to think parenting small children is easier in warmer climates?

[tryingtobefunctional]

I have 2DC pre-school age and we've been stuck indoors for months/weeks due to snow and rain showers. I am constantly clearing up toys, food, drink, wiping stains and general mess and always looking for socks, shoes, coats, scarves hats, and trying to catch each DC and dress them appropriately each day.

I remember what it was like for those couple of months last summer when I could put a little dress on DD and just a nappy and a vest on DS , put suncream on them, and go and sit outside in the garden or in the park or the playground and just let them play. You can't make a mess out of grass, or playground equipment which is nailed to the floor.

I have friends on Facebook in australia with similar age kids and every day they're at the beach. It just looks like it's easier.

AIBU/delusional?

Picnic in the park. So suncream constantly being applied, wasps, feeling like you might melt alive (just me!). Trying to get hats that stay on, keep food cool so it doesn't go off.

There is absolutely no reason your kids can't be running around outside today or for the last few months. Except attitude.

YANBU!!! Dd was born in Greece. Endless days at the beach, shorts and vest, dinner outside and long summer evenings. Ds was born in Devon. Endless days in front of the tv, coat, hat, scarf, gloves, jumper, shirt, trousers, leggings, socks and boots, mud everywhere and dark evenings by 3.30.

Yes its difficult coating kids in sunscreen but not as difficult as stuffing them into thermals just to walk ten minutes to the shop.

I have friends on Facebook in australia with similar age kids and every day they're at the beach. It just looks like it's easier

It's not. If its raining or cold where you are all you need are waterproofs and or warmer clothes. In the hot sun you need to be hypervigilant about sun cream, hats, staying in the shade, staying hydrated. Nobody ever died from rain burn or rain stroke!
Plus at the beach you need to watch the constantly so they dont' drown or get lost or whatever.

completely agree. can deal with the cold,but the constant rain...ughhh

we dont use sunscreen either so just wear a pair of sandals and off you go.in hot weather you have to avoid hotter times between 11am-3 or 4 pm but the days are long and theres all the evening to go out still.

I’d say then same, as you would have to apply sunscreen etc all the time

There is absolutely no reason your kids can't be running around outside today or for the last few months. Except attitude

I'm happy to take my DC out in the cold/wet but all the parks are empty. No other kids around so they find it boring. My ds especially likes making friends with other kids and kicking a ball about with them...it's not so fun in an empty park.

YABU kids can get sunburnt or bitten by fire ants or whatever in hot countries. Also you cant go out in the middle of the day.

Plus, in Europe anyway, the further south you go, the more traditional society is, so in eg Greece your name will quite possibly be mud for eg being a single mother.

I'm a teacher in the Middle East - for us it's just a case of swapping 'wet playtime' with 'too hot playtime' over the summer

Thanks for replies - conclusion seems to be that it depends what you like and what you don’t as a person.

Don’t get me wrong, I have been out with the DC every day in this winter. Anyone saying that I just need to dress them appropriately or go in all weathers and then it will be fine. I do that.

It’s just I think I find parenting easier somewhere temperate and warm - or like a pp said - 20 degrees and sunny where short sleeves are okay, and when there is just a vest or a dress to take on or put off to change a nappy.

Also socialising is a lot easier with kids in a warmer climate. I see more people. Friends will come over and DC will play together in the garden while we watch them and chat and lie on cushions drinking pimms. Not sat on a table in Starbucks trying to stop a toddler smash their chin on the table and another one empty a muffin over the floor while trying to hold a conversation with a friend who is trying to do the same with her DC.

Sorry, but I don't agree. Kids need sun protection when the UV index hits 3. That means keeping hats on and applying sunscreen regularly. Can't take them to the playground in the middle of the day because the play equipment is too hot. Kids at preschools kept inside between 11 and 3. Carrying bottles of water with you whenever you leave the house.

