Kids and Coats: A Battle to Let Go

Oh yes. I feel your pain. My kids have great winter coats .... hanging in the coat closet .... right above the unused hats and gloves. Sooooooooo frustrating! I am just glad that my lack of vanity allows me the luxury of warmth.

It is crazy. I remember when my oldest was still in elementary school. I would look out the window at the middle schoolers in shorts and hoodies and think, "What the heck are those mothers thinking?" Now I know. Since my son was 11, and in middle school, he slides out the door in shorts when it's February, with nothing but a hoodie to show for freezing cold air he must be feeling. I've learned this is one battle I will concede to. He's old enough and smart enough to bundle up when it's cold outside or to just plain wear the appropriate clothing during winter. A few years back I did learn you can't catch a cold from being cold. I felt a little better though still worry about the moms, of younger kids, thinking "What the heck is that mother thinking, letting her kid leave the house without a coat."

So true! I've given up on this battle as well. In the list of things I will insist upon (which includes not smoking, not taking drugs, doing well in school...) wearing a coat is pretty low. My 11 year old son recently told me that a cotton hoodie sweatshirt is just as warm as a down coat! I had a good chuckle over that one!

My two boys also refuse to wear jackets. I pick my battles and decided this one wasn't worth fighting a while ago. But I guess it's easier in a climate where it hardly ever goes below 40 degrees!

It's the Aeropostale thick sweat jackets and the wearing of shorts with them that drives me crazy! My son does this now at 13, and I can't get him to wear jeans! I guess that I'm lucky that we live in Central FL.

This is too funny...My teen son never wears a coat, but I've realized that he goes from the car to the school bus to the school, and for him a coat is just something else to carry around. They don't even use their school lockers anymore, so that isn't an option!

My teen daughter wears a northface fleece jacket and thinks that's enough, but we went to the Christmas event at a local amusement park last week and she just about froze her butt off! That's the best lesson.

I've given up on lecturing them, because I figure that they're old enough to dress themselves and they're not dumb, so they can figure out what to wear. The first time they get too cold the story will change and they'll suddenly be wearing a coat. But that will be up to them!

It's easier said than done, isn't it? They want to be independent. :-)

I am dreading the day they no longer want to wear coats. I see so many teenagers wandering about in below zero weather with no mittens, hats, or coats, and I just want to bundle them up in snow suits.