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Original poster

"No hat, no outside" not working. Been trapped inside with toddler for 4 days.

489 replies

SelfBuild · 17/04/2021 09:21

Toddler (22 months) will not wear a sun hat, only a wooly bobble hat, we've tried 5 different sun hats with his favourite things on. Just not working. Went out last week and it was hot and he'd only put a bobble hat on and he was sodden with sweat afterwards.

So I toughened up, put the bobble hat out of sat and have lined up a selection of sun hats next to his shoes by the door. Everytime for the last 4 days he's asked to go in the garden, for a walk or to the park we've had the "no hat, no play/no go outside" argument. He will not back down and just tears it off so we haven't left the house. It's so sunny and nice and I'm just stuck indoors with a cranky toddler who hasn't had a proper run around in days but neither of us will back down.

What do I do?

OP posts:
Mammma91 · 18/04/2021 17:36

OP, my son is the exact same age and we have the same problem. I picked my battles and he refuses to wear a sun hat even now. Unfortunately when toddlers have made their mind up about something there is no reasoning with them.
Honestly, I’d just let him learn his own way and continue to encourage him. Taking the hats out with you etc. My LO tends to copy so if i (or dad) wear a hat he would want his too.
Hopefully its just a stage.
Sending Flowers , toddlers are tough.

korinthea · 18/04/2021 17:36

I dont know if other places do this but asda has a spray specifically for the scalp, I've used it on me and my daughter when abroad and never burnt

roxanne119 · 18/04/2021 17:44

You can get these cool tie cloth like a pirate bandana types that protect against the sun and come in many designs I sometimes put on the non hat wearers here

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Tessabelle74 · 18/04/2021 17:48

Slap loads of sun cream on him and get outside. My 4 have never worn a sun hat and no way I'd be held hostage by a 2 year old!

Karenaki · 18/04/2021 18:00

I’m assuming you’re trying to instil a habit, so he won’t fight it later in the summer when it’s super important. I think (personally) it’s a good idea!
I was lucky that my two were in nursery four days a week and they trained them into it, as a result they’ve never questioned it at weekends with me. Or balked at sun cream. God bless nursery!
I don’t blame you for wanting to get it instilled from young. Fwiw

Localocal · 18/04/2021 18:07

Agree with others - suncream on very sunny days, and the scalp spray one if he has a lot of scalp showing. Don't make yourself or him crazy over this.

LoveFall · 18/04/2021 18:12

Regarding rickets. My Father was born and grew up in Vancouver, where the climate is similar to the UK. He got rickets. Despite lots of playing outside, as far as I can tell from the old photos.

It may be that he got it before milk was fortified, but it shows it can happen.

mal2826 · 18/04/2021 18:17

I'm fair skinned and can burn at this time of the year when most others don't even get a tan. In summer if I sit in the same position for 20 minutes I burn.

I don't like wearing hats or even sunglasses so stay in the shade as much as possible. That's fine as an adult but children want to run around so the shade is not really an option for your boy.

Is there such a thing as a cotton or bamboo knitted hat that has a rim to keep the sun off his face? It would hopefully be cooler and less likely to cause irritation. Maybe ask someone to knit one for you. This might help until he comes round to the idea of wearing a sun hat 🤷‍♀️.

Winter2020 · 18/04/2021 18:28

Hi OP,
Sorry your having a rough time. My son made an “Easter bonnet” at nursery (paper plate with the middle cut out/ribbon etc) but could be any dress up hat or funny hat, anything really. We played lots of “timmy’s” got his hat on - hip hip hip - hooray, “timmy’s got his hat on and he’s coming out to play”...same with mummy and daddy taking turns and “mummy’s got herhat on....” This moved on to any hat’s that were around and lot’s of fun “timmy’s got his hat on..hip hiphip hooray.” with any hat and now (accidentally but usefully) he quite like’s wearing hats and is happy to wear one. Worth a try.

LisaD76 · 18/04/2021 18:30

How about a hankie hat, my mum used to knot the corners of a hankie and put them on us as sun hats, we always kept them on.

nannykatherine · 18/04/2021 18:36

@SelfBuild

Toddler (22 months) will not wear a sun hat, only a wooly bobble hat, we've tried 5 different sun hats with his favourite things on. Just not working. Went out last week and it was hot and he'd only put a bobble hat on and he was sodden with sweat afterwards.

