Dressing Your Child In Cold Weather

The mornings are colder but that doesn’t make a difference to a two year old who has discovered a love of skirts. And dresses.

Each morning I give my daughter a “choice” of two outfits to wear – both acceptable options in my opinion but clearly not hers. Oh, she’s OK with the colors I pick out and what goes with what. It’s just the stockings vs. leggings vs. pants that gets us in trouble. I’m not a girly girl, so I don’t naturally opt for skirts and dresses, but I’m willing to give my daughter some leeway.

This all started innocently with socks. I’d put socks on her feet when it was mildly chilly then off to the playground we’d go. When we got there, off came the socks. That’s cool, I thought, it’s not too cold and who wants to play in sand with socks and shoes on?

Now, however, not only is the air cold but the sand is cold and yet she still wants her socks and shoes off. At first I obliged but stockings made that a little more difficult. Talk about holes in the feet!

Instead of ruining all her stockings, we switched to leggings. A good compromise, no? We have even tried pants under a dress, a look I hate, but no matter. Now all she wants is her stockings back…and to take them off at the playground.

I’m willing to let her little legs get cold to teach her that they need to stay covered, but I’ve been letting her go bare legged and she’s OK with it. Really. Doesn’t phase her. So now I’m stumped. I’ve been putting socks on over the stockings and letting her remove the socks. It doesn’t solve my holey feet problem, but it’s a start.

Now, if we can just get her to wear her jacket…

photo credit: tamadhanaval