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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

teenagers and rainwear

40 replies

loveschoolblazers · 16/06/2012 21:11

my kids are 13 and 15 and both go to high school, today it was raining amazingly hard and i insisted they wear their raincoats (plastic ones from poundland) and their wellies. my 13 year old didnt mind but my 15 year old said no but in the end he wore them due to me saying if he dosent he is grounded.
what is wrong with wearing raincoats and wellies?

OP posts:

Kez100 · 16/06/2012 21:28

I will forever defend teenagers from this accusation.

Two weeks ago - in rain like we are getting now - I went to an outside concert. Everyone knew it was outside! No excuses. In front of us was a family of three and a family of four. They ALL wore clothes like they were off to the theatre. One group had coats but thin summer jackets only. The other group didn't have any coats! Some parents are just as bad! Unfortunately, it really did rain (we were cold in our foul weather gear until we started dancing) and they all left after only half an hour. At £60 a ticket they must have been wet!

Original poster

loveschoolblazers · 16/06/2012 21:31

my son said wearing a semi-transparent raincoat and wellies to high school is ''embarressing'' but i will never see why

OP posts:

BackforGood · 16/06/2012 21:35

Seriously ? You expected teenage dc to turn up at school in plastic £1 rain coats, and wellies
This is a wind up by a teenager isn't it ?
No parent of 2 actual teens would seriously try to embarass their dc like this. There are limits.

invicta · 16/06/2012 22:00

I agree with Back f g. Fashion conscious teenagers will only wear what they want. Mine wears a stylish jacket I got from T K Maxx.

tropicalfish · 16/06/2012 23:29

Even if teenagers wear raincoats, they have to wear them open and with the hoods down.
We just came back from a week in somerset where it rained almost nonstop. Anticipating this situation, I took my dd to blacks, where we had this huge row about what raincoat to buy. Her choice, a £160 short hipster raincoat and my choice a thigh length navy blue raincoat for £60. Fed up and exasperated, I called over a member of staff to 'discuss' the pros and cons of both selections, with me giving him the evil eye, just to make sure he said the right thing!
In the end, we bought the £60 one, with my dd vowing never to wear it, other than on walks in somerset. I needed a bottle of wine for the stress, anxiety and embarrassment that the trip had caused.
As soon as we got home, we were going out to eat, and my dd selected the coat she was never ever going to wear!

titchy · 17/06/2012 01:34

B4g - pls tell me where I can get a £1 raincoat from!!?

Tortington · 17/06/2012 01:37

my kids would have taken being grounded than wearing any form of coat in any weather ever

CointreauVersial · 17/06/2012 01:41

Sorry.

Still reeling at the words "teenager" and "rainwear" appearing in the same sentence.

Original poster

loveschoolblazers · 17/06/2012 11:09

poundland

OP posts:

Themumsnot · 17/06/2012 13:40

My DD has a faux leather jacket that she claims is adequate on account of its waterproofness. Further than that no teenager of my acquaintance will go.

noddyholder · 17/06/2012 13:43

teenagers don't consider the weather ever I see them all around where we live in shirt sleeves in the tipping rain and they never look as wet as me!

Magneto · 17/06/2012 13:44

Standard school uniform for teenagers in the rain is a shirt (untucked) with coat or blazer slung over their arm isn't it?

Same uniform applies in freezing midwinter, except a pair of gloves may be added for comfort.

Uberly · 17/06/2012 13:45

I'm already having 'disagreements' with my 10 yr old with getting him to put his hood up! Also, there's no way he'd want to go to school in wellies and tbh, I don't blame him, I wouldn't make him.

mumeeee · 17/06/2012 14:51

At 15 I let my DDs choose what coat and footwear to wear to school. If they didn't wear a coat and got wet it was their fault. I certainly wouldn't make a 15 year old wear wellies and a see through £1 rain coat in fact I wouldn't even insist a 13 year old did that. Yes perhaps decent shoes and coat. But it's very embarrassing for a teenager to turn up to school in wellies and a cheap see through raincoat.

ProfessorSunny · 17/06/2012 14:56

you ground your 15 year old for not wearing a raincoat?

Buy him/her a raincoat of their choosing, get them to take it with them - if they are daft enough not to wear it then it's their problem!

Choose your battles wisely!

TequilaMockinBird · 17/06/2012 15:00

You wanted them to go to (High) School in a cheap raincoat and Wellies?

My DD never wears a coat, if it's raining she will wear a hoody but it isn't waterproof so she still gets soaked!

As others have said, you need to pick your battles and this one isn't worth battling at all, IMO.

LynetteScavo · 17/06/2012 15:02

You made a 15 year old wear raincoat and wellies? Cruel. Very, very cruel.

Mine 13yo would quite happily not go out, or be grounded for several years rather than wear wellies and a rain coat. He will come home like a drowned rat and and say "I know, mum, I've had a learning experience." He never learns, though.

LynetteScavo · 17/06/2012 15:03

The thing with teenagers is that coats of their choosing are expensive. There is no point though in spending even £1 on a coat they won't wear...it's a pound wasted.

I'm imagining the OP's DC in Poundland ponchos.

Jins · 17/06/2012 15:04

I'm having a lie down at the thought of the reaction I'd get from my 15yo if I tried to make him wear Welles and a cheap waterproof to school.

I'm also remembering what my reaction would have been.

Ok you're the parent and you make the rules but do you seriously want to make your kids a laughing stock?

guineapiglet · 17/06/2012 15:05

It is simply just uncool, literally and physically, for teenagers to dress appropriately for the weather, I see them at the bus stop peeling off their raincoats (if they have actually worn one). Part of the problem is the schools insist they wear blazers all the time, which are obviously not waterproof and so they have to sit around in them all day. Coats etc are therefore a hassle and have to be either carried away or stored in lockers, it is too much trouble. We live near the Pennines, so there is always 'weather' to consider. I bought my daughter an innocuous plain black berghaus to wear over the blazer - but other than that ( it would have to be snowy etc for her to wear it) she just takes an umbrella, and in yr 11 is now on her 8th.........Footwear is an issue as the schools forbid girls to wear boots which seems utterly stupid to me when it is raining stairrods outside - got my son some goretex school shoes this year and they have lasted since September despite being very pricey, but waterproof shoes are wonderful! Up here we say there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing, it is about time the schools were a bit more flexible about encouraging them to be warm and dry - surely more important, so they are not ill.....................

Maryz · 17/06/2012 15:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ScorpionQueen · 17/06/2012 15:12

Themumsnot Are you me?
H&M faux leather jacket is all DD will wear while she waits for me to fork out for a Superdry coat.

BringBack1996 · 17/06/2012 15:25

DS has been known to get up half an hour earlier to catch the bus rather than cycle and wear a coat when it's pissing it down! Very cruel to insist on coat and wells

TequilaMockinBird · 17/06/2012 15:28

Oh yes, Superdry. DD harped on about 1 of these, I eventually caved in and bought one. She wore it a handful of times and it has hung in the cupboard ever since. She now won't wear it!

So, even Superdry's don't work, IME

If anybody would like to buy a second hand Superdry though and give it a shot, let me know!

gramercy · 18/06/2012 09:22

Teenagers don't wear coats. Complete sentence. Non-negotiable. Just accept.

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