Kids wearing shorts to school

[LivelyLissa]

This morning I was driving my kids to school and as I was peering through the ice that was forming on my windshield I noticed a group of high school kids walking to school. They were all wearing shorts, short sleeves and no coats.

Now I don't want to be a helicopter parent, but who lets their kids leave the house in shorts when it's cold enough for there to be ice on the cars?

I'm kinda thinking those kids are not the brightest bulbs in the bunch either.

When I was a kid, we were not allowed to wear shorts to school, even in the blistering heat with no air conditioning. My husband was allowed to take his tie off when it got super hot. When did all of that change?

 

[DrCavin]

Kids are now globally-warmed, dont worry they will be fine

 

[mom2rb]

I always had the attitude that kids will learn by doing. I thought if my kids were allowed to go out without there coats they would freeze and then listen to me next time. It didn't work. Boys are stupid. I have given up. I put there coats in the car in case they want them. They are bunched up on the floor board.

 

[JimmyPicker]

My brother in law is like that! Makes me crazy! He wears shorts pretty much all winter long, and I just don't understand.

He's 16. It's apparently cool to be cold.

 

[Justanopinion]

Aren't some of these kids the same kids that have learned it's okay to wear their pajama pants wherever they want to?

 

[Laurabearz]

I always had the attitude that kids will learn by doing. I thought if my kids were allowed to go out without there coats they would freeze and then listen to me next time. It didn't work. Boys are stupid. I have given up. I put there coats in the car in case they want them. They are bunched up on the floor board.

I am the same way with my kids. I swear their thermostats are set on HIGH.

 

[NAB]

Yes it cool not to wear jackets in the winter. I sent a winter coat with my 11 year old every day and when he gets to school he ditches and only wears his hoodie outside. I know this because his sister has tattled on him many a times for this.

I have finally giving up. If he gets cold enough I would assume he will put the jacket back on. I have decide to stop fighting this battle it is not worth it. I use to worry what other parent thought of me too when he would go to school with shorts on when it was the fall and cool. They would ask me isn't he cold I would say apparently not.

Now it is snowing he would not get out of the house in shorts or just a hoodie.

 

[maccagerl]

I am the same way with my kids. I swear their thermostats are set on HIGH.

LOL how true!
And even little Suri Cruise ( Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes daughter) has had several photos in the celeb mags published of her outside in the cold in short sleeved shirts without a coat, while her parents are bundled up in sweaters and coats! It's become a running joke. Finally last week, when it was bitterly cold, the paps caught her wearing a winter coat!

 

[Cool-Beans]

I would. Hell, I'd take pictures. Doofuses.

 

[Buckalew11]

LOL!

My nephew, who is extremely smart, wears shorts all year long. In fact, he had to wear long pants last week for a speech he was giving and I told them he'd better hunt those *bad boys* up and make sure they still fit!

My DH also wears shorts year round. He wears them to work but has to change into long pants for his job with the FD.

First kid I remembering wearing shorts all year was about 15 years ago. A client of mine in middle school. He is now a college grad serving with Special Forces in Afghanistan.

Also it is cold here in TN.so do not think "oh you are in the south". It was colder here yesterday than in NYC.

I find no relation to intelligence and wearing shorts.

 

[ckay87]

Eh, it's not a battle I would choose to fight. I know right now, my teens insist on wearing their hoodies on 30 degree mornings. I advise them against it, but I figure that if they get cold enough, they will bundle up. Making our own judgements and misjudgments is how we learn things. As parents, we have to flat out prevent them from making certain misjudgements, and some others we have to let go and let them learn. Especially by high school. I wouldn't be so quick to judge...they are just kids, and probably good kids at that.

 

[Ariel Mae]

insist on wearing their hoodies on 30 degree mornings.

Isn't a hoodie a heavy pullover?

I mean, that's what we call hoodies, where I live. They're hardly flimsy. In fact, they're meant for the colder weather! Maybe hoodies are different, in other locations??

I wear flip flops, even if it's below freezing. My mom could just kill me for doing that.

