is there some intrinsic reason that children need to wear vests even if they do not wish to, claim not to be cold, and are healthy in every way I can see?

[FrannyandZooey]

row with my mother
please adjudicate

ah, we are definitely related, groucho... I'm wearing my thermal vest too. Not as funky as yours p'raps - don't think it would pass muster at a disco.

Hang on, 'disco'? disco'? was this back in the 80s...???

dd 2.4 has not worn a vest since about six months old. She was born in October in a house with no heating and has been trying to get the clothes I do insist she wears off since. At nursery she wears a long sleeved tee and thought they forever try to shoe-horn her into the jumpers I send in with her, she just hates it.
I wasn't aware anyone had vests after about a year, I remember wearing them at school (for PE !) but I wouldn't think of buying them for DD

Oh, no harpo - you misunderstand me. I wore it not as a funky vest to dance in, but as a piece of underwear to keep me warm! At a disco (okay, probably a club then )! I ask ya!

You don't actually catch a cold from feeling cold, but when you are feeling cold your natural resistance is lowered and so the germs that live all the time in your nose and throat get the chance to take hold and you can develop a full blown infection. So its best to keep warm by wearing layers (which is healthier than over-heating your house).

Took me ages to work out there was a solution to the floor in our kitchen being so unpleasantly cold in the morning. now I've got a lovely pair of slippers and am slightly less grumpy first thing. No idea why I was too dense to work this out before - we've only lived in this house for five years.

Actually, I think it's because I grew up in the North and always expect down South to be warmer hence failure to cope when it isn't.

As for mothers being obsessed with vests, in the days before central heating and antibiotics keeping your children warm and dry was one of the very few things you could do to try to fend off illness. Along with feeding them up and keeping them 'regular' - my grandmother was obsessed with our bowel habits. My enthusiastic consumption of All Bran used to terrify her!

Children must wear vests until at least the age of 16, anyone who doesn't enforce this is clearly a bad parent. The same goes for hats, gloves and scarves - it doesn't matter what the child wants, they don't know whats good for them, they can't tell if they are cold or not!!!

My mum will always pass comment if DD is sans hat and would probably throw a wobbly if she knew that i sometimes - shhhhhhh - don't put a vest on her!!

In defence of the vest though - i like them because they are comfy and can give that extra bit of warmth without the need to bulk up like an artic explorer. So for instance, yesterday DD had on a vest, long sleeved T-shirt and coat and it was FFFFFFFrrrrrreezing out. I think without the vest i would have needed a cardi and that would have been uncomfortable and pretty unviable considering DD was wearing her new Hello Kitty sweater.

My mother has scarred me for life re vests though. She would send me to school in those awful Termal things that are half vest/half dress/half corset. I was very blessed in the breast department but the last one to get a bra as my mum didnt feel i was ready at 14!!! Those bloody vests - mind you, i think i might be grateful of one of those now - to go to bed in .

what the hell are the half vest/dress/corset things LEM?????

(ps three halves = one and a half, they must be one third vest etc )

I don't generally favour vests, and I am notoriously slack about warm clothing (ribbed by my friends for being a neglectful mother by not dressing them properly) ...but frankly, in the current sub zero cold snap I have been enforcing vest wearing for my 4 and 6 year old...and hats, gloves and scarves (plus all the bits in between)

The reason more people catch colds in the winter is because they spend more time inside, in areas that are less-ventilated than they would be in the summer.

Germs pass more quickly from one person to another given those circumstances.

The cold has nothing to do with it, whatsoever.

Vests are pants

Got to disagree Desiderata - I distinctly recall some recent research indicating that being and feeling cold lowers your resistance to illness, jangly is spot on

ah yes, here we are

My two wear vests in winter and seem to want to. DS2 in particular is quite a hot bod but our house is draughty and a vest provides an extra layer when he refuses to put a jumper on because it 'feels funny'. They also wear them if they are wearing a top of some sort which has odd seams or embroidery. It seems to be a barrier against irritations.

I am not so sure if infant school children or younger are capable of regulating their temperature actually. I remember picking up DS1 on a very hot day (remember those) in June a couple of years ago when he was nearly 7. He looked boiling and I said to his teacher that you would think he would know to take his sweatshirt off and she said that most of them never think to do it or they take it off and never think to put it on when they are cold. She always had to remind them.

I wear a vest top occasionally too, no big deal. And slippers (wooden floors and those blessed draughts again)

If you want odd my DS1 wears socks all the time all year round and that includes in bed. It has been ever thus!

Strange boy.

Mind you, looks like the only feasible solution is a nose warmer! (if you read further down the link)

Im pretty sure you can be half vest, half corset, half dress!! They are awful - they are a long vest designed to go over the bum, they are slightly elasticated in the middle and like a vest top at the top, like i said, horrible.

I'm with Desi, it is the being in close proximity that does it - DD was never bloody sick until she started nursery - it is soo bloody warm in that place that any grollies spread like wildfire, she has had all sorts since she started in september, and so have we!

I would imagine that being TOO cold would lower your resistance, but we are probably looking at almost hypothermic. A fit healthy child charing around not wanting to wear its coat is not going to be too cold. An old person who is unactive and can't afford adequate heating is likely to be too cold.

Complete aside but ive been wondering if people are going to return to carpets as a result of rising fuel costs?

I know exactly the ones your means LEM - my mum still wears them.

Were they not slightly lacy?

If you want some more they still sell them in M&S

i think being too cold does lower your resistance
i also think over heating your house is unhealthy and makes you more prone to colds when you go out in the cold
i also know ds1 is rarely - well almost never, really - ill (touch wood)

the obese thing - well that's another issue isn't it
i am pretty sure she is trying to say in a roundabout way that he is TOO THIN
(he isn't)

No, you don't have to be practically hypothermic. I did attach a link with a brief description of the research.

Of course germs spread in enclosed environments and I am not disputing that, but actually being cold is a factor too.

But notwithstanding all that - Franny has a every right to eschew all vests for her son without being badgered by her mum

however
as ds does not get colds usually
can i maintain my status of yanbu?

DD NEVER wears a vest and hasn't done for a few years. She really does not feel the cold and is a very hot child. We don't own a vest at all.

My friend's mum feels the same as your mum regards vests from what I can gather Franny.

cross posts
hurrah

i actually like vests
it's his choice though

noooo, vests on children are the law! (like deanychip said) but they provide emotional warmth for the parent, as much as for the child.

There is nothing in the world nicer than feeling you have snuggled your DC into cosy comfortable clothes.

Best of all is popping DS fresh from the bath into cosy pyjamas then wrapping him in his dressing gown and tying the cord round his little sticking out tummy...like a soft, warm little parcel

actually, without my input, DS (also 5) would wear just his pants until he was shaking and all his skin turned blue. I am not convinced AT ALL that he would put on more clothes if he was cold - he is just too busy with things to deal with being cold.

My DC have never worn vests since they stopped wearing baby vest-thingies. It wasn't until DS started school that I realised that other people did still put vests on their DC

I have recently bought them slippers since we (a) are finally having a cold winter and (b) have turned the heating down to save money, but they never bleeding wear them for more than 30 seconds.