“The jersey is the piece of clothing that kids wear when their mothers feel cold” M. Gila
This joke that said Miguel Gila (1919-2001), a Spanish comedian, it’s a reflection of a true reality.
Kids and adults feel the temperature differently.
Generally, the adults feel colder than kids, apart from being cold-blooded or heat-sensitive. And this difference of feeling is, in part, due to the kids’ physical activity is higher than ours.
Having this reality in mind, what it’s interesting is that kids learn to react coherently, warming themselves or taking off some of their clothes, according to their feeling of their corporal temperature.
When a child says “I feel cold” and the adult answers what the kid should do, the opportunity that the kid makes his own reasoning is lost. At the attempt of answering “if you feel cold put on a jersey”, the adult should say “when I feel cold, I put on a jersey”.
The big difference between these two answers is that the second one turns the kid into an active subject. He has to link the adult’s behavior with his own and decide if both situations are similar. And if so, he has to act accordingly.
What we get with an answer like the second one is that the kid learns to think.
When the little one comes to his own conclusion, that he has to warm himself because he feels cold, he needs to be able to do it by himself or with the least possible help. With what we keep favoring his autonomy not only with the reasoning but also with the realization.
J E R S E Y S A N D S W E A T S H I R T S
The usual is to find jerseys and sweatshirts without any opening, other are opened with buttons or opened with zippers. Having in mind that we’re talking about kids aged from three to six, the best option is the last one, the opening with zipper.
The reason is as follows, until kids aren’t six or seven years old they aren’t able to get dressed and undressed without being helped. That means that kids improve their fine and gross motor skills little by little. And to take off a closed sweatshirt the kid needs to do correctly and distinguish the consecutive actions. Each one of them has to be well finished before moving forward to the next one. And it’s really likely that the kid will need the help of the closest adult.
As jerseys and sweatshirts are warm clothing and kids nonstop moving, kids should be able to warm themselves and take off their clothes freely and as many times as they need, according to how they feel their corporal temperature.
That’s the reason why we should make it the easiest possible, always keeping in mind their maturational times, their skills and their competences.
If you want to know more about it I suggest reading the post Pros and cons of sweatshirts without zippers
C O A T S A N D J A C K E T S
Warm clothing like jackets, coats, anoraks… is the only garment in which the hood is really used for the reason that it was designed for; cold and rain protection. That’s exactly why these garments are the only ones in which having a hood would be appropriate.
It’s advisable that warm clothing should have a zipper as fastening and that it moves up and down easily. These clothes should also have large and long pockets placed at front, and kids should be able to put their hands in and take them out easily.
On the other hand, we should be aware of that if warm clothing is too bulky, kids will feel uncomfortable wearing it and they will take it off as soon as they can.
S C A R V E S
Scarves are garments that kids don’t like because they’re uncomfortable for them. Scarves are always falling or hanging and that means that they interfere with the kids’ games. But what is really worrying is the possibility of that one of the scarf ends may get caught (with a door, for example) without being known for the kid, and that he lives a dangerous moment.
For that reason it’s advisable the use of circle scarves or infinity scarves because they prevent from having a hanging end, and they also keep warm the kids’ neck. If it’s possible, the ideal scarf would be a circle one but closed with Velcro. In this way, if it gets caught or if a classmate of your kid pulls it, it will open easily.
This one is the last post of the series What clothes to choose for that your preschooler kids enjoy the most their autonomy in their back to school
I wish these advices will be useful to you and that you put them into practice very soon.
If you have any question you can leave a comment or send me an email, I’ll be around in case you need me.
If you liked this post and you know someone that you think that may be interested in it too, please share it.
All the best,
Laia
R E L A T E D P O S T S
Credit photos: 01 – Delia creates | 02 – Paul + Paula | 03 – Annie Spratt | 04 – Morley | 05 – American outfitters | 06 – Beau Loves | 07 – Soft Gallery | 08 – Zara Walker | 09 – Morley | 10 – Soft Gallery | 11 – Morley | 12 – VONBON | 13 – Berryvogue | 14 – Zara | 15 – BundleUpBuddy
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