The school coat problem.....?

[Whippet]

-3 C when DS left for school this morning...... in his BLAZER

What do you do?
Is there a solution?
He is only in his second term of secondary, so this is a new phenomenon for me...

There is no 'official' school coat as such, but it has to be plain black or navy and long enough to cover his blazer apparently.

He already has a NEXT black moleskin jacket, and a more casual black jacket too... bu won't wear either...

Help.

Oh, but gloves and scarves seem to be popular with the girls, hats with the boys.

I've just remembered my mother bought me this hideous although frightfully expensive camel haired coat (God knows what that means) when I was in yr 7. I loathed it but so as not to upset her I used to wear it out of the front door hide it in a plastic bag in a bush when I got round the corner and then put it back on again when I came home from school. I would rather have frozen to death than wear it!

During the autumn term my yr8 DD would usually wear her coat to school on a bad morning and then I'd not see it for a week or two. Followed by her rain jacket, my jak-in-a-pack, her old berghaus jacket... eventually when the weather turned bad she brought them all home. Remarkably enough, although she could wear a ski jacket( which she loves at the weekend), she chooses to wear her navy School Coat - M&S, bought when she was in yr6. If its raining she might even do it up and raise the hood!

I'm not sure but I think if I offered her a SuperDry coat she'd say, but my Berghaus coat is super dry WTF are you on about?

My eldest son refused all coats throughout secondary school. I worried about hypothermia, but he's now 23 and hale and hearty (albeit backpacking around Australia where the coat problem doesn't arise!) As a teenager, I refused to wear tights, even in the snow (it was the 1980s, and girls were not allowed to wear trousers at my secondary school). I remember hoards of us girls clacking down the street to school in our faux leather stilettos in the snow, our bare legs mottled red and blue. Madness - but none of us suffered any lasting damage.

I have given up.
DD has a perfectly serviceable school coloured fleece jacket. She often wears it at weekends. Very rarely to school.
When it went last year she managed to loose it for 2 months. This winter it went and got left in her locker over the holidays.
When it was very cold she went in her "smart coat" cheap, tidy but totally the wrong colour supermarket one.
Mostly just wears her jumper, which is pretty warm.
I get very when it rains as she has two nice waterproofs (she has a proper one for Guide things) and seems to prefer to get wet!
I can't even blame fashion because she hasn't a clue and doesn't care.

Oh don't start me on this one! DSD never wore her coat throughout secondary school despite one of the coldest winters in about 30 years. It used to be a real bone of contention, especially as we chose her winter coat together and it cost a small fortune! Now, my DS is at secondary and doing exactly the same - he hates wearing his coat as he says other boys take the mickey out of him (plus hates carrying it around). I've stopped nagging now as can't go through another 4 years of coat wars!! As for DSD, she's 18 now and I wear her old coat!!

Ah yes, a Superdry coat would of course score higher in the acceptability stakes. My teens can have one of those when they pay for it themselves.

Gratifyingly, my 12yo ds is currently happy to wear a nice warm padded jacket that also meets the schools uniform requirements, AND I got it for free on Freecycle. Happy days.

All the teenagers at my school wear coats. The problem we have is getting them to take the ruddy things off

I think my DD may be cooperative because last year in the really cold weather there were a few bus breakdown incidents which left them standing at the stop for quite a while. The herd rapidly all adopted coats, hats, gloves, scarves then!

She also knows that if its pissing down and she's coatless then DH or I will insist on walking her to the busstop under a golf umbrella which is too embarrassing to contemplate

My DS wears a Tshirt under his shirt, and a hoody under his blazer that he takes off when at school & stuffs in his bag until the journey home.

He DOES carry a tiny Peter Storm jacket in bottom of his bag for if it pours down though.

My DS and I have had many a stand off over coats, but it does seem a teenage 'thing'!!

He does wear a coat now, albeit not a particularly thick one, (Mackenzie quilted jacket) but it was one that we both liked, wasn't hideously expensive and he deemed cool enough to be seen in!!!!

DS year 8, no locker, no coat. He doesn't want to carry his bag, pe kit and coat around all day. Feel quite sorry for him. If he had somewhere to put it I think he would have a coat.

I do the same

My DD aged 12 left this morning in her short sleeved blouse with her school jumper on. She can't be bothered to carry a coat around all day apparently! It was -2 here!

I don't understand it. Apparently there aren't room for lockers. DS is in a class of 30 in what can be fairly small classrooms. If everyone has a bag, sports bag and took a big winter coat, i doubt it would all fit in.

DS wears a hoody under his blazer and gloves and the hood up.

He says he's warm enough. Gives hillarious "scary hoody" effect completely ruined by crested school blazer!

Ds1(13) wears his superdry windcheater but if he has loads to carry around for the day he will just wear a hoody over his uniform.

DS1 won't wear a coat either. He will wear a hat flaps and gloves sometimes though. He also has one of those Nike sports underlayer things (his ' ninja top') which he wears under his shirt if its really cold.

ds1 never wears his coat, walked off for the school train in shirt and jumper.

All 3 ds wear long sleeve thermal vests you can get sports ones now so they are considered not uncool. They have been known to wear long johns under thin school trousers but only on non PE days.

Well, DS2 actually put on his helly hansen coat this morning. [faints]

DS1 has a sherlock coat with a dr who type scarf and would love a trilby hat.
( people that know him call him, young sherlock, he acts like him aswell ( HF ASD and all that ! )

What do I do?
Nothing, gave up the coat and sensible shoes battle years ago! And feel a lot less stressed for it.

My DC's senior school dont allow the children to wear coats inside the buildings so if they wear a coat they have to remove it outside and carry it in school. This works as long as its not raining and if they dont have much to carry! The majority of the children dont wear coats at all.

Thanks MNers DS2 just talked me into buying a Danish Civil Defence Great Coat as it looks a bit like the Belstaff Sherlock one and he's into Steampunk. I very much doubt it will make I to school, the only concession to the cold seems to be school jumper under blazer and a pair of woollen gloves. Don't get me started on the missing NorthFace waterproof worn to school once though

The school uniform specifies a jumper.
No boy in the school would be seen DEAD in one! Even the official school outfitters will tell you not to bother buying one as it will never be worn ( I think if some poor unsuspecting Year 7 turns up in one on the first day he is quietly taken to one side and told NEVER to wear one again!) But few of the boys ( my own included) seem to were coats until the weather is SO cold a penguin would freeze. Then an odd assortment of fleeces, parkas, coats and padded jackets make an appearance before being swiftly returned to the wardrobe as soon as the temperature rises above freezing again.
It's simply not worth the hastle of worrying, they will wear one if they want to!

It's going to be -18C here tomorrow (plus windchill). My ds will be going to school with ski jacket and pants on. Even the high school students on the bus will (probably) be wearing warm clothes. But then we do live in Canada and they don't have any uniform rules (although ironically ds's ski jacket is mostly black).

He will also be wearing his usual 3-4 t-shirts, log sleeved top and 2-3 hoodies. Getting his clothes off is sometime more of a problem!