So I toughened up, put the bobble hat out of sat and have lined up a selection of sun hats next to his shoes by the door. Everytime for the last 4 days he's asked to go in the garden, for a walk or to the park we've had the "no hat, no play/no go outside" argument. He will not back down and just tears it off so we haven't left the house. It's so sunny and nice and I'm just stuck indoors with a cranky toddler who hasn't had a proper run around in days but neither of us will back down.

What do I do?

Nanny of 20 plus years here .. Standoffs never work . Toddlers have these little foibles .. (You know the tutu and wellies thing ) You just have to go with it ... Why ruin a nice sunny day . If he gets sweaty try commenting Ooh your hot It must be the wool hat .. Maybe a nice cotton one will be better Leave it at that Don’t insist let him come round to thinking it’s his idea ..

Toddlers get attached to items for emotional reasons
Maybe it helps him feel safer

Eatingsoupwithafork · 18/04/2021 18:36

I find it hard to get hats on LO too and shes the same age. They’re so stubborn. She loves her helmet so I just let her take her bike or scooter on our walks so people don’t just think I’m an overprotective mum who makes her where a helmet everywhere 🤣

angela99999 · 18/04/2021 18:36

@SelfBuild - I agree that if he is so fair he needs protection - I speak as an obsessed mother who made her DC wear T shirts in the sea in the 70s and 80s, everyone thought I was mad! And now many mothers keep their DC covered in the sea. But don't make a thing of it or he'll make a thing of it too and you'll never persuade him. I'd go with the bobble hat, he'll eventually realise a cotton hat is more comfortable.
Its not a situation that you need to see as a "win".

Ddot · 18/04/2021 18:37

Sew bobble on sun hat!
Worth a try

Acs07 · 18/04/2021 18:39

SPF always. He will learn soon to wear hats.

1WayOrAnother2 · 18/04/2021 18:43

With ours you usually had to insist that he couldn't have a hat!

2 - what an age. They do grow up eventually...

(He still has his own ideas about everything but it is much less my responsibility now.)

RiverMeadow · 18/04/2021 18:46

Malibu do a clear protection spray for hair in an SPF30. It's a godsend!!

Reinventinganna · 18/04/2021 18:49

Do you and his dad wear a sun hat? Maybe he will copy if you do too.

Weareallvirgins · 18/04/2021 18:53

Your letting a 22 month dictate to you. Put the hat on his bloody head and tell him to leave it on or he will spend the day in time out. Or is this too 80s?

SeaTurtles92 · 18/04/2021 18:54

@murbblurb

FFS, how stupid are some on here? As noted above and repeatedly, air temperature is not related to UV strength. The sun is a long way away, dumb ones. December in the northern hemisphere is low UV for reasons obvious to anyone who doesn't go ' oh no, I don't bother my pretty head with science'

Latitude, time of year, elevation, cloud cover affect UV strength. Temperature is not on that list.

I'm so glad you cleared up the fact the sun was a long way away. Phew.
Crappyfridays7 · 18/04/2021 18:55

I have a ginger son I just sprayed his head it’s warm just now but not super warm so you could get away with it just now then work on the hat, maybe by the summer he’ll wear it. We went to Australia and he had a little hat you strapped under his chin. But if it’s really hot we stayed in the shade. You’ll get there

aimsi · 18/04/2021 18:59

My son was the same, we had to make an Easter bonnet for nursery, used a straw holiday hat which he decorated, majorly decorated! He wouldn’t take it off! He the. Decorated a base ball cap and alternated between the 2, we still have them 3 years later and he still likes to (try) to put them on. Maybe that’ll work?

Clangerschick · 18/04/2021 19:02

For everyone taking the piss that she’s trying to get her son to wear a sun hat in the uk in April, we have spent the last two days outside in the garden. My 6 month old had a sun hat on his head and my 2 year old did aswell unless he wanted to go on the trampoline (probably no more than 20 minutes at a time). I’ve just given him his bath before bed and he’s got a red Mark where he’s caught the sun on the back of his neck when he’s not been wearing the hat. We are in the east of England not the Bahamas and yes he needed a sun hat.

AccidentallyOnPurpose · 18/04/2021 19:03

@Weareallvirgins

Your letting a 22 month dictate to you. Put the hat on his bloody head and tell him to leave it on or he will spend the day in time out. Or is this too 80s?
GrinGrinGrinGrinGrin

What? A whole day? OP can't even put a hat on his head (no judgement there,toddlers are a pain) but you somehow think she can keep him in one spot doing nothing for a whole day?

That never happened. Now, in the 80's , 50's or 1's. Unless we're talking about tied up/confined institutionalised children.

Bunnyfuller · 18/04/2021 19:07

My children never wore sunhats. They’re alive.

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