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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

Original poster

Don't they feel the cold?

32 replies

brightwell · 03/02/2009 08:53

It's -3C here, as dd (14) was leaving the house I shouted down to her "It's very icy, wrap up well and go careful" I've just found her coat and gloves in a bundle on her bedroom floor. A coat that cost me £45 ggrrrr!

OP posts:
MaureenMLove · 03/02/2009 09:29

LOL! I watched dd(13) in the park yesterday. She didn't have a coat on and was rolling around doing snow angels in soaking wet jogging bottoms! Her ears were red raw and she was wearing cheap Ugg boots, which were wet through. I was bloody freezing just watching her!

She's slightly more wrapped up today, but she'll come home looking like an iceblock no doubt.

BitOfFun · 03/02/2009 09:40

Same here...

smudgethepuppydog · 03/02/2009 09:50

Same here. I had to nag DS to take a coat today but instead he's opted for several layers of sweatshirts, jumpers etc. I can't get him to see that if they get stuck on the way to college he's going to be very cold very quickly.

wingandprayer · 03/02/2009 09:57

We have a secondary school at the end of my road and yesterday I was being very Mrs Judgeypants-Curtaintwitcher about all the kids on their way into school with no coats, bare legs etc. wondering why their parents let them out of the house like that. Of course when I had a huge row with my DD (aged 4) this morning about wearing a hat and wellies this morning, and lost, that was of course entirely different...

MaureenMLove · 03/02/2009 14:27

Once you have a teenager (and this isnt meant to sound patronising!) you don't bother with judging their parents. You'll find out, soon enough, it's pointless to waste your breath on a teenager without a coat and pointless to worry about it! They won't get a cold from being cold and tbh, it's much more fun, when they announce they're cold to be able to say, 'told you so!'

GetOrfMoiLand · 03/02/2009 14:32

No, teenagers are a complete waste of time re wearing coats and wrapping up in the warm. DD has several coats which are frankly just decorative objects on the back of her door.

I have given up now. All shriekings from me about layering up and not going out without a coat on are met with the death stare. Sod it.

Mumwhensdinnerready · 03/02/2009 14:42

I appear to have edited from memory the none coat wearing phase of my teens, I am sure we were just the same though.

It's not just outdoors though, my DS1 hangs around the house all day in just boxers because "it's comfy".
Swears he's not cold but I can often see he's covered in goosepimples and has blue hands.
He has to rush upstairs and dress if anyone comes.It's not because we overheat the house either, The heating is on but I'm still wearing a jumper and cardi.

Coldtits · 03/02/2009 14:45

It's for the same reason they can live on donuts and alcopops and not put any weight on - a racing metabolism!

kiddiz · 03/02/2009 15:09

My ds1 has sn and as a result pretty poor circulation in his extremities. Yet he will still sit around in a tshirt and boxers with feet and hands like blocks of ice. This has a detrimental effect on his joints which are stiff as a result of his disability. But he still won't listen and he's 20 now so no longer a teenager either!!!
Ds2's girlfriend turned up at our house in the snow yesterday wearing shorts and a tshirt and a little thin cardigan type thing. She wasn't in the least bit concerned that she would freeze to death but was deeply worried that the snow would make her hair go frizzy!! I give up trying to fathom out how teenage brains work!!!

CreativeZen · 03/02/2009 15:13

I just don't think children feel the cold the way we ancient adults do. I often see children coming out of school in just their polo shirts, sweatshirts tied round their waists and dragging their coats behind them, whilst there parents stand muffled against the wind, with scarves and gloves on.

wotsitallabout · 04/02/2009 14:49

Same here. I've given up trying to get DD12 to wear a coat to school. When I threatened to run up the road in my dressing gown after her if she did'nt wear it, she did take it, but just slung it over her arm. What I don't understand is why she wears her clothes and dressing gown to bed and moans because I do not leave the heating on all night.

musicposy · 08/02/2009 20:28

DD (13) has this bodywarmer thing she wears and when you say "put on a coat, it's minus twelve out" she looks at you witheringly and says "I [i]am[/i] wearing a coat".

