MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Ohio — The Miami Valley is heating up, and one thing parents and others need to watch out for is keeping children safe and hydrated during the summer months.
News Center 7’s Amber Jenkins was in Montgomery County on Monday and spoke with a children’s center about keeping kids cool.
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“We do water breaks when they’re outside, when it’s hot like today, we shorten the amount of time so that they’re not red or too sweaty,” said Bethany Hawkins, Administrator and Pre-K Teacher at Wee Heaven Children’s Center.
Wee Heaven Children’s Center has looked after hundreds of children over the decades, so they understand that when temperatures increase, kids need water bottles and they make sure they are easily accessible.
“We ask parents to bring in their child’s own personal water bottle, and we label them, so every child in the center has their own personal water bottle,” Hawkins said. “And we do have store-bought water bottles for them, so that those who don’t have water bottles, we have extra bottles.”
The center can go through 2 large cases of water a week.
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The air conditioning is running inside and Hawkins labels where kids can grab a water bottle, but she said the kids enjoy another way to stay cool.
“We’ll just turn on the sprinkler on for them and they’ll get wet outside,” she said.
Health experts at Dayton Children’s agree with that method.
“Their bodies will stay nice and cool in this heat,” said Abbey Pettiford, Injury Prevention Outreach Supervisor. “So, whether that be a sprinkler in the backyard or a pool, getting in water might help with that.”
When a child is overheating, health experts advise that room temperature water is best, not ice-cold water.
“We want that to be cool, not cold,” Pettiford said. “So cooler than their body temperature, but we don’t want to lower their body temperature too bad.”
Despite high temperatures on the horizon, Hawkins is not letting a heat-related illness ruin summer fun.
“They love getting wet,” Hawkins said. “They love the heat. They love the water.”
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