to get angry at parents who don't put their children in coats when its cold!

[Cezzy]

Going to school, parents all dressed up in warm clothes, coats etc but their children are just in a school fleece. Sorry but it's bloody cold in the mornings and the wind blows right across the playground from the fields so it feels even colder, it's not as if you have to pay a lot for a warm coat nowadays (for £16 I got a bundle with warm coat, 2 shirts and trousers). It really makes my blood boil to see these kids all hunched up and cold. So maybe they don't want one leaving the house, getting into the car etc but they still go out playtimes and lunchtimes. My children don't always want to wear one but I insist and usually they are glad they have them once we get out. Rant over, thank you.

[scottishmummy]

Mine would run about in scud in snow if they could,decline coats and won't wear I'm not having a barney about it

[AnxiousElephant]

YABU. Both my dds try to refuse coats, which I do battle with in the mornings and win. By the time we are half way to school they have been stripped off - dd1 5yo goes on her bike, dd2 3yo goes on her balance bike so neither seem to feel the cold. I then end up looking like the donkey out of the nativity scene, I carry that much! . If they are cold they will generally tell you. Since you get colds/ coughs from virus' rather than getting cold I really wouldn't worry
It is unreasonable to not send a coat with the child though incase it rains at break.
AIU to not send a hat and gloves?

[missorinoco]

"What about leaves? They make my blood boil, fluttering around onto the ground. And the wind. Makes my blood boil."
Except I transferred your boiling blood from leaves to the OP's issue. You made me chuckle.

[mrsruffallo]

missorinoco what are you on about?

[helpmabob]

I would reserve your judginess for the kids especially the babies wrapped in several warm layers going puce inside shopping centres and the like. The St John's ambulance gets called out for more children suffering fits from overheating than from anything else.

[Soups]

Both mine are forever leaving their coats at school, unless it's terrible weather I don't send them in wearing another jumper or coat, in the hope that they get cold and learn from their mistakes. Still waiting, they don't seem to care. They get picked up by an after school club and I'm not there to send them back again.

[julienoshoes]

YABU
Just because you are cold, it doesn't mean that others are.
My children chose when to wear a coat or not, from about the age of 7. If they didn't take them and then got cold, they rememberd nexxt time.

But my children like me, don't seem to feel the cold. DH is all wrapped up and always shouting that we should take coats.

i'm still in a cotton summer dress, bare arms and bare feet.

I HATE being wrapped up and too warm!

My one concession to autumn is that I am wearing (thin) leggings

[missorinoco]

Mrsruffalo, whren your blood boils you must be lovely and warm. I wil try very hard from now on to give a fig about what other children are wearing when they come out of school. That'll warm me up whilst DS faffs about adding to his leaf collection.

[cheeseandmarmitesandwich]

I wonder if the OP walked past me in town today with a 3yo and 1yo with no coats... DH left DD2's coat at nursery so she was in the buggy in a vest, tshirt, thin jumper and fleece. DD1 was wearing a long sleeved cotton dress and HAD been wearing a lovely thick coat when we left the house but stripped off after 5 mins. Both were/are absolutely fine, it's not actually that cold yet!

[TheBestWitch]

YABU. I always take a coat out for dd and she puts it on her peg at school but it has to be icy for her to actually wear it. She's 4. She knows that if she's cold putting a coat on will keep her warm. I'm not going to wrestle her into it when I think she should wear it. DS who is 20 months I will put a coat on when I think it's needed but kids age 3ish and up are generally capable of making the decision themselves imo.

[BOOareHaunting]

ABF

[RedHotPokers]

I think parents should send their DCs to school WITH coats just in case, but how on earth are they meant to make sure the DCs keep them on? Plus some people just don't feel the cold.

My DD (5) comes out of school in her cardigan and winter coat cos the teacher tells her to put them on. By the time she has got 10 feet out of the door, she has taken them both off and asked me to hold them whilst she runs around madly with her friends. She then walks all the way home in the cold in just her blouse and pinafore. Meanwhile DS and I are shivering with our layers on. She has inherited DHs inability to ever feel the cold. She has a summer duvet all year round, wears sun dresses in the winter, and begs to wear sandals all the time!

