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

i kept all my unused muslin cloths and used for clootie dumpling

What? All year round? Or would there be a proclamation when the temp dropped below a certain level that all children must be vested immediately on pain of SS?

I completely forgot about vests this winter!
I usually double up slightly worn t shirts but didn't even do this in last week's shockingly cold weather.In fact,kids never even mentioned it.As far as I know,they were warm enough with coats on etc.Mind you,i'm not one for wearing layers myself.I still only wear a thin T shirt under my coat in the middle of winter....however,my layers of fat probably compensate for that !

Oh, Frances, I'm so glad your mother has mentioned it to you, I meant to say as much myself!

No ... not really.

I do make my two wear vests, but then they often refuse to wear coats, so I figure they do need the vests. I trust them to regulate their body temperatures usefully, but not to preplan for bike rides etc.

(I'm sorry I didn't get out to you over Xmas. It was a bit of a zoo.)

My ILs have this same obsession, with slippers, and vests. Oh, and socks. If I send them a child with sandals and no socks, they go buy socks, and make the poor little bugger wear socks and sandals like some sort of ... I don't know what. (This was even better when DS1 had caught athlete's foot, from the shared shoes at the climbing wall and so going sockless was the Best Thing for him.)

We are family of vest wearers. My dh has some vests from Rohan which he swears are made from a techno-fabric which is warm in the winter and cool in the summer, so he wears them all year through. Each to their own. I am wearing one from H&M which I suppose is meant to be an outergarment in the summer, but I use it under tops in the winter.

Interestingly, most women in their late fifties and older shudder when a particular type of vest is mentioned: The liberty bodice. This item of clothing was worn by many girls and teenagers of our parent's generation and I have yet to meet anyone who speaks of it fondly. My mother had no love for it, describing it as uncomfortable and embarressing. It had been designed to liberate women from corsets but became hated by the younger generation by the late 1950's, early 60's. It would be interesting if F&Z's mother had to wear one and whether she recalls it fond nostalgia or simply shudders at the memory.

Madsometimes I was literally just about to post about liberty bodices. My grandmother is obsessed with them and I remember my poor mum (a vest enforcer) being harangued by her because of my lack of the said article.

i think it should count as neglect if children do not have vests on in winter, these past 2 weeks would have had to be thermal, like dd.

she is like a human radiator but i feel better if she has one on, also tights under her trousers.

Neglect?
I hate to see children inadequately dressed but I don't think not wearing a vest constitutes neglect. You can keep warm without wearing vests.

My youngest (7) still wears vests. My two teens don't but they wear an extra layer when it's cold. My son (nearly 9) wears a vest sometimes but he is a bit of a hot bod and hates them. He has lovely warm jumpers and a big thick coat and gloves etc. so I don't worry too much if he doesn't wear a vest.

joke

for the millionth time dont exaggerate.no vest does not constitute neglect by any stretch of imagination

Must get find sense of humour. Maybe it got packed away with the Xmas decs. Sorry!

oh fair enough hifi i did wonder...

maybe we need a sarcastic face

hell there is enough sarcastic words on MN without sarcastic humphy faces

I'm with the OP on this.

I live in a freezing house and my children have ox-like constitutions. I don't ever put vests on them.

They come out of school with faces like tomatoes from the heat in the classrooms and immediately strip down to shirt sleeves. I get filthy looks from the other mothers for allowing them to do it.

madsometimes I'm 47 and I had to wear a liberty bodice when I was a child. Most of my friends wore them too. I am amazed I had to reach page 4 of this thread before they were mentioned. Was it a Scottish thing? They were hideous short vests with a sort of fleecy inside and had to be worn over your vest FFS. I used to hide it under my bed so my Mum thought I was wearing it. My DDs wore vests when they were in nappies, but rarely since.

I was amazed how many men in India wore vests under their shirts. The shirt cotton was so thin you could really see the vest! They are young men too!

do you think it's their mum's and grandma's nagging at them?

My Grandma used to HAND-KNIT vests in pink or blue and send them through the post. Horrid, scratchy things in pink or blue. She kept this up until we were well past teenagerdom.

Shudder.

No vests here since babyhood.
I have on a jumper and thick fleece buttoned up to my neck , plus slippers. Our house is centrally heated but not hot.
DS1 and 2 have just arrived home from school and as usual , shed all their clothes apart from boxers.
Only if someone comes to the door or they have to go out, will they wear clothes.

chopchop, my friend from Perth had to wear liberty bodices and she is only forty! in fact my other Perth friend also had to wear them (she is fifty) including woollen stockings knitted by her uncle attached to the suspender buttons on the bodice. There must have been some very old-fashioned shops in Perth. I wear vests, and DH wears T-shirt vests his Mum still buys him but my three boys are hotblooded and refuse to countenance them (DS3 once stripped off and ran into the sea at St.Andrews in February, he was about 2 and suffered no ill effects!)

gawd you all talked about vests a lot today

ok well i think it is now official i am Bad Mother
took ds2 to baby clinic and when i undressed him the hv exclaimed "oh LOOK at his blue FEET"
he had been wearing baby gro with feet in, towelling socks on top, plus flipping sheepskin ruddy baby boots
what more could i have done?
his feet did feel (and look) cold
and yes he was wearing a vest!

Babies always have cold hands and feet, even in reasonable weather, never mind this ridiculous week!

oh about christmas - i wasn't well, you would not have wanted to be here! how was vienna?

there was a quote from a 8 year old. he was asked what is a vest, he replied
"it's something you wear when your mum feels cold"

it made me

That's a very good quote.

Oh, we weren't well either, I still have a sodding lump on the back of my head which is either a swollen lymph node or another head growing.

Vienna was good, I sat still a lot. The food was good, particularly given I thought it would be rubbish.