It's a battle I can't win, or couldn't until I had to get a friend of mine to take her to ballet on Tuesday. Thick snow on the ground, coat battle as usual. I even said she didn't have to be seen wearing it, just put it in the car! So my friend says, "Car breaks down and you in that, I'm not being responsible for you dying of hypothermia. If you don't bring a coat, I don't take you".

The difference is, she knew he meant it (unlike me who would have been way too soft and fretted about her missing ballet). So off she went...coat in hand.

I guess it was sort of a victory

bagsforlife · 09/02/2009 10:55

Yes, I think this bitterly cold weather and snow has actually made some teens realise that wearing a coat is, in fact, Quite A Good Idea, not a crazed idea by old people to make them look foolish.

DS1 at university has been most put out by the weather BUT has been spotted wearing coat (not a proper wool coat, mind you, but a coat of sorts nevertheless), scarf AND gloves.

NattyPlus2andAHalf · 09/02/2009 10:57

i can tell you as my teenage years are not that far behind me, that teenagers do not feel the cold at all.

sorry!

bagsforlife · 09/02/2009 13:54

Really, Natty? So it is not just a fashion thing, you really did not ever feel the cold?(genuinely interested!!).

NattyPlus2andAHalf · 09/02/2009 14:10

nope, not till i fell pregnant with my first child did i get why my mum always pestered me to wear a coat.
granted if it was snowing i would grudginly wear one.
but not even if it was raining would i wear a coat.
i used to tell my mum thats what umbrellas were invented for.

honestly, i dont know how i did it, or why i just didnt feel it.
i was a size 8 teen aswell, and im a 12 now, so in theory i should feel it even less

ah well, since when do teenagers EVER make sense

higgle · 09/02/2009 15:09

DS1 has scarf that he refuses to wear because he feels silly in it, DS2 has appropriated it and thinks it makes him look cool - they are totally irrational and it is impossible to second guess attitudes to clothes etc.

KerryMumbles · 09/02/2009 15:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bagsforlife · 09/02/2009 15:39

OK, so if they don't feel the cold, why has my DS1 got an astronomical heating bill in his shared student house??? Guess who's having to pay for that.

idobelieveinfairies · 09/02/2009 15:44

Mine are the same...but i do find they wear more cardys/jumpers in the summer months.....i just don't get them...i am sure i didn't behave like this when i was a teen!

cluttered · 09/02/2009 23:12

Yes Ds1 is only 9 not a teenager yet and for the last 3 or 4 years has refused to wear long sleeve tops so wears only T-shirt all year round, in winter will wear coat to school on top of T-shirt. Lots of children in his class have vest, shirt and jumper in the classroom, he only ever has T-shirt!

He complains if he has to wear a lined coat in all except the coldest weather as the teachers make them wear the coats in the playground and he says he's too hot. I feel like a bad mother sending him to school in autumn in a T-shirt and thin summer waterproof! I think he really doesn't feel it as when we went to Lapland he wouldn't do up his snowsuit properly as he claimed he was too hot, whereas DP and I had hats, scarves, you name it and were still freezing!

Lazycow · 10/02/2009 10:51

Well I remember walking the 1.5 miles to secondary school in my blazer with a thin tshirt and thin acrylic (horrid uniform) jumper underneath in the snow and rain. I also wore lace up brogue type shoes and long socks (not always tights) so no wellies or boots of any sort.

If it was REALLY bad I might take an umbrella but it would get shoved in my school bag before I got too near the school.

We did have coats as part of the uniform but no-one over 11 years old in the school would ever wear one, I did occasionally wear a scarf but only if it was actually snowing when I set off.

cremolafoam · 10/02/2009 10:59

dd 13's christmas pressie from my sister was to go shopping 'in town' i did a secret deal with my sister that this would include the purchase of a coat.Darling sis managed to get her to choose one in TKMaxx and she is actually wearing it today ( I love my new coat)
it would have been in a dusty heap under the bed if I had bought it.

Jstbcsiamammsntr · 10/02/2009 12:00

You know you are an adult. (ie, past it and old) when you won't leave the hosue without a coat!

Belgianchocolates · 10/02/2009 12:01

Last week I saw some teenage boy walking around in a sleeveless shirt When I was young teenagers didn't do this no coat thing and on my last visit home they all seemed to wear a coat too. Maybe European teens are different.

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