Hey, have you stepped outside? It’s cold out there. Children don’t necessarily pay attention to the weather; they run right over it on the way to the equipment. You won’t believe what they don’t notice. We will find kids outside with no mittens, and they don’t seem to get that you can pull your hands up into your sleeves or put them in the pockets of the warm jacket they did remember to put on. Don’t bother with gloves. They are useless to little kids. First of all the kids can’t get their fingers in them if they are lined or when they are wet, and secondly half of them don’t know left from right so it takes a lot of time to twist the glove around. Many kids don’t even consider it’s on the wrong hand. Help a teacher, buy mittens. Thrill a teacher; buy mitten clips.
Children have hoods, but they are so floppy that little ears are bright red after time outside. Many a teacher has taken off their scarf to wrap around a child’s exposed ears. It seems like it is only then that some realize how cold they actually are! Be sure your child’s hood closes tightly or a hat comes to school. Be sure to label it with a name, though, because blue or purple knit hats all look alike.
Whoever invented boot liners should have taken forty kids outside in winter before going to the patent office. As long as the liners are in the boots things are fine, but after the first roll in the snow they come out with the foot and the sock. Don’t get boots with liners. Your child will be frustrated every day.
Snow pants. The plastic adjusters on the shoulders either don’t work or they break. That’s just a fact. Figure out a way to make them so they don’t slip and pass it around to all the parents of Shorewood. We will all thank you. Once again, put a name on the inside.
Just so you know, when kids come to school on a really cold day improperly dressed we can’t help but wonder. Even if your child refuses to wear stuff, send it along in a bag and we will force them to put it on later. It usually doesn’t take much. We’re not you. They succumb and later thank us for it, but not out loud.
Sweet winter. How we have missed you…
