Obsession with vests, socks, any kind of cool air, air conditioning

[waterbottless]

I am away in Italy at the moment and this is all people talk about in relation to my kids and themselves.

It's like 35 degrees every day and still 30 at night and yet, apparently they need to wear a vest.

I am staying with some of my H's relatives, but there have also been friends visiting who are just horrified at the air conditioning being on 22 degrees. Apparently it's like being at the North Pole. They put their aircon on 27 and on low.

We went to a shopping centres and I was sweating as the air con was on so little.

I know in places like the states and Dubai, maybe occasionally it can get a bit chilly inside, but I would prefer that.

Apparently we are all going to get really really sick from the cold air. Are there more sick people in places that use air con more ? I doubt it.

My kids should also wear socks in the house as there are tiles on the floor and they'll get sick from walking barefoot.

If we are ever outside at night ( at 30 degrees ) and a tiny bit of wind blows, they all start freaking out and getting a cardigan for their shoulders, so they don't get sick.

I find it totally OTT and I am genuinely wondering if Italians get sick less because of these habits ? They seem obsessed with getting a chill.

Really cold aircon is vile. I was in one of our (UK) meeting rooms yesterday and it was like being in a fridge. Not great when I was wearing a cotton wrap dress and sandals (reasonable clothing for 25 degrees outside).

I do wear a vest in summer but usually Uniqlo airsim tops. Which are a godsend in warm weather.

Aircon on 22 is a bit much, you'll struggle to acclimatise to the heat if you keep the flat that cool. Different people can feel the cold more, so socks on tiled floors and cardigans in the breezy evening make sense to me. Vests is going a bit far in that temperature, just tell them the kids are fine thanks.

It's how they live! When I go to Italy I think it's hot in October but they all have all their winter coats on. Shock horror they are different 😂

Different people have different tolerances to heat. If they are used to 27, 22 will fill cold. Similarly you feel too hot at 27.

I'm also guessing it costs more to cool to 22? Kind of like in the UK people tolerate only heating to to 18 (or lower) to save money

Maybe they are just acclimatised to warmer temperatures, I remember going to Portugal once and it was about 19°. The Brits were going around in Tshirt snd shorts, the locals had long trousers and jackets on.

A cardigan at 30 degrees ? Even with a very slight breeze it's a bit much. Also, children wearing a vest under their tops at 35 degrees otherwise they could get a chill or pneumonia?? It's a bit much. So everyone else gets these things from not wearing a vest at these high temperatures ?

It’s a cultural thing.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16141184.amp

22 is the ideal setting for air conditioning in my opinion! Some people prefer it cooler, some hotter. You'll know if your own kids are cold ffs. As for walking barefoot making them ill, well that is some old wives tale nonsense. Illness comes from germs not feet 🙄

Everything is about not getting the ' hit of air '...

We should be constantly walking around sick according to them.

I guess I am just sick of hearing it and being constantly undermined

In Japan post the tsunami everywhere was asked to set air-conditioning at no lower than 26 degrees due to the fact all the nuclear power stations were off.
It was fine, people got used to it and actually it did cool you down. The issue you've got is that you've suddenly moved up 10 degrees from UK. When the temp goes gradually up from spring to summer you get used to it. You also become obsessed with shade and not getting too hot, moving slow, standing out of sun. So you feel a bit cooler then if there's a breeze or whatever

My brother and SIL moved to Italy a few years ago with their kids then 2 and 6 and it drives her nuts being constantly told by all the Nonnas that her kids will get sick. They dress like kids would here in the uk, T-shirts and shorts when it’s 21/22 or higher while Italian kids would be in long sleeves, vests, jumpers, coats til 30C it seems.

Crikey last week in Greece we had our hotel room air on set at 19 degrees! Temperature outside was 40 though.

I guess the locals are acclimatised to the higher temperatures. I remember being in Johannesburg one day when it was 25 degrees, I was in t shirt and shorts, the locals were in thick jumpers and jeans. Our friends we were staying with had their patio heater on!

Also as soon as a child sneezes, even once, they're like ' see ' ' see ' the pneumonia is starting to set in..

