Time to chill
-
- December
- 14
We live in the northeast United States.
It gets cold here in the winter months.
So why, pray tell, won’t children – pardon, TEENAGERS – wear coats now?
This hasn’t directly affected me yet (my older son marks being a teenager next month and my youngest doesn’t give clothes much thought), but I’m told by friends and colleagues that wearing a coat has become completely anathema to a lot of teens. Even though my son will wear a coat without a prodding, he does enjoy wearing just a basketball jersey and shorts beneath it, usually right after game. But I think that’s more about wanting to bypass changing clothes than anything else.
At least this December, it’s been pretty warm. A friend told me her 12-year-old son hasn’t given up wearing shorts since school began in September. Wearing shorts make his legs feel “free,” he maintains. Who needs “free” legs when it’s freezing? Another friend says her son was actually upset that she bought him a new winter coat. Hey, I’m happy to accept a new coat. Camelhair, please.
This whole shunning the coat thing is a trend that I’m simply not understanding.
Can anyone explain it to me?
This entry was posted
on Thursday, December 14th, 2006 at 6:02 pm by Gayle T. Williams.
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LOL The same struggle occurs between parents and children every morning in our school playground. Chinese people have a saying that kids are born with fire coming out of their butts that’s how hot their internal temperature is. As long as they don’t look cold, I suppose they’re ok. I try not to force the coat issue too much although I have been known to withhold a snack until he gets that down coat put on!
Gayle, well it’s December 15 and my 12 year old son actually put on a pair of Levi’s this morning instead of his usual shorts. I don’t know why and I wasn’t going to ask. Maybe it has something to do with Hannukah being tonight and Christmas coming up but hey, whatever it takes.
But, did he put on a coat you ask, absolutely not! On the coldest day this year he didn’t even do that! His answer, “You might be cold, but I’m not.” So why do I get so crazy over this. Well, it could be that I think somehow this is a reflection of my parenting skills and if he isn’t dressed like everyone else then I must be….you finish that one.
So, I ask the Doctor about this at his annual checkup ( thinking I’d have some help here ) and the response is this “kids don’t get sick because it’s cold and when he is cold my guess is that he will put his coat on”
So, I have moved on, other parents can think whatever they want about me and the coat’s there, he can wear it, or not. Now, those snow boats…......
I tell my kids what my grandmother and mother used to tell me. once you start dressing for the winter dont stop until spring. Surest way to a cold. On that note, if i am home to seee them get off the school bus and it was warm without fail the jacket will be off one or all of them. And they wonder why they have the sniffles. they arre old enough to learn the hardway, like we all did ..
It’s all about being COOL, Gayle. I remember as a child I use to dread that new winter coat my dad bought. For me, it wasn’t about whether I was was warm or cold – it all rested on whether the other kids in school were wearing coats. If they (the majority) weren’t wearing coats, I didn’t want to be the first one to walk in the school with my big snow coat on – slippers, hats, gloves and all (my mom and dad made me wear). It’s funny – I often walked out of my house with my coat on and then, once on the bus, strategically stuffed it into my bookbag.Ahhh memories
Hi Gayle,
That’s a good question and one I’ve pondered many times myself whenever I would see a teenage girl walking to the bus stop with a midriff blouse (belly exposed) and no jacket in the freezing cold. Well now our son officially became a teenager this past October, and so far it hasn’t been an issue. For the most part, he chooses to wear sweatshirts to the bus. But I suspect that given the many challenges we face as parents of teenagers, I will probably exercise the “pick your battles” rule of parenting; this is probably one battle I will choose not to pick.
Gayle, this is nothing new, especially for boys.
You can blame John F. Kennedy for it…:) He was widely praised for going without a coat during the subzero weather at his inaugural, while outgoing President Eisenhower stood shivering in his heavy coat. That set the contrast between coatless and hatless, and young and vigorous, as compared to old and tired and bundled up.
Hats never really came back into style for men after that (or women either—Jackie had a lot to do with that), and the attitude toward coats carries on to some extent.
My almost-15-year-old son hasn’t worn a winter jacket once yet this year – he insists on wearing (if anything) a hooded sweatshirt over his T-shirt. And he wears shorts year-round, even on the coldest days of the year. He claims he doesn’t feel the cold. He did this last year and didn’t catch a cold even once. Go figure!