There’s no such thing as bad weather… as the saying goes. Little kids don’t mind bad weather as long as they have decent clothing. My worst, most endless days of parenting two small children have undoubtedly been the days when we haven’t left the house. There have been various reasons for this over the years; illness and awful weather being the main contributors, and yet honestly, there were just days when I couldn’t be bothered to take them out because I was exhausted. We also live in an urban area where the most inspiring places to be in nature/the outdoors are generally a car journey away, and there were so many days I was so exhausted from broken nights that I wouldn’t have been safe getting behind the wheel. Everyone will inevitably have those days when the entire family will stay at home the whole day and the likelihood is everyone will be the most irritable, grumpy, argumentative versions of themselves by the end of those days — adults and children. And that’s fine. Those days will come and go, and they won’t do anyone any harm.
But parents need to recognise that being outdoors has the most amazing effect on children’s mood, behaviour and sleep. It took me a while to work out that snow boots are so much warmer and more comfortable than wellies in winter and I now make sure both my kids have a pair of lined boots that fit them every winter. Barely worn or even new boots can be picked up for bargain prices on second-hand websites such as eBay and Vinted (I have a lot of love for Vinted having recently started using it). All-in-one suits are useful for very small children, but now that ours are older (six and four) I find that thickly lined waterproof over trousers worn with their normal winter coats are more practical to get on and off. They can easily be worn over leggings or trousers, together with snow boots, and if you size up you can roll the waist over and get at least a couple of winters out of them, if not more.
A note here on gloves. Small children’s gloves are a nightmare to put on and keep track of. In fact, this is the first winter where it suddenly occurred to me one morning that it hadn’t taken a full five minutes to get one pair of gloves on one child, and that they had more or less both managed to do it themselves (yes, a small life win I admit, but I take what I can). Lined mittens are better for very small kids and when they’re a bit older, I suggest buying several pairs of the little magic gloves (many places sell them for less than £2 each, including the Post Office!) and putting name stickers in them for nursery/school. That way you will usually manage to keep track of enough pairs to make sure they’re never without them on cold days. Kids with cold extremities are not exactly fun to be around, and there’s nothing that makes you feel worse as a parent than failing to provide your kids with hats and gloves on cold days (yet still expecting them to go outdoors for some health-giving fresh air). Keeping a spare set of winter woolies in the car, as well as an emergency change of clothes is always a good idea too (and then, of course, making sure they stay in the car…)
I realise I’ve written all this stuff about winter clothing when we’re going into springtime here in the UK! I’ve had this post sitting as a draft for ages though so wanted to get it on it. And of course, there may be people reading it who are going into winter right now.