Does the wind really make children hyper?

i don’t think the wind makes children hyper per se, but I think it does excite them, there is so much raw sensation on a windy day! Especially the littler ones… KatawaGrey used to love to run into and spin about against the wind when she was about 3 or 4. It was really pretty cute.

A strong wind makes me calm, even when I was a child. I liked to revel in nature’s power. I’d just lean into it and enjoy it. Nature is cool in my book.

I’ve never heard that before. I’m guessing kids react to sensations in general as @JilltheTooth pointed out. Funny, I hate a very windy day, because I think about how it negatively affects me. It’s interesting that maybe it is something children enjoy.

A lot of these tales do seem to be false though. I read a study that tried to prove children are more hyper after a sugary meal, and the study concluded they aren’t. There might be other studies that prove they are that I am unaware of though. I never did a lot of research on it. I just know a lot of people believe sweets wind up children.

Oh yes. The wind blows and you point out something crazy I don’t do :)

I wonder if it is related to the expression of people going wherever the wind blows? That they are carefree and less serious.

Never heard that.

Interesting concept, but I have never heard that one.
Sailing and flying kites on windy days is a great calming activity that works for my daughter.

I don’t think I ever made that association with my child, but, horses, yes!

We just had several wild, windy days and the thundering herd on the hill over here were going nuts, reckless wild galloping and chasing and racing each other.

With many animals, especially horses, the wind can mimic, as well as mask, sounds of predators
Horses, in particular, get very spooky & frisky.

I knew a woman who had been raised in Los Angeles who was always uneasy when the wind rose. In her case it was because she associated strong winds with California’s Santa Ana wind, which is a strong, dry wind from the Sierra Nevadas to offshore. Because these winds start during the dry season and bring even drier air from the mountains, they have a strong correlation to forest fires in California. (As a sailor I always appreciate weather, and have a particular regard for strong, steady winds, and a respect for storm winds, so her reaction always interested me.)

When I knew her she had lived in New England for a decade and a half, where we have no similar history of forest fire – and no corresponding dread of winds that might fan them. Here the wind is mostly associated with storms (east winds) or with cold fronts bringing cooler air from the west – good weather, in other words.

So when the high pressure cold fronts move in with good weather, that often liberates some personal energy, and storms – well, they have their own mystique.

Quite the opposite. Data show that an increase in wind speed decreases childrens’ activity levels. People generally don’t like to be out in bad weather, and wind is usually associated with rain, snow and other harsher weather conditions.

A nice warm wind can be exciting and exhilarating and if you are young enough running into it can feel like flying. Even indoors the sound of the wind can be thrilling. I’m sure Robert Louis Stevenson has written about it.

“I think it does excite them, there is so much raw sensation” good one though xD.

I know that I get anxious in high winds, and I think it is the extra sensations that do it to me. It’s not that I’m afraid of the wind, I just don’t like the feeling of being buffeted around or having my hair fly into my face… stuff like that, you know? So maybe for some children, that’s the case. The same ones who are picky about how their clothes feel, or don’t do well in noisy environments, etc.

Also, [mod says] This is our Question of the Day!

I believe it changes the ions in the air, which does change behavior.

Awww thank you..question of the day…rather chuffed :-) Thank you for all your answers so far peeps…very interesting…I’m inclined to think it does make them more exciteable.. @wundayatta is it just my computer or is that link not right? @YARNLADY oooh see now that sounds good…going to have to google ions and behaviour now…

I normally don’t like the wind but this morning I was in the garden and the wind was particularly furious and it felt almost as if it was playing with me,.. it made me giggle somewhat which was strange to say the least…which got me thinking about the question…I had just done aerobics actually and when I was stretching down to my toes (had to do this thing where I put my arms over my head and whoosh them out in front of me…) I felt a bit like a bird…then when I was in the garden and the wind was all about and messing with my hair I looked up and saw birds playing… maybe it was the endorphins from the exercise but maybe it was the wind…or a combination of the lot…hmmmm

ah ha…there you go needs further investigation but…it’s a start…

Kids will always laugh & get all excited when someone farts…......

From my classroom and group teaching experience, I would say I definitely notice a difference on windy days… Thursday a fortnight ago, for instance, a VERY windy day, and the kids were in a really funny mood (swapping names etc, talking more than normal, even swapping places in the room….). I was wondering what the heck they’d been up to prior to my session to make them this way, then it clicked – the wind!

@harple I’m seeing a pattern here. Maybe it is only English wind that makes kids hyper.

Hmmm.well, I have a Tibetan salt crystal lamp that is supposed to keep the ions in synch indoors, maybe that’s why my house feels good. lol

@janbb Must be something in the air! ;-)

Seriously though, I’m hoping today’s high winds will be the exception – I’ve got a BBC reporter coming in to record my session with a group of 9 budding young harpists today… could be interesting!

@harple How cool!

@harple You are going to be famous.

@nebule sorry about that. Don’t know how that happened. Glad you found it.

@janbb hopefully! Will have to see how it sounds next week!
@flutherother Well, famous in Cumbria at least…

If it’s coming from the south, pulsing warmth and polarity as other have mentioned with those crazy ions; I think it may be just that. Otherwise, any wind is bad wind, especially from the polar north.