At what point do you give up, shrug your shoulders and let them get on with not wearing coats in this weather?

[FIMBOfedupofrandomfireworks]

My dd (12.6) and her best friend (13 in a few days) have just gone shopping in town. Both wearing vest style tops, waterfall thin cardigan things, big scarf and knee-length boots. Both declined my advice to put on coats. Its freezing with howling gales and rain. Gah I wish she was 6 again with cutsey plaits and me choosing her clothes. Is it always like this?

my ds(18) hasn't worn a coat for about 6 years

Hoodie,hat and scarf=his winter wardrobe

Yes I can see mine going that way too US! Thank you.

I have never made my children wear anything they haven't wanted too.

We went to see the seals off Blakeney Point, on a boat for an hour or so. I warned my DD to put on something warm and waterproof, did she listen to me? did she bugger.

But then it was her sat on the boat shivering, complaining how cold she was, I was very good and didn't say "told you so".. although my DH did lots!!!!

He said I hope you have learnt your lesson to listen to your mum , my god he is so deluded at times.

Thing is dd comes down with colds/flu very very easily. Mark my words she will be ill be the weekend.

DS didn't wear a coat from 11 to 16 but now wears a leather bomber jacket constantly (not to school, though, blazer is all they'll wear there as there aren't any pegs to hang coats up)

Why don't they wear coats? My 13 year old DD has a lovely coat she chose from miss Selfridge, but it has hardly been out of her wardrobe. She then phones me up demanding that I pick her up from school immediately because she's cold FFS!

DS (16) however has a woollen overcoat that he thinks makes him look like Benedict Cumberbatch in Sherlock, and he couldn't wait until it was cold enough to wear it!

You give up immediately, no?

I never wore one, didn't feel the cold, didn't see the point. And if I did get cold, I would rather be cold than cart a coat around the rest of the time.

Add that to the fact that we were poor and couldn't afford a nice coat.
Give up now! Don't fight it, most people are the same as teenagers. If they get cold enough, next time they will wear a coat!

My DDs uniform comprises a long sleeved shirt and tie (and she wears a long sleeved tee under that)a woolen jumper and a wool blazer and skirt. Under this she wears short leggings and thick tights. With gloves and a thick scarf she probably doesn't need a coat. The one she has got (gathering dust in her wardrobe) is two sizes too big as she can't get her normal size on over that lot!

The problem is when it's rainy and windy and an umbrella can't really be used. She comes home smelling of wet dog!

All 3 of my DD's went threw this stage from about 14 to around 19. Actaully DD3 is 18 and she always wears a coat in bad weather now.

I have the perfect job, which prevents me from seeing DD (15) before she goes to school, so I've no idea whether she wears her coat or not!

I leave at 7am and as I leave, I flick on her light and tell her to get up.

After that - it's not my problem! Brilliant!

By the time they are at high school, there is definitely no point bein gbothered about coat-wearing

I tell mine there's an increased risk of heart attacks in later life if they grow up going out in the cold without coats on (which there is). They've given up arguing and all wear coats now.

Is there really an increased risk of heart attack? If so why?

And my DSD never wears a coat - regardless of the weather and I've given up. If we force her it just gets screwed up in her bag.

If you regularly have a habit of going from a warm environment (house/building) into a col environment without covering up adequately, the blood vessels in and around the heart have to adjust to the drop in temperature and constrict. If this is a habit built up over years, the heart becomes normalised to this constriction and the width of the blood vessels becomes permanently narrower: in later life, blood vessels that are already constricted by habit, will be that much quicker to block with all the effects of cholesterol/heart disease. There have been research papers written on this. People who live in really cold territories - Norway, Finland, Greenland, north Canada - understand you are being a total idiot healthwise if you don't wrap up properly against the cold. You're jsut submitting your heart to extremes of temperature which are not good for it.

It's a small thing that might take off some of the risk of my kids having a heart attack in their fifties, just like trying to serve them more fruit and veg, less salt etc.

*cold

I too think I will print off DandyDan's post - thank you!

Thank you to everyone, I didn't force the issue and let them get on with it. They came back to mine about 8.30 and I asked if they were cold, at least her friend was honest and said yes. Dd on the other hand......

dd (Year 7) has also given up on a coat for school, but will wear one the rest of the time.

I have bought her a big warm scarf, hat and fingerless gloves for school and she does wear these over her blazer although she complains that the scarf is bulky for her school bag.

I don't understand why not having pegs for the coats is such a problem. At secondary school we used to wear winter coats and just put them on the back of our chairs during lessons.....

Don't sweat the smallish stuff

they have a choice it's their problem. I stressed about it last year dd was 12 then now at 13 I've got much bigger things to worry about her welfare than if she chooses to wear a coat

I admire DandyDees creative approach to the annual teen/coat argument- I have almost given up the battle with my 12 year old and gave up long ago with her sister!
But the medical bit is not true surely?

I don't make them wear coats. I haven't worn a coat most of my adult life, either. Some people are very warm blooded, I never used to wear a coat because I genuinely didn't feel the cold! I can't get a coat on DS6yo for love or money (until it's a lot colder than this, anyway, Finland and Norway temperatures, maybe ).