I've always thought this, but not for the reasons you mention. We always go out unless it's pouring with rain, with the appropriate clothing it's no problem. But wrestling them into outdoor clothing is a nightmare! It's so much easier just putting on a pair of sandals, a hat and nothing else.

I also wonder if children in warm countries have less colds and influenza? Or are these not really related to the cold?

trust me its a fantasy. have you seen the state of the playgrounds in Spain and Greece? that is why people don't use them. It is not like here where everything is set up for us, H and S and all that.
Also in more southern countries, people are more 'family orientated' which means they are unfriendlier because they already have their social scene set up.
PLUS (getting carried away now) in warmer countries they tend not to speak English (unless you mean Aus.) which is a teensy weensy problemette.

20 degrees is one thing, 35 to 40 degrees is another. Over 20 degrees as a nighttime minimum is also lots of fun.

Spring would be my ideal. The weather last Monday was lovely. We spent hours outside and didn’t have to really think about suncream as it wasn’t that hot. When it’s too hot we all burn within minutes and I find it a bit stressful.

YABU. We’re currently in the Middle East (for work) and for approximately half of the year, we can’t spend any time outdoors unless it’s at the pool. I plaster my child in factor 50 every single day, often twice a day. Heat stroke and dehydration are a major concern. Much easier to be in the UK when you can layer up and splash in the rain.

Cold weather is soooo much easier than covering my 3dc in sun cream (which dd3 is allergic to do I spend the whole summer trying different brands looking for one that doesn't make her face puff up!)

Put on a raincoat and wellies.

As long as it’s dry and above about 8 degrees then I’m happy. This winter seems to have lasted forever. But then DD just turned 2 and it’s hard to keep her entertained in the house. Maybe when she’s a bit older and can do things like play board games, watch films and bake, winter won’t seem so bad.

I live in Ireland so I’m just happy when it’s not freezing or pissing down.

Definitely yanbu- it’s been sunny the last two days here but the kids have been outside constantly and slept so well too!
Dreading the return of the rain and cold weather this week :(

OP, in fairness you’re socialising point is a fair one. I was forever grateful that DC1 was a spring baby as sitting in a park while babies snoozed under trees in prams was undoubtedly easier than us all cramming ourselves into cafes.

On the plus side, my car is now free from sand until maybe May, weather dependent. If it was beach weather all year, I think it would pile up until the kids could build sandcastles on the back seat.

It's not easier, we raised all ours in California, last one now in UK high school Trying to keep them out of the hot sun when it's 40 no shade, parks too hot to use the equipment. Backyard so hot, spiders snakes, and scorpions. Putting sun cream on day after day isn't good for them, so we used it sparingly and used shade. Once it got hot we'd be indoors in the A/C each afternoon. We swam, not daily, they get bored of that too so we'd swim only in the evenings at the clubhouse. When we got rare rain, they woud get out the wellies and we'd go for walks and splash in puddles.

Almost forgot vacuuming the sand out of the car, and off the floor, and out of the carpet, sofa, and beds.

Playgrounds in our bit of Spain are always quite new and in really good nick, in fact when I've been back to the UK I've been a bit shocked by how shit and crumbly and knackered looking the play equipment often is, but you can't go on the play equipment when it's 35ºC, you'd burn the skin off you.
In summer in southern Spain you can't be outside between about 11 am and 8 pm and that is no exaggeration.

I don't know about living somewhere warmer as I don't like heat, but I find spring to autumn easier than winter.

In spring/summer we paddle in streams, swim in lakes and the sea, we go to the park and play in the sandpit for hours, we picnic outdoors, camp overnight.

in winter, we go out for a few hours at most. We do have decent clothing but I personally hate standing around a park for an hour in cold sideways rain. I don't like eating sandwiches in the rain sat on wet muddy floor either.

walks are ok as you keep moving, but not every young child wants to go for long walks everyday.

the start of winters alright - but I am more than ready for proper spring now.