Table III.

Teacher’s perceived barriers to going outside/active play

Barrier	Example Quote
Parents’ concerns about child getting sick from cold weather	¶B1: Oh, they (the parents) tell me, ‘The baby was coughing last night, didn’t feel too good so I appreciate you all not taking him out today’. So we kind of take that into consideration. If a child is not feeling good. ¶B2: The cold weather, the parents think the cold weather gives the child a cold… Some of them, their child will be absent. They say, ‘They get colds quick’. But, (to the parent) ‘You brought them in the building this morning and (so) they go outside for 15 min, they’re not gonna get the flu’. ¶B3: I think the cool air. In the wintertime, (imitates a parent saying) ‘Oh no, don’t go outside because it’s cold outside’. I think a lot of people have the misconception that you are going to get sick if you go outside in cold weather. Really, it’s better for you.
Teacher’s beliefs and preferences re: weather	¶B4: No if it's 90° there’s no way they can be outside for no whole hour in 90°. They couldn’t take that… I mean we look at it like this: yes, they do need outside time but you have to think about health issues also while you outside. ¶B5: Teachers don’t want to stay out there long enough because of the weather. ‘It’s too hot for me’. ¶B6: I am the assistant teacher in my room. The lead teacher says, ‘It’s too hot. You want to take them outside? It’s the middle of summer!’ And I’m like, ‘Yep!!’ ¶B7: It’s not a certain wind chill. It’s just what you think. If it’s a little too cold when I’m walking in the door, I’m not taking my kids out if the wind is blowing me out. It’s gonna blow my kids! ¶B8: I just always write in my December newsletter, ‘I am not a cold weather person. We will not be going outside if the weather is cold!’ So we really don’t, I don’t really take them outside probably December, January, February unless we have a warm day because I am just not a cold weather person. ¶B9 Rain. We are allowed to stay out there, it’s up to the teacher. Sometimes the teacher feels a sprinkle, ‘OK, it’s time to go in’. I wait until I feel a couple of more sprinkles ¶B10: In damp weather, I don’t think they should be out. When it’s getting ready to rain, I think that’s probably the worst time I think cold is better than the damp. Teachers’ negative attitudes contrasted to children’s favorable impressions of adverse weather conditions ¶B11: They (the children) love it in the rain, they love it in the snow. Weather don’t really bother the kids. ¶B12: They love it in all ways. When you don’t want to be out in the cold, they want to be outside. ¶B13: I know I have been outside and thought, ‘Ooh, I’m cold!’ So I know they’re cold. So I’m like, ‘Y’all ready to go in?’ And they’re still running around, ‘No!!!’ ‘Yes you are, because I’m freezing!’
Don’t like going outside, getting dirty/ sweaty, insects	¶B14: When I first started in childcare working in Head Start … I asked the teacher you know, ‘When do we go outside?’ (she said) ‘Oh, (pause) well, we don’t have to go today. We can go tomorrow’. Tomorrow comes, (I asked) ‘When are they going outside?’ (She said) ‘You know, to tell you the truth, I really don’t care for going outside’. ¶B15: I had a teacher, she told me she had been working there for 20 years or something like that… . And she hated outside. She didn’t want sweat… She didn’t want to mess up her nails. She didn’t want to mess up her pretty outfits that she wore … She would be like, ‘Oh my God, you got dirt on your hands. Don’t touch me’… . She told me she never took her kids outside until I started working. For 20 years these kids didn’t go outside. ¶B16: This past week a teacher didn’t want to come out ‘cause there were bugs on the playground! ‘I don’t like the bugs and gnats’. You mean you’re gonna keep these kids in here from 8:00 to 5:00 because there’s a little bug on the playground?!
Too much chaos/noise	Too much chaos ¶B17: I don’t like playing games outside. It’s totally my least favorite time of the day because I feel like it’s so chaotic. They’re running, and they’re screaming and they’re yelling, and … I don’t have so much control over what they’re doing and it, you know, and … trying to make sure that everybody stays safe is stressful. ¶B18: Its like a big park and so its just like everyone is running different ways … you have 20 kids out there so usually they’re all spread out, like when we go outside . . I don’t feel like I can really honestly give my undivided attention … when I’m watching that many. But I just think, when I’m sitting down say we’re coloring together, I can talk to somebody better and still watch (other children) when we’re indoors. But outdoors, I feel too distracted, watching like head counting and stuff.
Too much work involved	Helping children put on coats, hats, mittens to go outside. Then removing them all. ¶B19: (re: putting on children’s coats) You take all the time, get ready, when you go out and you’re coming right back in. It’s just a lot of work, as far as I’m concerned, for nothing! You know, It’s a waste of time. Putting on sunscreen ¶B20: I would say we have to spend quite a lot of time doing sunscreen. We have a new rule now that we have to put gloves on to put sunscreen on, I guess ‘cause some kids are allergic to different sunscreens. I think it’s ridiculous but anyway, I understand the logic, it’s just hard, you know. Setting up portable play equipment (e.g. taking out bicycles from storage, bringing out art easels) ¶B21: We have to keep some of our equipment locked up inside the building at night. One teacher doesn’t like to have to put it away at night so she won’t get it out. Then I come out after she has been out there and then the toys aren’t there for me. Then it’s a matter of leaving the children, going into the school, going in the office, getting the key and you can’t do that all the time. ¶B22: Her reason for not going out was she was kind of heavy and she would say, ‘I just can’t carry that stuff up and down the steps. I just, it’s too hard for me to be trying to carry bikes up and down the steps’.
Teacher is sick allergies	¶B23: When the humidity is real bad, I have sinuses and allergies so I can’t take it myself, you know, so, and once it gets too hot, we don’t take the kids out. ¶B24: It’s too hot for me. I got asthma. ¶B25: Soon as somebody cut their grass, my allergies just start and I have to go in.
Teacher overweight or ‘lazy’	¶B26: A lot of times I think, you know, the adults are not necessarily active as well, and with teachers especially. Because you’re devoting so much of your time to caring for the children and to planning for them… And I think you’re taking care of everyone else and you’re not taking care of yourself. So we get overweight as someone who is not taking care of ourselves. And then we get a little bit lazy and don’t want to give the children the activities they need because we’re lazy and not active ourselves. So I am wondering if maybe getting the teachers more active would have an effect on that. ¶B27: Well what came to my mind was teachers being lazy … I have had teachers take chairs out (side). (I thought) ‘What? A chair? Why are you doing that?’ I wouldn’t say it to them but I had a problem with it! And they would sit there and (yell at the children) ‘Stop!’ ‘Don’t do that! Quit running so hard …’ From their chair! … Just simply being lazy and don’t want to interact. One was real heavy and I believe that was her problem. Not the children. Don’t take it out on them. ¶B28: We have a couple (of teachers) that they get outside and they sit and they sit and they never move! ‘I am gonna sit here … I’m gonna bark commands.’
Teacher has low self-efficacy/self esteem	¶B29: One teacher …actually two of them I’m thinking of, sort of have their own inhibitions about their own physical selves. And so they didn’t always encourage the children to be running. They wanted them to kind of slow down. And I think because they didn’t feel good about themselves running. You know, they’re self conscious about—And when you are teaching this age child, you have to be a child yourself and some adults find that difficult. They’re too self conscious about letting their hair down or having fun. ¶B30: I think it also could be that person had a bad experience on the playground and it carried on to their adult life. They had a bad experience and they carry it on to their adult life and the kids are getting punished.