to think it is far too cold to have children going to school with bare legs?

[MollyRoger]

I have noticed 3 or 4 children (boys and girls) at ds's primary school with bare legs this week.
I have been through the stages of children demanding to wear superman outfits at nativity plays and wearing wellies in heatwaves in August, so i know sometimes you have to pick your battles but, FFS!
Last week, it was minus 7 and 8, and these children were wearing tiny pinafore dresses, and bare legs and wellies. The snow was actually deeper than any children's wellies.
2 boys had shorts on. We walk a mile home and my ds was complaining his legs (which had thermals under his trousers) were cold so god knows how these children were feeling.
Just

my ds3 wants to wear pjs all day

guess what
i say no

i am an adult he is a kid, what i say goes

when i was a girl i wore a skirt and knee socks... for many years . it snowed.

judgy judgy on here

Having been out rehearsing a pantomime, I return to see how life does, indeed, imitate art. Or at least on this topic!

Of course we want to do more than keep our children alive. But when one reads the growing hysteria on this topic, it makes one reckless in an attempt to introduce a sensible perspective.

My DS doesn't go to private school but his uniform is still shorts. He is also a mini furnace and never cold. He is also capable of looking at the weather and choosing the clothes he likes and putting on more clothes or letting us know if he is cold. He is very intolerant of being too hot or too cold. I think it is a bit silly and old fashioned to make children wear shorts but thats the uniform so ho hum... It's hardly life threatening to wear shorts in winter and being cold does not make you pick up viruses. Calling it neglect is mental!

I can see the logic in shorts and wellies. Legs can be dried with a towel - trousers will need tumble drier or several hours on a radiator.

Would not be that keen on any of mine wearing that in this type of weather but do think we have become a little bit namby pambyish.

Also what about sports at schools! I have to admit I pulled face last February at a school netball match when my daughters PE teacher insisted at matches the girls wear their short sleeve sports top and games kilt. The tracky bottoms and tops had to come off. Meanwhile Mrs PE Teacher also the ref remained dressed in full tracksuit with scarf . Felt very guilty stood their shivering myself wearing full winter coat, hat scarf an gloves!! Alot of tutting and slagging off of the PE staff was done by the mums at that match but tbh - it ws the same when I was at school!

Am surprised the H&S police havn't got a law for this yet!

God, this takes me back. When I were a lass, girls mostly didn't wear trousers at all, and all boys wore shorts to school until about Year 7, 8 if it was a grammar school.

Vivid memories of wearing wellies to school/play, etc, then getting horrid, chapped weals along the leg/wellie interface.

Do I wear shorts? God, no. I'm already too hot in my bikini! I find a sarong lightly draped around my midriff (for modesty, you understand) is quite enough.

I don't understand all this ''it never did me any harm '' bit. If it is fricking cold outside and you are allowed to wear clothing which makes you feel warm, where is the virtue in being cold and stiff upper lippy about it?
I mean, my children are not mollycoddled - we walk everywhere, rain or shine, we drag them out of our nice warm house because I am a believer in fresh air and excercise for boys BUT we wear appropriate clothing for the weather.
That's all I'm saying.

MollyRoger - That's not actually all you are saying is it though? What you are actually saying is that 'I do this this way and I think it is wrong for other people to do it another way' not 'I do it this way.' Yes, common sense might dictate that if we had the option we might choose to dress our children more warmly but it is hardly awful to dress children as you have described. Hardly neglectful as someone else has mentioned, hardly grounds for the calling of social services, doesn't necessarily mean the children are even cold. What it all boils down to is that you are judging other parents and their chosen parenting methods. If you feel this strongly why be all judgy on MN? Why not say to them "Oh, look at his bare legs!!! Is he not cold?!"

Inadequate clothing IS often an indicator of neglect

Unless we are actually talking blizzard situations I ski in a t-shirt. MollyRoger you are assuming they are cold because you are cold. Not everyone is the same.

Ah but -madamearcati- only inadequate clothing worn by the children of poor people is classed as neglect. Inadequate clothing worn by children of the rich is apparently character building

Ah yes of course.Like rich kids misbehave because the teacher is not stimulating them enough and poor kids misbehave because they are not properly parented

wb exactly ;)

I am not often judgy mcjudgy pants on here actually.
Don't know why this has wound me up so much, but yes! OK! I am judging YOU if you send your child to school with bare legs in sub zero temperatures.