My kids wear vests in the winter and socks etc when it's cold. I just don't think they need a vest at 35 degrees.

Totally agree. Part of me hates visiting them; they live in Milan and everyone without exception is dressed so well and expensively. Nothing looks obviously used. The kids clambering over the playgrounds and running around and even then all their clothes are immaculate. We’re a fairly scruffy family, hand me downs etc. I feel so downtrodden there!

I really want to know what they do with their lightly used clothes. my SIL says everyone in Milan will buy a whole new wardrobe every season pretty much, but there are no secondhand shops anywhere that she’s found. I can’t imagine the clothes waste! Anyway off topic!

socks on tiled floors is a recipe for cracked heads in my experience!

Different places have different traditions on all this - I have one friend who won't have a fan in their bedroom, another place I lived they were obsessed with my baby having to have socks on at all time (lot more relaxed about sunhats though!), another every soft-play had a bank of hair dryers, because going outside with a sweaty head was apparently a death sentence (no, it really wasn't that cold)

I struggled with the aircon last time we were in Florida. It was set to 78f which is 25.5c and couldn't be adjusted, it was uncomfortably hot in the bedrooms.

It is just what you're used to. We took DS to the south of Spain one Easter when he was about 15 months, it was around 20c and for us (from Scotland) a very pleasant early summer day, we were in jeans and t-shirts, DS was wearing little soft jersey trousers and a sweater. All the locals were in coats and hats, similarly aged children in snowsuits. They must have been really shocked at the poor frozen Scottish child.

You dress your children as you see fit (just smile and say they're English children used to the cold (and constant rain and smog 😜 - I live abroad and some people have watched a lot of Dickensian TV adaptations)...

Where I live many locals were aghast at children without wooly hats and winter coats when it was 20°C - they accepted the (illogical as my kids never lived in England) explanation that they were English and therefore hardy 😊 It is just cultural and here partly generational.

They're right about the aircon though - Aircon generally is really unhealthy - badly maintained spreads all sorts of pathogens but even well maintained aircon isn't healthy. It's also expensive, and more expensive the colder it's set.

Having aircon on 22°c will create a huge difference between inside and outside which is a challenge for less robust people who's immune systems will work less well in what their body experiences as cold in contrast to the outside temperature from a moment previously.

It's the aircon making everyone ill. We used to go to Italy most summers until a few years ago and I don't even remember encountering aircon, although we didn't go to shopping malls...

Everywhere has these myths. Not too long ago we used to warn about going outside with wet hair. Some older Germans believe people get sick from sitting on cold surfaces.

The undermining is the real issue and would drive me bonkers. I would remind them they are my children, I know them best, I make decisions. Don't entertain a debate.

Aircon doesn’t make you sick (unless it isn’t working properly) otherwise all of us in Australia would be permanently sick all summer. Germs cause sickness, not cold air.

We’re in Sydney and in summer I keep th house at a pleasant 22 as well, going down to 19 at night. 25 or 27 isn’t worth it, you’d be boiling!

And we never wear shoes! Yet our population seems to be doing ok 😁

That's just what they're like, I bet they also talk about digestion a lot and are horrified by the idea of going out without drying their hair.

People in warmer countries get uses to the higher temperatures so they feel it more when they drop a bit. The Spanish are the same with babies/kids wearing socks etc.

Air con shouldn't be too low, it should just make the environment comfortably cool, not cold. Ideally you don't want to go from 22 to 35 degrees in a few moments.

When I had my eldest DD in Germany, not only was the maternity ward quite sweltering warm, they used to put duvets on the babies. Except the British babies... they were used to our foibles of only having the baby sleeping bag, instead of the sleeping bag plus duvet (and hat and cardigan... and it was a heatwave!!)

I'm Scottish.
I tend wear a vest, regardless of temperature, because it's more comfortable - I often don't tuck my actual top in and I don't like the feeling of waistbands directly against my skin. I wear thermal vests in winter. I'm also quite particular about socks.
Maybe I'm odd too.

We were told that you get piles from sitting on cold surfaces (Scotland).