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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

MN are obsessed with puddlesuits

48 replies

Pissingdownagain · 12/04/2023 16:30

It’s torrential rain here, the sort that hurts your face when you’re out in it, icy cold and windy. The streets, parks and ponds are deserted: even the ducks have fucked off.

I have a toddler single handed for four days. I know it’s pointless posting for suggestions because I’d be regaled with advice about just putting on a puddlesuit and jumping in puddles. So what I’m wondering is if it’s just me who gets irritated by this and also when did it start, as I don’t remember it being the go to advice a few years ago? I think it may have been in pandemic times with literally no other options and now it has become the norm and suggesting anything in the warm and dry is positively decadent …

OP posts:
Somebodiesmother · 12/04/2023 16:33

I can't remember the last time I saw this suggestion. I mean I have loads of ideas but don't really feel like sharing them with a passive aggressive grouch.

MickyShell · 12/04/2023 16:36

4 days is a long time to be stuck indoors with a toddler, however entertaining you might be.

Get the puddlesuit.

WhatNoRaisins · 12/04/2023 16:37

The puddlesuit represents everything I hated about lockdown

2reefsin30knots · 12/04/2023 16:38

Go to soft play then?

TrombonesAreNotBones · 12/04/2023 16:38

My kids are in their twenties now and yea, we did don puddlesuits and get them out there, faces burning with the cold, poor things!

But in my defence there were three of them and staying in for days on end was really unpleasant, they needed daily running and jumping, big physical movements or they were hideous.

Back then we had puddlesuits like tiny fisherman's waders, you had to have layers on underneath and a big coat over; the modern ones with fleeced lining and taped seams look a lot better.

I sympathise, this holiday week has been awful.

DragonflyLady · 12/04/2023 16:39

Used to put mine in one a decade ago and get her outside - despite me hating walking in the rain. Nowadays she hates walking in the rain too - but she loved it back then!!

ShirleyPhallus · 12/04/2023 16:39

I thought tuff trays were MN’s answer to all toddler issues

mynameiscalypso · 12/04/2023 16:39

Oh god yeah. Puddlesuits do not make up for how shit it is being outside in that kind of weather. And my DS - who is admittedly a bit older now - has always hated being outside in rain and wind.

(We're potty training this week so I've hardly left the house with my 3.5 year old and I feel your pain for sure).

Anoisagusaris · 12/04/2023 16:40

My eldest is 15 and when he, and the others, were toddlers, I most definitely put puddlesuits or waterproof trousers and wellies and headed out in the rain/wind with them. Even 10 or 20 minutes was enough to break up the day a bit.

potatowhale · 12/04/2023 16:41

I want a puddle suit

CommanderSeven · 12/04/2023 16:41

I don't think it's a pandemic thing. I first heard of puddlesuits almost 15 years ago. DS17 and DD13.

Scroobydoo · 12/04/2023 16:42

I've realised the puddlesuit is only useful if the adult has equivalent foul weather gear. Sadly I do not.

However I have been known to put DD in hers and let her splash about on the patio while I watch from the kitchen with a cup of tea 🫣

Saschka · 12/04/2023 16:45

Somebodiesmother · 12/04/2023 16:33

I can't remember the last time I saw this suggestion. I mean I have loads of ideas but don't really feel like sharing them with a passive aggressive grouch.

Somebody literally suggested it on a thread yesterday. Can’t be arsed hunting it out, but it was a “what to do with children in wet weather” thread so won’t be too hard to find.

Honestly OP I do find waterproof trousers make going out between thunderstorms a bit more appealing - your DC can go on the playground equipment without getting soaked from rain on the slides, wet bum on the swings, etc. Plus if your child is the type to slip in mud, it is much easier to rinse them off than deal with muddy normal clothes.

My other go-to is swimming.

PuttingDownRoots · 12/04/2023 16:45

The puddlesuits are for between storms. I don't think I've ever seen anyone suggest taking toddlers out in extreme weather.
But if you want to stay inside, stay inside. No rules saying you must go puddle jumping.

(I have outdoorsy preteens. Full waterproofs still in regular use! I've got them too.)

CrotchetyQuaver · 12/04/2023 16:45

I think getting toddlers out to run off energy is essential for the adults sanity, whatever the weather, so get the puddle suit and wellies on and outside!

PussBilledDuckyPlait · 12/04/2023 16:46

Never even heard of a 'puddle suit' and I've been on MN for seven years.

Fairislefandango · 12/04/2023 16:47

My dc are 15 and 17 and puddle suits were very popular when they were toddlers. I think they were called splash suits or something. They both had one and loved stomping about in them.

Sometimes you just need to get outside, especially if you have a dog as well as a toddler! I've just been out for an hour and a half's dog walk in the torrential rain in my two-piece puddlesuit - aka waterproof trousers and a waterproof coat. It was pretty splashy out there.

FloatingRodger · 12/04/2023 16:47

OP you are hereby excused from going out with a toddler when the weather is this awful.

I seethe inside when I'm cheerfully told 'there's no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing!' or whatever it is. Yea I don't have ££ to spend on hiking gear and I'd need a balaclava or something because my face gets freezing and I get miserable! It can be a sensory thing for me in wind and lashing rain.

That said, where I am the rain is really off and on so I've just hauled my kids outside for a few laps of the park then back in to screen time...

MaryJean87 · 12/04/2023 16:47

One of my kids used to scream whenever he was in the pram and rip off the raincover so I'd put him in a puddlesuit if it was really bad out. Saved his legs getting soaked.

Mutabiliss · 12/04/2023 16:50

Talk of puddlesuits gives me a lockdown-related twitch 😕Entertaining a two year old in the winter of 2020/21 was utterly shit.

Anyway. Puddlesuits are great for when it has rained, the sun has come out and you want to leave the house with a child who will jump in puddles. They will not protect you from lashing rain and gale force winds, such as we have today. Stay inside and check Accuweather Minutecast for a vague idea of when it might stop raining.

WhatNoRaisins · 12/04/2023 16:55

And most of the suggestions I remember being given for how to entertain toddlers indoors were things where the set up and clean up takes multiple times longer than the pitiful amount of time it would hold their attention.

If you don't have a little one that enjoys the cold and wet it's tricky.

JOD74 · 12/04/2023 16:56

I’ve been here for many years and have never even heard of a ‘puddlesuit’, so there’s hardly an obsession.

FrenchandSaunders · 12/04/2023 16:57

Lockdown was dry and roasting hot!!

Arewehumanorarewecupboards · 12/04/2023 16:58

Mine are outside and loved being outdoors in all in ones when they were little.

Original poster
Pissingdownagain · 12/04/2023 16:59

It isn’t just the fact the weather is bad though - there does come a point where it’s so bad it’s quite dangerous, with branches falling and cars having reduced visibility. Drizzle fair enough but lashing rain - no.

I do have a rough plan for the next four days, only one of which involves a puddlesuit. But every day would be rather miserable for both parties and negates the point somewhat.

OP posts:
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