Why do kids dress for June when it's January? Answer: Because their parents are idiots.

[TheMightyFavog]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/03/AR2011010302833.html

NEW YORK -- Among the great spectacles of winter, along with the northern lights and frozen lakes, are coatless kids.

No coat, no gloves? No prob!

These teens and tweens are chillin' out, literally and figuratively, in their sweatshirts and kicks. Maybe a boy will accessorize with a baseball cap, and a girl might choose stylish boots - but nothing weatherproof, please! Some boys even wear shorts year-round, and many parents say they've given up the fight.

*facepalm*

[Kali]

1. the young move more - they aren't cold

and then if you make them take coats and gloves they promptly lose them anyway


the parents that get on my nerves are the ones that bundle their kids too much - "uh your toddler is all red and panting, you can remove one of its down jackets, it is only 60 degrees out"

[Archae]

2. There was a "For Better Or Worse" comic strip along this line.

Kids in a snowstorm, no hats, light jackets, no boots, stamping their feet, shivering.

Someone bundled up walks past, kids laugh at her.

Then go right back to shivering, stamping feet, etc.

[applegrove]

3. When I was a teen, in Ottawa Canada, it was the fashion to wear rubber boots

in mid winter. Of course you wore heavy socks too. But rubber transmits the cold that if for sure.

[jmowreader]

4. We did that story too

http://www.cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_67f5f10f-96cd-5f52-9888-5ee7cca70405.html

[quakerboy]

5. So how do you propose to prevent this?

As a kid who wore shorts through my teens, regardless, of weather, I don't think it had much to do with my parents intelligence quotient or relative mental age. Seeing as I am now 30, and still wearing shorts and short sleeves, and to the best of my knowledge do not own a jacket, I feel at a loss as to what anyone thinks they could have done to rectify this situation?

[Phentex]

11. Haven't you wanted to be rude right back?

From people who don't know me, I'll get "Aren't you FREEZING?" and "Where's your coat?"

It's insulting because IF I were freezing and just refused a coat I'd be an idiot.

The friends and neighbors who know me just come up and ask me to warm them with my hands, lol!

[quakerboy]

19. Not my style

I am normally more bemused than anything. I just flat don't notice the "cold" that seems to bother everyone else, till it gets down at least to the low 30's. And even then, unless I plan to be in it for a significant amount of time, its not worth doing anything about. So when I get asked, I just politely respond "no, not cold yet" and file it away under "people are such weird critters". Kinda like when someone moves here from LA and thinks a 40 minute drive to get somewhere "isn't that far".

[Tripper11]

6. My kids try sometimes...I don't give up

They can be pissed at me all they want. If it's freezing wear a bloody coat, this isn't rocket science.

[jobycom]

7. That's crazy. It can get down to 50 degrees in January!

Kids should at least consider wearing socks instead of sandles.

[nadine_mn]

8. naw - kids can only learn one way - experience

speaking as someone who grew up in Northern Minnesota along Lake Superior, I was the typical tween/teen that thought it was so uncool to wear boots and mittens. My mom finally said screw it, dress however you want you are old enough to know better.

It only took a few days of walking to school freezing my tuckus and toes off to ask my mom nicely for a new coat and warm boots.


Nowadays, I still live in MN, and rarely if ever do I wear a thick coat - usually just layers. Some people are warmer than others - some are just stupid but once kids reach a certain age its time to let them figure things out for themselves.

[pintobean]

9. Do you have kids?

Clueless.


*facepalm*

[Phentex]

10. Some of them really aren't cold. I don't wear a coat and I have a shirt

that says "I'm NOT Cold!" for when I'm out walking the dogs and other people are bundled in their parkas.

I keep a light fleece jacket for temps in the teens or 20s, pretty uncommon in Atlanta. When I went to NY a few years ago, I bought a coat because I didn't own one. I can't wear sweaters or sweatshirts and I can wear a light jacket for work if I only wear a tank style top underneath. The heat in most offices drives me crazy.

I am a middle aged woman who knows whether she's cold or not and I have been this way all of my life. I think one of my sons has the same issue I do so I never make him wear a coat if he says he does not need one.

My sister was looking at pictures of us when we were kids and she'll be wearing several layers and a sweater and I'll be in a thin tee shirt. My mother said she couldn't make me wear a coat when I was little so she gave up trying.

OK, yeah, maybe there's some sort of trend among teens, but like the others said IF a kid gets cold they'll learn from the experience.

[Inchworm]

12. I solved that by setting the thermostat in house to 55

At least daughter was acclimated by January :D

:hi:

[LeftinOH]

13. Bulky coats, hats, scarves, etc. tend to make a person look "dorky"

-in the eyes of many young (teenage) people. Most of us were like that as kids -then we grow out of it and don't care how we look, as long as we're warm.

[eyepaddle]

14. I think with cold weather gear that function has a fashion all its own

And I've explained to a few people that if somebody puts style above warmth below zero, or even the single digits, well, then their opinon is one that I am unconcerned with.

I think it's related to my love for being outside in the deep, deep cold--I get to use those times as tests for my clothing strategy.

[Arugula Latte]

15. Guilty as charged.

My son wears basketball shorts about, oh, 350 days of the year. We usually don't get the extreme cold (Oregon), but it is frequently in the 40s in winter.

By the way, I think at some point you just say, "Well, if they're cold they'll suffer the consequences and change their behavior accordingly, or not."

[Dulcinea]

16. It's a phase.

I went through a phase where I refused to wear a winter coat or boots. I grew up in western PA. My mom gave up, figuring I'd come to my senses.

It didn't last long. I got sick of being cold. This too shall pass.

[tigereye]

18. I was like that in college- hated to wear a bulky coat

(unless it was a mafia-don type coat from the Goodwill!) Or I used to wear big old men's cable knit sweaters and men's suit jackets. Hey, it was the early 80s.


Another Western PA person here.

[tigereye]

17. this is so common - it's almost not worth arguing

that being said, my teen is sensible enough to wear a down coat when he leaves the house for school. I really think their bodies are just not as sensitive to the cold!