Do your kids wear coats.

[lynn]

At what temperature do you make them wear a coat. My kids are hot natured. My oldest still wears short and short sleeves even in 30 degrees. My 8 year old is always hot, this morning he was wearing shorts and a long sleeve and ran out to the bus it was 29outside. I feel like a bad mom for not catching him before he got on the bus but on the other hand he is always pulling his coat off when he's outside. I better run him up at coat so I stop feeling guilty:tongue_smilie:.

[Snickerdoodle]

I let them decide pretty much.

[Pamela H in Texas]

My ds never wears a coat, even if it's 15 degrees outside (which only happens a couple days per year here). His choice. <shrug>

 

I wouldn't worry about it. For the 2yo, I'd likely grab a jacket so if she changes her mind and wants one later, but I wouldn't even bother with that much for your 8-15yos.

[SapphireStitch]

I have a hot one and a cold one, so I pretty much let them decide. I was always hot as a kid, and still as an adult I find it hard to get the right combination of clothes on to be comfortable outside in the winter.

 

My kids and I are all very susceptible to bronchitis, and I've found that I can decrease my bronchitis risk by not breathing in large amounts of very cold air. When it's really bitter cold (not that often where I live) I make sure to wrap a scarf over my mouth and nose if I'm outside. I'm trying to get this across to the kids, too, so we have fewer of the all-winter coughs.

[Chris in VA]

My eldest would live in a desert, if he could--the hotter, the better. He wears a coat when it's 50 degrees and says it's freezing. My second son wears hoodies and t's, and avoids coats like the plague, but that's for fashion reasons.

I make my youngest wear her coat, and she doesn't mind.

 

Me, however? I am hot natured, too--but only because there's a bit of padding here and there on the ole bod, so I'm usually the one who opens my coat.

 

I wonder if growing up in a certain climate helps the body regulate temperature in a certain way?

[TraceyS/FL]

Mine start bundling up when it drops below 70 :D

 

Once we hit 80 and under, the oldest puts jeans on until it's over 80 again.

 

For normal running around, i let them decide - if however, i know what we are doing or plan to, and they will be impacted, i direct then. But staying warm isn't a problem we have around here ;)

[PineFarmMom]

The one day per year that it is cold enough here to wear a coat, I let the older ones choose. The younger ones wear them. We purchase those little fleece pull-overs from Old Navy for all the dc, because those typically cover the amount of cold we get here.

[JudoMom]

I usually let them decide. If they're playing outside and are cold they'll get a coat or jacket. If we are going out to the store or similar, I throw all of the coats in the car in case of emergency, but they don't usually wear them (because when they get in the store they get hot and then we have to keep up with coats).

[Laura Corin]

The temperatures are between 0 and 8 C (32 - 46F) but the weather changes quickly, with sudden showers/wind. I also don't like the idea of being with them in the car in rural Scotland without coats, in case the car breaks down. If we pop into a shop from the car, they can leave their jackets in the car if they want to.

 

If they are playing outside at home, so they can run inside if the weather changes, then it's up to them what they wear, so long as it's long sleeves and long trousers.

 

Laura

[Laura Corin]

I wonder if growing up in a certain climate helps the body regulate temperature in a certain way?

 

But both my boys have grown up in Asia, and one is always hot, the other always cold. Hobbes normally wears jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt at this time of year, whilst Calvin is wearing the same but with full-body thermal underwear underneath.

 

Laura

[cathmom]

My dh has a rule that they must wear a coat if it's under 70 degrees.

 

I bring my coat but hardly ever wear it. They keep me warm enough!

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

Define 'coat'

 

We have some weather here were your survival expectations are under 10 minutes if you're not dressed accordingly. So, yeah, kids wear winter coats.

 

Otherwise, it's up to them.