To me there is a very clear correlation between children not having adequate clothes and children not being encouraged to play outside at breaktime (and no, wellies not appropriate for sub-zero temperatures). I can't believe how little fresh air my dcs are getting during the cold months- but then the school uniform hardly allows for playing in the snow. I had never heard of chilblains until I moved from central Sweden to the South of England- and we certainly had to spend out lunch hour outside regardless of weather. Inadequate clothing just encourages the idea that wintry weather is somehow dangerous.

Wellies in the snow

Wellies are freezing, they have no insulation at all - they should have padded waterproof boots on when it's cold or snowy. I'm completely amazed that anyone would let their small children out of the house in shorts and wellies when it's below zero. I think that is absolutely extraordinary. I've never seen a child in shorts in the snow.

Oh FGS chillblains are caused by going out in the cold then coming into a very warm house/school and you will get chillblains whether you wear 'adequate' clothing or not if you are going to. People hardly ever get chillblains! Being cold does not make you prone to catching viruses, wearing shorts or wellies in the snow does not necessarily mean you will get cold/wearing thermals and trousers doesn't guarantee you will stay warm and children are not allowed to play out in these conditions because of modern health and safety rules, nothing to do with 'inadequate clothing'. Jugdging people for sending their kids to school with bare legs when they have an alternative is your prerogative OP but sending a child to school in winter with shorts, socks, a warm winter coat e.t.c. is NOT neglect. If you think children are being neglected at your school you should phone SS but I reckon you'll get short shrift unless the child is is summer uniform with no coat and walking a mile from their house. Don't pretend there is a moral undertone, you are just being smug and judgey.

DS's uniform is shorts. Waterproof trousers for outside play - but tomorrow and for as long as the snow lasts he will be wearing ski trousers over his shorts to get to/from school and for play time, and I am sure he will not be alone. Probably with warm socks & wellies as he has no snow boots this year.

I have never understood the bare leg in winter attire tbh. If it is cold enough for the parents to wear tights and a coat it must be cold enough for the children, mustn't it? I have been pondering about this for a while now as every single day on our school run I see plenty a girl with blue bare legs while the mother is all toasty wrapped up. Unless I am missing some 'toughening up teory' ...

this seems to me linked to then the teenagers who in deep winter stroll the high street bare legged in nothing more than their LBD and a pair of sandals. Again a mystery to me as they do seem cold, they look blue and are often found in retsaurant/pub toilets near the hand-driers. Why? Surely it is not the price of the cloackroom that make them at risk of weekly pneumonia.

Enlighten me please.

curiositykilled I get chilblains when I go out in the snow wearing tights and 2 pairs of socks inside fur lined boots
Never happened until I had kids though [daggers look at offspring].

whydobirds - obviously one of the unlucky ones! Never had them myself but they do sound horrible. I remember my mum shouting at us not to put our hands on the radiator to warm up when it was snowy out otherwise we'd get chilblains, never listened and never got them but I reckon I'd never have done it again if I had!

Allquiet - I did ask a few of those weirdos why they did that once (I am a massive bag with big warm coat and scarf and spare flat shoes type when I go out and always get teased) and the answers were 'Because a coat will ruin the look', 'because I can't afford a new coat every week to match my outfit', 'because I'm going out with a fiver and can't afford a cloakroom' and 'because I'm worried I leave it somewhere when I'm drunk'....

Curiosity- my grandad got them, so perhaps I'm just more prone. Think if the circulation to your fingers or toes is a little dodgy you're more likely to get them. To be honest, the worst thing is the itching. The pain I can deal with,'s not that bad, but the ITCHING! Still, I usually find that it subsides if I stick my feet in incredibly hot water...

By the way, I have to admit to never wearing a coat when 'out' out when younger, for precisely the reasons you were given. But I grew up in Newcastle and coatlessness is practically the law there.

birds! lol, brave lady to go out coatless when prone to chilblains!!!! They do sound horrible!

OP, YANBU. I too have never understood the bare legs on young children in winter thing. I don't think many parents would send their DCs to school with bare arms in freezing weather, so why is it OK to have bare legs?!

When I see this with primary-aged children (I mean short skirts/trousers and ankle socks) I'm always tempted to ask the parents "aren't their legs cold?", but I never would.

Curiosity- I only ever get them on my toes, and even coatless I always wore big boots (paratrooper type or DMs). Plus I have only been really prone to them since having my dd 2 years ago and I'm far less likely to go out dressed like a slut up these days