It was 32 degrees, this morning, and I sure as heck wore my flip flops. Everyone was looking at me strange.

But that's normal, for me!!

I hate shoes.

 

[lulugirl]

Eh, for high school age kids I wouldn't fight that battle.
If they get uncomfortable enough they'll wear a coat.

 

[mattsdragon]

Kids are stupid, parents are stupid, most of the world is generally stupid.

I try not to fight it, I just sit back and watch what hilarity ensues. It's like living in a sitcom.

 

[NCRedding]

DD is cold natured, but wears short-sleeves to school because they keep it so hot in the building. Of course, in the early part of the year, she wears jeans and North Face jackets because it is so cold with the a/c in the building.

 

[Camicar]

Luckily, that fad is mostly over here.

Dd tried that once or twice in the past. This was a hilll I was prepared to die on due to her severe asthma problems, which come as a result of getting colds, which can be exacerbated in her case by going outside without enough warm wear.

How I handled it was this -- we have a rule in our house: Actions and choices have consequences. In this case: You act stupid, I get to treat you like you're stupid. So if you are so stupid as to not wear a coat when it's ten degrees out, then I get to treat you like you are an idiot. In front of your friends. She got over that fad darn quickly.

 

[mjkacmom]

Me! LOL! Ds10 and all the boys in his class had a contest - who could go the longest without wearing pants. I don't think he won, but he was close. He's never cold - it's a battle to get him to wear a jacket. I was dropping my 5 year olds off at kindergarten, and the door is next to the blacktop, where the older kids have recess. It was about 40 degrees, and there's my ds, short sleeves and shorts! I have bigger battles to fight here!

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

Isn't a hoodie a heavy pullover?

I mean, that's what we call hoodies, where I live. They're hardly flimsy. In fact, they're meant for the colder weather! Maybe hoodies are different, in other locations??

I wear flip flops, even if it's below freezing. My mom could just kill me for doing that.

It was 32 degrees, this morning, and I sure as heck wore my flip flops. Everyone was looking at me strange.

But that's normal, for me!!

I hate shoes.

A hoodie was my only jacket for years, even when I lived in Maine. I was older...well, early 20's. But it was very warm. I draw the line at shorts though.

At my daughter's school, they're allowed shorts in early Fall and late Spring ONLY. She's in elementary though. Maybe they get looser with the rules in High School.

 

[Amy&Dan]

Well around here, it can be cold in the morning (like today when its around 32) and by lunch it will be 68. Tomorrow its going to be snowing all day. This is Colorado btw. I think half the time nobody in my area knows what the weather is going to be doing. We'll have a warm spell that lasts for a week, poeple forget its really winter and don't watch the weather and all of the sudden you have adults and kids alike dressing like its May instead of December. I also do notice jr. and sr. high school aged kids rarely wear a heavy coat. I always shook my head but my son hasn't worn his heavy coat all year and I am betting he won't. He has a nice hoodie he likes and I am okay with that. Now that my kids don't have recess anymore (and they don't walk to school, too far and we don't get a bus) I am okay with it. When they were little I bundled them up.

I did have to laugh yesterday. We had had snow in the night, it was icy, freezing cold and windy. I see this young girl walking to my kids' school. She has on shorts, no coat, is talking on her cell phone, balancing a cup of coffee and clearly freezing and about to fall on her little behind. But she looked very cool!

 

[komondorok]

It is going to be 60 degrees here today in Colorado. DS12 left for school in shorts and a hoodie. Although, yesterday when it was colder, I told the 12 year old to wear jeans. When he came home, he reported (not happily) that he was the only dorky one to wear long pants.

Older DS who graduated high school in the top 20 (out of 400) of his class never wore a coat to school. For one thing, there is no room in their lockers for bulky coats. Secondly, it just isn't cool. Third, I don't think teen males get cold.

I gave up the battle long ago. As long as they are not hospitalized for frostbite, they are doing well academically and are not getting in trouble at school, if they want to freeze their butts off to be cool then so be it.