I was visiting the other day with a friend of mine who has a 4-year-old in pre-school. During the conversation I was surprised to learn that young kiddos that age still go outside for playtime on cold winter days.

He wasn't too thrilled with that idea on this particular day, because his boy was just starting to get over a cold.

If I were a parent I wouldn't be too crazy about the idea of my child going outside to play on most South Dakota winter days. Especially during the months of say December through February.

On the day in question I remember the temperature being something like 23 degrees with a wind chill in the single digits. To me, it felt cold outside. But as I get older it starts to feel cold when the temp dips below 40. So what do I know. I'm certainly no expert.

It did prompt me however, to do a little digging on just when is it too cold for kids to go outside.

Thanks to Jill Johnson at KDLT-TV, what I found out is the magic number appears to be 25 below zero! Yikes! Can that be true?

Jill interviewed Dr. Scott McKercher, a pediatrician with Sanford Health on this very subject. "When it's 25 below, it's too cold," said McKercher. "Kids shouldn't be outside to do really anything at that temperature."

While it's true that physical activity keeps blood flowing and decreases the chance of a person getting frostbite, McKercher says "kids don't always understand how cold it really is outside."

I feel it really boils down to parents doing a better job of parenting. They need to monitor weather conditions to determine if it's indeed safe for their kids to go outside. Then bundle up those kiddos in some warm clothing and make sure you have a good handle on the activities they plan on doing outside on colder days.

Sledding for an extended period of time in wet show, on a cold windy day, is probably not such a great idea I'm thinking. It might be time at that point to consider sliding into a nice warm easy chair with your X-box or iPad.

Whatever you decide, stay warm. And remember, it's T-minus 71 days and counting till spring!

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