[mercibucket]

it is a great lesson for children in independence and the consequences of actions to let them decide whether to wear a coat or not or what kind of coat to wear in the mornings, so I let mine make their own minds up, with a bit of advice from me. the 4 year old doesn't get a choice though

[demonicma]

best parenting advice I ever got was "pick your battles". the wearing of coats isn't one of them. Apart from babies/toddlers, the rest are big enough and ugly enough to suffer the consequences and wear them when they are cold enough.

[AmazingBouncingFerret]

[startail]

Senior school and raincoats is quite another mater and DS1 drives me mad not taking any kind of mac. Non of them do, they have no where to put them, but ...,

[startail]

UABU I will be freezing, but my DCs are of course half their father and DH has been known to wear sandals in the snow
I haven't a clue if the DDs are cold, but I suspect they aren't.

[dikkertjedap]

I appreciate that it is difficult for some parents to make their child wear a coat. However, I do not understand why you cannot make sure that your child at least has a coat/fleece at school. Why should the school have to use its money to buy coats? I have had plenty of mothers complaining that we do not give kids a warm coat to go home on a cold afternoon (we only lend coats for during school time).

[BOOareHaunting]

YABU.

If you feel my DS should be wearing both coat and jumper everyday, because the mornings are cold, then you pick him up from school everyday and stand there until he has them in his hand to bring home - also in the cold.

He goes and comes home with out of school club by bus, he often comes out in the cold in just a shirt and when I collect him after work he has forgotton 1 or both items.

Hard to wear things he hasn't got.

[ouryve]

MaryMary - you've never taught my DS1.

We've yet to find the miracle worker who can "make" him do anything. As his mother, I have to pick my battles very carefully. As was proved earlier, he soon changes his mind about not wearing a coat when it gets down to single figure temperatures with enough wind chill. Wearing his coat before he goes out of the door is not a hill I want to die on.

[SeveredHeadsDragonTheFloor]

I'm wondering how the OP knows it is cold.
Surely her judgey pants keep her warm.

I have enough fights with my children in the morning. If they get cold, they will learn that putting a coat on, like I suggested, helps.

[Marymaryalittlecontrary]

I think the comments from teachers are interesting.

I think that if you want to give your child the choice of whether to wear a coat or not then that's up to you. But if you tell them to wear one and they 'refuse' then that's a different matter and you need to get firmer.

I'm a teacher and have never once had a child refuse to put on a coat. A couple have said 'I don't want to' but were told they had to and complied. If you want your children to put coats on then they should put their coats on. If you're not bothered whether they do or don't then fair enough.

I think that children who are running around and being active and getting hot are one thing, but it's completely different if the child is a baby or toddler in a pushchair. My grandmother always said she looked at babies in prams who weren't properly wrapped up against the cold with such sympathy after she started using a wheelchair - as she said that she then realised how cold you can get sitting in a chair.

Also, some people just don't have a lot of common sense about when their children might need coats. I remember going to see an outdoor show a couple of years ago. It was in July, started at 6pm and ended at 10ish. Of course when it started it was warm, but I remember looking at all of the kids in thin t shirts (and I could see the parents were mostly empty handed so they didn't have jumpers or coats with them) and thinking "you're going to be freezing by the time this finishes." Sure enough, as we were all leaving I heard child after child whingeing "Mummy/Daddy, I'm coooold!"

[dikkertjedap]

At present about 9 in 10 children in my class don't seem to have a coat. Also, about 70% are still wearing summer dresses and the boys shorts and T-shirts, no sweatshirts, no cardigans.

We repeatedly ask parents to provide a raincoat and warm coat/fleece, our requests are usually ignored, but some parents have commented:

• no need, the cold will boost the immune system
  
• the cold will make them learn better
  
• coats are too expensive and if they have to go out then school should provide coats
  
• child does not like to wear coats.
  

All our children are given a coat when it is cold. I regularly go to the charity shop to buy cheap coats. None of the children object and some ask if they can please keep the coat as they feel cold.

[raspberryroop]

Unless a child has SN what's the problem ?

[pissedrightoff]

Oh bollocks to you!
Are you the interfering old bat who stopped me yesterday to ask why DD had no hat and gloves on?
A) Erm because she runs bloody everywhere and is never cold
B) Mind your own beeswax