Children, with their growing lungs, take in more breaths and larger amounts of air in proportion to their size than the average adult.
This makes the hazardous air quality across Michigan caused by the Canadian wildfires especially dangerous for youth.
To mitigate the danger, some outdoor activities like summer camps and youth sports teams are cancelling until the air quality improves.
However, these closures lead to a new problem. Where will the children go while their parents are at work?
The answer, in many cases, is back home, where parents are either taking the day off or working from home with no last-minute alternatives for childcare.
Sarah Tyler, an East Lansing mother of two, typically brings her children with her when she goes to work as a caregiver for the elderly. However, given the hazardous air quality, she and her kids stayed home Thursday.
“I know my husband and myself really wish we could be working remote,” she said, “so we didn't have to kind of stop our financial for the week.”
Tyler runs a neighborhood moms’ group, and she said she thinks she’ll need to cancel the weekend’s activities.
“Playdates at the park, things at the splash pad, anything outdoors, which is a lot right now,” she said. “I don't know if this is worth risking even to travel to."
Certain childcare options, such as the City of East Lansing Kids Camp and Chesaning Union Schools’ Latchkey Summer Program, are still available despite the poor air quality, but precautions are being taken to keep the children safe.
Open daycares are restricting activities to indoor-only to mitigate smoke inhalation.
A staff member with the Chesaning Union Schools’ Latchkey Summer Program told WKAR News that the smoke and smell made it into the school building, so hallway use is limited.
“[We] have to keep our doors shut and blocked,” they said. “It’s hard for our kids with asthma, so we are trying our best to keep them safe.”
Local parents have also reported that their children with asthma are struggling, with one saying their daughter needed to use her rescue inhaler after waking up wheezing, and another saying their child was hooked up to a nebulizer throughout the day.
Children are also struggling being cooped up indoors.
“It’s kind of hard to navigate with the age gap kids. One sort of understands and is worried for the fires and hoping that they stop,” Tyler said. “And then the other one just wants to go outside and play.”
Other parents have said their children are bored or have excess energy that they didn’t get the chance to burn through the day.
While childcare options like Lansing School District and the Michigan Athletic Club in East Lansing closed entirely Thursday, no decisions have been made for the rest of the week.