[TravelingChris]

All of my kids are different. My youngest is colder than me and I have temperature regulation problems form my chronic illness and really only feel comfortable somewhere between 76 and 80. My youngest bundles up at around 65 degrees. I am not sure how she will do next month when we move to the cold. I am completely layered up and with a winter coat by 30 degrees. I can only tolerate colder temperatures for a very short time. My oldest wears light jackets if the temperature is 45 - 30. He will wear a coat below that. My middle puts on light jackets at 55 and coats at around 40 or 35. My youngest has been wearing a fleece jacket in the house when our temperature is 73 and she is also wearing a long sleeve shirt with that. When it gets to 65, she really feels cold. SHe is the only one who has never ever lived in a cold area and only spent a few weeks in her life in cold areas.

[Confuzzled]

I let my children choose. But I make them take coats in the car if it's cold in case of an emergency.

[Holly IN]

due to them having asthma I MAKE them wear coats. Normally coat is required if it is under 40 degrees. However we have been known to make the kids put coats on in 60 degree weather due to the cold wind.'

 

 

 

HOlly

[laughing lioness]

We do. We live in SD and it can get pretty cold. More than that, though, is the wind. It's the great plains and it can pick up fast and be brutal. Once it's freezing out everyone has to have a coat and gloves with them and preferably a hat. My 14 yo is hot all of the time and he'll be less dressed than the rest of us, but he still has to have the stuff with him. If we got stranded I don't I wouldn't want him to freeze to death!

[Tammyla]

:lol: You sound like my ds.

 

Define 'coat'

 

We have some weather here were your survival expectations are under 10 minutes if you're not dressed accordingly. So, yeah, kids wear winter coats.

 

Otherwise, it's up to them.

[beansprouts]

If I need a coat, I make my kids wear one also.

[Valerie in MI]

Nope mine don't wear coats if it's in the 20's or 30's if they just have to walk from the car across a parking lot into a building. I don't quite approve but it's not a battle I have the ambition to fight. We usually jog across parking lots to stay warm and be quick. My daughter attends two classes in the public school where they aren't allowed to bring their jackets into the classrooms. She's too timid to ask for a locker or some place to put her jacket and is planning to make it through the whole winter without wearing one to school. Crazy but her choice.

[akmommy]

 

My dh has a rule that they must wear a coat if it's under 70 degrees.

 

:laugh: That's shorts and tank top weather here.

 

This time of year wintercoats and boots are a must. If it's a road trip gloves, hats, and snow pants are put in the car. In a about a month or so they will wear it all whenever we leave the house (I do let the teen go without the snowpants).

 

From March thru September I let them make the choice unless obvious weather conditions dictate otherwise.

[Pretty in Pink]

if we are leaving the house i toss the coats in the car; then if they change their mind they won't have to be cold. otherwise i let them choose. i do make them wear hats to cover the heads and ears though. they usually roll their eyes but my ears are very sensitive to cold and i can't imagine running around outside without a hat during winters, even as mild as they are here in the south.

[SapphireStitch]

I have one I can NEVER get to wear a coat. I found myself making a rule that if it's below 20 you have to wear SHOES! And I have another one that wears a coat half of summer--of course in OUR summer, it rarely gets above 70. My shoeless girl is curently outside, doing chores--it's 30 and she's wearing shorts, flip flops and a t-shirt--and is quite comfortable.

 

I loved to go barefoot in the snow when I was a kid. Not for hours at a time, but to walk up the street to the mailbox and things like that.

 

I had the healthiest, most dependable feet back in those days...before I spent too many years in panty hose and heels being Dressed For Success.:001_smile:

[Sahamamama]

I remember one mom saying that for years she thought her sons were so easygoing, but her daughter was difficult and argumentative. It had to do with "The Coat Fight" -- every morning in the winter, the mom would tell her two sons, "Put your coats on," and they would comply without a word. But the DAUGHTER would fuss and fume and complain, until finally she put the coat on.

 

Years later, when the children were in their mid-twenties, they were all sitting around talking about this and the mom made the comment that the boys had always been more compliant. So one of the sons said, "Mom, you never knew that when Sis put on her coat after all that arguing, she wore it to school and back, but when we put on our coats, we went around the corner and took them back off again. We just didn't bother with the argument."

 

I suppose that sort of puts it in perspective a bit. :lol: