, where we most certainly had "smog days" where we weren't allowed to play outside at recess.

I've never heard of the Ozone warning system, so I'm just going to continue to not worry about it. But, we had several weeks this last summer where the city was filled with smoke from several fires in the state. Those days, we didn't go out at all. We have swamp coolers here and the smoke did come in a little, but it wasn't nearly as bad as outside.


----------



## Honey693 (May 5, 2008)

We had those in the early 90s near Chicago. I remember them well b/c my mom would limit our outdoor time on those days.


----------



## Adaline'sMama (Apr 16, 2010)

We dont have AC, so I guess our indoor air is just as bad as outdoor air! I think that unless you or your child has breathing problems, there is no reason to keep them inside because of an Ozone alert. I associate these with terrorist alerts-- something I dont pay attention to and think is media hype to get people like my MIL to feel like they will die if they cant see the nightly news.


----------



## Toposlonoshlep (Jan 14, 2010)

I worry less about ozone than I do about particulate matter. I use airnow.gov to check the PM2.5. This shows you how much particulate crap is in the air that can pass through your lungs. the 2.5 PM are "fine particles" that deposit themselves in your system. They contain VOCs, industry emissions, etc. Here is a good explanation: http://www.epa.gov/pm/.

Ozone is not great either, but really it ends up posing an immediate problem to people with breathing problems such as asthma.

And, as someone else mentioned, indoor air is often significantly more polluted than air outside because it doesn't circulate. If you have carpet, synthetic fibers in upholstery or flooring, smoke, mold, etc, or if you use any commercial cleaners or deodorizers, all that stuff sticks around. I tend to run an air purifier through the night, despite its devastating effect on our electrical bill.

But, if it makes you feel any better, our parents DID have to worry about this stuff. Maybe they just didn't. In fact, they should have worried more. The standards for industrial releases have become higher, the gasoline in cars is cleaner (imagine when all cars ran on diesel?!?), and air testing is more extensive.


----------

