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Teenagers

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

Don't teenagers feel the cold?

95 replies

LynetteScavo · 12/01/2010 20:57

I've recently noticed the teenagers going to our local high school don't wear coats or hats or scarves, etc.

A few of them wear jumpers under their blazer, but many of them don't. And I bet almost anything they are not wearing vests under thier shirts.

So why don't they wear coats? Is it because their blazers are too bulky to wear a coat over the top, or are coats totally uncool, or do teenagers just not feel the cold? (TBH I don't remember ever feeling cold as a teenager, butI'm pretty sure I wore a coat to school)

What's this about then?

OP posts:
Tortington · 12/01/2010 20:59

i dunno - ds2 went out with wet hair in the snow the other day despite me sonding like my nan shouting "you'll catch yer death son you will"

frogs · 12/01/2010 21:02

Coats are not cool. Sensible shoes are not cool either, btw.

It's a battle you (the parent) will not win, so either throw in the towel from the off or pick a school that insists on coats and proper shoes. Our nearest school doesn't even insist on blazers, so you get girls walking through the snow in their little ballet pumps or canvas plimmies wearing a thin V-neck jumper with maybe a scarf round their neck.

They're cool. And they're cold. Being warm is social death, apparently. Go figure.

Oh, and having a bag that is actually big enough to carry actual books in is also not cool, hence the preponderance of those miniature Just Do It bags. Best not to waste valuable energy trying to understand, it will mess with your head.

notnowbernard · 12/01/2010 21:06

Was thinking this myself this morning

They don't wear coats, do they? Let alone warming accessories

The girls were all wearing mini-skirts, thin tights and ballet pumps or those canvas trainer things

squeaver · 12/01/2010 21:09

The senior school kids at dd's school were all out doing Games this afternoon in the snow, wearing shorts and t-shirts.

Can't decide if they're all nutters or the teachers are sadists. Probably both.

squeaver · 12/01/2010 21:10

Oh yes the girls in ballet pumps, How do they walk on the pavements??

[gimmer]

RustyBear · 12/01/2010 21:12

In a teenager's world, it is only cold outside when you have asked them to go out.....

herbietea · 12/01/2010 21:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Jux · 12/01/2010 21:15

DH has a pupil who has consistently shown up without coat, hat, scarf or jumper for weeks. Just his school t-shirt! How do they do it?!

I think they're all mental.

mumblechum · 12/01/2010 21:45

There's nowhere to hang up a coat in most secondary schools and they can't physically carry one around all day in addition to their rucksack, pe bag, guitar case or whatever.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 12/01/2010 21:58

The way to cure them of course is for us all to chuck away our coats and hats and scarves and go around in t-shirts. That would get them dressing properly in a hurry.

LynetteScavo · 12/01/2010 22:14
Grin
OP posts:
TrillianAstra · 12/01/2010 22:17

It is a bloody pain trying to wear a coat over a blazer, I remember. And there's nowhere to put it.

Mostly I think the ratio of peer pressure to nerve sensitivity reduces with age.

EccentricaGallumbits · 12/01/2010 22:19

DD1 did put on an extra jumper under her school one this morning. then insisted on wearing silly flimsy dolly shoes

mumblechum · 13/01/2010 13:16

Our ds's school has relaxed the uniform code in this weather (usually v v strict) and told them just to dress warmly and in sensible shoes, so ds has been going in with about 3 tshirts and a techtop under his hoody.

GetOrfMoiLand · 13/01/2010 13:21

I ask DD every day to wear a hat in this weather.

She looks at me as if I am mad. And if I try to jam one on her head she goes mum, mind the hair like Tony Manero.

She doesn't wear a coat, just shoves it in her bag. She also got soaking feet the other day, was sat there in the kitchen, I took one look at her sopping shoes and felt them, asked why on earth she didn;t take them off, she would catch her death etc. Again I got the heavy lidded stare and told not to fuss.

Conversley on a hot day in summer she will be in her bedroom with the windows shut with a dressing gown over her clothes, endlessly complaining about the cold. I think she just does it on purpose to annoy me.

alypaly · 13/01/2010 13:25

its not trendy

DS2 just goes out in shirt and blazer and we were near Woodford....-18 degrees
Would he wear a ski jacket....no chance...no street cred...and nowhere to put it at school.
Too bulky to carry from lesson to lesson and if it gets left somewhere someone nicks it.

alypaly · 13/01/2010 13:26

DS2 has had no heating on in his bedroom throughout this cold weather. I shut his door because it makes the whole of the upstairs cold.

MissAnneElk · 13/01/2010 13:26

DD1 has been carrying her blazer to and from the school bus as per normal. She wears trousers, a light shirt and a cotton jumper. DH was working from home due to snow and I had to suppress a snigger when he was telling her to wear the blazer. When she refused he said "well, don't take it all then". She looked at him as though he was mad and said, "but I have to put it on when I get to (the centrally heated) school".

GetOrfMoiLand · 13/01/2010 13:29

When dd went out to play in the snow last week, I requested that she put on her ski jacket and salopettes (perfectly reasonable suggestion I thought) and she just laughed at me and said 'yeah right Mum, like we live in Switzerland^.

I did actually manage to stop her going out wearing leggings, ugg boots and a cropped jacket though, to much muttering.

GetOrfMoiLand · 13/01/2010 13:31

Could also have murdered her when she opened all the windows in her room lasty week when the house was freezing.

LouIsOnAHighwayToHell · 13/01/2010 13:31

I found this too until I started with my current charges. They attend an international school in London and ALL the kids wear ski gear, hats, coats, wellies etc. Maybe it is a European thing??

snowylass · 13/01/2010 13:34

I saw a bunch of 7 teenage girls this morning. Not one was wearing a hat - I took it to mean that hats are seriously uncool.

alypaly · 13/01/2010 13:43

hats are cool and so are scarves

stealthsquiggle · 13/01/2010 14:05

Seriously - do they not have anywhere to put coats (or boots, which would seem sensible)?

[deeply uncool ignoramus with small children who wore coat, hat and wellies to school in the snow as a teenager]

Bugger - it's snowing again. Time to consider picking up DS (7) and his ski gear early from school, I think.

BicycleBelle · 13/01/2010 14:14

My DD also goes to school without a coat and with silly little gym shoes - Oh, I mean highly fasionable cool shoes - and I have been tearing my hair out. But today, off school due to snow, she and her friends have happily gone out to play in the snow (do teenagers plays?) with woolly hats, scarves, gloves and wellies on. So, it must be a school thing. Agree a lot of it is to do with having nowhere to leave coats and boots. What happened to the lockers and hooks that used to be provided when I was at secondary school?

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