If you walk to school in all weathers…

[Inyournewdress]

I need your tips!

Reception start later this week and we will be mostly walking except for occasional lifts from others. It’s at least half an hour each way and I am wondering how best to dress ourselves for serious rain and similar so that we don’t turn up with DD totally bedraggled before the day begins! She isn’t keen at the moment to wear trousers, prefers pinafore/skirt which makes wearing a puddlesuit hard.

We have basic wellies and light raincoats but nothing that will really keep us, more importantly DD, dry, annd I haven’t seen much around. Any outfit or product tips much appreciated. Also, if you do go in wellies, do you just carry shoes for your child to change into when they go inside?

I carried spare clothes to change into and shoes to change into from wellies as my DD was very sensitive to wet clothes. She had a spare set of clothes at school too in case she got wet in the playground.

Took skirt off and wore waterproof trousers with wellies and raincoat.

Get her a poncho if she doesn't like the trousers of a puddle suit. Make sure it's down to her calves/meets the top her wellies. It would certainly be better to be in full waterproofs though so I'd work on that if you can. We walk in all weathers, admittedly only 10mins but you can still get drenched. My kids all did full waterproofs until old enough to handle an umbrella which I'd just take off them once there and put in a large shopping bag.

We walked 15 mins all year, they had proper waterproof jackets (from hiking store with 5000-10,000 rating) wellies and umbrellas

Puddlesuit over pinafore and tights works fine, just pull the skirt up a bit. Wear wellies and take shoes in a bag.

Wellies, waterproof coat and trousers - skirt can just be pulled up a bit. In reality really wet school runs were pretty rare - mostly we had the odd drizzly day

We walk every day, 10-15 mins. Waterproof coat plus umrellamis usually fine (DD will be going back in y1)

I would get waterproof dungarees and she can wear these and tuck her skirt into it. She could also change out of puddle suit into school uniform when she arrives. If this was me I would get a bike with a wagon attached that I could get a rain cover or roof for her though. Baddoe I think they’re called

you can also have a spare uniform at school just in case (handy to have anyway) if affordable

Dry robe and wellies. Then a normal coat for playtime.

Fir a half hour walk id get waterproof walking boots not wellies... proper fitting shoes will be a lot more comfy (and warmer in winter).

Also a waterproof cover for the school bag. I don't think most school bags especially book bags are made with bad weather in mind.

Thanks so much to you all for the helpful suggestions.

I feel as if I’m readying for D of E 😂, which I didn’t even do!

If you still have a buggy I'd be prepared to use it, she'll be really tired from school at first and a long wet walk will be tricky. I read today though that autumn is due to be warm so fingers crossed!

Proper raingear. not supermarket puddlesuits. look at hiking gear from european brands (Reima and finkid are our choices).
And a cover for the bag.

You need the Lidl waterproofs and wellies - they are cheap, bombproof and very generous fit so dresses / skirts tuck in. If you sign up to the Lidl newsletter, you can see when they are in stock, but do get there fast as they go quickly.

Add a waterproof bag or bag cover (easier to just put a bookbag in something waterproof), a plastic bag for the wet wellies (put school shoes and socks in it), and a spare pair of socks as they will get wet feet when they come in and change from wellies to shoes.

I agree with the PP saying waterproof walking boots for you, unless flooding is an issue in your area (a heavy downpour in our village turns the roads into rivers with water levels that come up and over the paths). At 30 mins each way, that would be 2 hours a day of schlepping about in wellies and I'd want more comfort than that. DC may be fine in wellies, as she only goes each way once, particularly if she is scootering.

I have a long waterproof rigging coat for school runs as it isn't too thick and warm for wet Spring and Autumn journeys, but the loose fit means there is plenty of room inside to wear a thick jumper under in the Winter. It has a tough rubberised finish, so the rain just rolls straight off it. A Dry Robe or equivalent brand would so a similar job, but won't be in quite the same league IMO. DCs have both a thick waterproof Winter coat and a thin rubberised-finish jacket to choose between depending on the temperature.

For trousers, I just have cheap waterproof overtrousers. They're a bit noisy to walk in, but are easy to pull on or off. When DCs were small they had Frugi Puddlebuster trousers, which are in the same rubberised finish as the coats, but now they are older they don't bother with waterproof trousers in warmer weather (bare skin dries quickly) and wear salopettes if colder.

They take their school shoes in their bags with a spare pair or socks and a little towel to change into on arrival. They never took their pinafores off when they were little, just bunched it up a bit around the waist, but the salopettes are tighter so DCs have to change once they get to school with those (it has never been an issue). A decent waterproof bag and ideally a waterproof cover for it are essential.

Wellies and a decent coat for kids. Big umbrella for you. Take shoes to change into at school and take the wellies home unless it's snow and they need them for playtime. I wouldn't bother with puddle suits or waterproof trousers. It's not that common to have a full downpour at school run time.

Yes to wearing puddlesuot and wellies without shirt and putting it on when she arrives.

Also take a bag for life. Stand in that when stripping wet stuff down!

Clear umbrellas to make it more fun.
Maybe get clip on lights for winter as it can be gloomy by 4pm.

In wintertime, we found that skiwear was the only warm and waterproof clothing available. (Cold and wet part of Yorkshire here - it may not be as cold where you are). And it had to be non-British, eg Didriksons or H&M.
Spare uniform on a peg at school is an excellent idea, especially skirt/tights/socks/trousers.

Sometimes I feel like posters on MN overthink things. Ours walk/cycle 20-25 mins every day and just have Lidl overtrousers and a coat from the high street - M&S, Fat Face, whatever. They're honestly fine! Book bag goes in a backpack from Go Outdoors. We really didn't need anything more specialised than that. People often commented on them covering the distance at a young age in all weathers. I work in a rural school with a very outdoorsy ethos and the vast majority of children just wear normal supermarket or high street coats.

We walked to school across fields at a similar age.

wellies aren’t great. No foot supports. We did proper walking boots, then changed to school shoes at school.

school shoes don’t stand up to that sort of distance.

it actually didn’t rain that much for us.

i got them cycling as soon as possible.

Walked in most weathers across fields. Never used a puddle suit for either of my two. Generally wellies, good coat with a hood and an umbrella were sufficient. Wellies definitely required for my route as it was prone to flooding. In the winter occasionally used ski wear. The big thing was knee high wellies for us. My youngest especially hated getting her school shoes or socks muddy.

I've done many rainy school runs!

The best thing you need for you and kids is a proper hardshell coat. Outdoor brand ideal, but even some of the more high street ones like Trespass or Mountain Warehouse are good for more budget reasons (particularly the kids who will grow out of it so fast!)
A hard shell will do you so much better than a little pack a mac or equivalent. Get it big enough so its fine on a rainy spring day but you can layer a much warmer coat underneath for the winter.

I've got a jack wolfskin one which I paid about £200 for, its 10 years old and still going strong, I wash it every couple of years with waterproofing wash to refresh it. Best £200 i ever spent, has kept me bone dry for all school walks, hikes, day trips etc.

You're overthinking it. I don't drive so we are used to rain even if you get a bit wet it dries pretty quick once you're in a heated building. I do 30 mins to and from school every day, for past 10 years or so, and a normal coat plus umbrella and sensible closed school shoes are absolutely fine. It actually doesn't rain that often at the time of the school run it's not like it's torrential on a daily basis. I have a golf umbrella we use through the summer and don't bother with coats. Wellies and waterproof trousers are handy when it snows but that is pretty rare.