teenagers and rainwear

Yes WingingIt, school is frequently open when there is snow. We live in the frozen north. It rains a lot too (when it's not snowing!).

You mean the school was open with snow on the ground ?

Not round here - any excuse to close

Have insisted DD wears wellies to school when 8 inches of snow on the ground, but for wet weather WTF? No way. I have learnt. If she wants to be wet so be it.

In winter in minus whatever temperature it is a different matter. I pointed out to her that if the car broke down she would have to walk in deep snow and she got the point.
Bet you dcs didn't arrive at school in the cheap rainwear.
My dd would have insisted her civil liberties were being infringed!

Sorry should read: dd will wear wellies -all the time in fact but never to school. Ds will wear a jacket

I'd give up when it comes to school - peer pressure outweighs parent power!

Ds will wear wellies and coats other than to school. Ds wears a jacket (superdry) if its really cold or wet. Has recently worn his wellies. No chance of him wearing either to school though.

It does them no harm to get wet. The problem is for the teachers when they have to sort out a class full of dripping, steaming (smelly?) teenagers who are too wet to settle to any kind of work for the first lesson. It does no harm but it doesn't do much good either. Depends how keen you are on making academic progress.
Mine won't wear any kind of outer wear, even though they bus in every day and have to wait for a bus home. They take an umbrella in their bag and that seems to work ok except it gets a bit damp in their bags.

I thought wellies would be the ultimate in cool - provided the mud plastering them is from Glastonbury or Reading, of course...

Maybe my ds is growing up - he had a new friend who is a strong influence on him

The majority of healthy, well-fed teenagers can take a soaking and have no ill effects other than discomfort.
So I provide mine with waterproofs and it's up to them to make the choice.

Don't despair.

I shelled out £70 on a pair of black Hunters for my 15yo son before Christmas 'against his will' (his words). After two years of snow with him refusing to allow me to buy him any, I took my life in my hands and bought them for him. To my surprise he took it quite calmly - it helped that they were black and a label! But equally he hasn't worn them either! After several years of welly rows it was a truce at least.

Until last weekend when he suddenly demanded to know where they were. My first thought was ebay (I'd had the same thought myself), but no. Cynical old me!

I had to hold onto the counter with the shock. He actually wanted to wear them! They were off to some thing in a field and his mates had turned up in wellies (£10 jobs I noted bitterly). I held on tightly and tried not to smirk or look at all pleased as he retrieved then from the depths of the cupboard and pulled them on.

He went off happily in his wellies and I took an early slug from the 'rescue remedy' in the fridge door. Same again Sunday and they now sit muddily by the back door. He is now demanding tickets for festivals so I'm anticipating a conclusive victory for me in the welly war.

Next step, geting the dd to stick to just one new pair a year!

Hilarious

Now, when I read the OP I thought he was just informing us that his 13 and 15 yo both go to high school (unless they are HE, well yeah!), not that they were actually going to school that day....but maybe some schools in Mitcham are open on Saturday.....

At DD's school there is nowhere to store wet raincoats and wellies. The lockers aren't big enough and they can't carry them around school all day.

Teenagers don't wear coats. Complete sentence. Non-negotiable. Just accept.

Oh yes, Superdry. DD harped on about 1 of these, I eventually caved in and bought one. She wore it a handful of times and it has hung in the cupboard ever since. She now won't wear it!

So, even Superdry's don't work, IME

If anybody would like to buy a second hand Superdry though and give it a shot, let me know!

DS has been known to get up half an hour earlier to catch the bus rather than cycle and wear a coat when it's pissing it down! Very cruel to insist on coat and wells

Themumsnot Are you me?
H&M faux leather jacket is all DD will wear while she waits for me to fork out for a Superdry coat.

It is simply just uncool, literally and physically, for teenagers to dress appropriately for the weather, I see them at the bus stop peeling off their raincoats (if they have actually worn one). Part of the problem is the schools insist they wear blazers all the time, which are obviously not waterproof and so they have to sit around in them all day. Coats etc are therefore a hassle and have to be either carried away or stored in lockers, it is too much trouble. We live near the Pennines, so there is always 'weather' to consider. I bought my daughter an innocuous plain black berghaus to wear over the blazer - but other than that ( it would have to be snowy etc for her to wear it) she just takes an umbrella, and in yr 11 is now on her 8th.........Footwear is an issue as the schools forbid girls to wear boots which seems utterly stupid to me when it is raining stairrods outside - got my son some goretex school shoes this year and they have lasted since September despite being very pricey, but waterproof shoes are wonderful! Up here we say there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing, it is about time the schools were a bit more flexible about encouraging them to be warm and dry - surely more important, so they are not ill.....................

I'm having a lie down at the thought of the reaction I'd get from my 15yo if I tried to make him wear Welles and a cheap waterproof to school.

I'm also remembering what my reaction would have been.

Ok you're the parent and you make the rules but do you seriously want to make your kids a laughing stock?

The thing with teenagers is that coats of their choosing are expensive. There is no point though in spending even £1 on a coat they won't wear...it's a pound wasted.

I'm imagining the OP's DC in Poundland ponchos.

You made a 15 year old wear raincoat and wellies? Cruel. Very, very cruel.

Mine 13yo would quite happily not go out, or be grounded for several years rather than wear wellies and a rain coat. He will come home like a drowned rat and and say "I know, mum, I've had a learning experience." He never learns, though.

You wanted them to go to (High) School in a cheap raincoat and Wellies?

My DD never wears a coat, if it's raining she will wear a hoody but it isn't waterproof so she still gets soaked!

As others have said, you need to pick your battles and this one isn't worth battling at all, IMO.