Alright Minnesotans, it’s official. The hip and cool “nip in the air” that reminds us of pumpkin spice latte and has us eying the newest fall boots just officially jumped to DAMN COLD. And nothing is poetic or exciting or hip about damn cold.
My second grader is still fighting me over wanting to wear shorts to school each morning. Can you imagine going from “can you please just cover the bottom part of your legs” to “now it’s time to add a 15 pound fixture with a wool hood to your wardrobe“? As you can imagine, the transition wasn’t a smooth one.
I did it. I finally did it. I dusted off the winter coats bought from last year’s clearance rack at Target and slyly placed them on the hooks where their fall fleeces sat. In the darkness of night, I hope they wouldn’t notice the switch and would slide them on without a second glance. Who am I kidding…. I knew they’d go bat shit crazy, and I was exhausted just thinking about it.
My kids like ice skating and get excited to build snowmen. For those activities, they will gladly throw on winter attire, and even grab their mittens and hats without prompting. But asking them to wear WINTER COATS to SCHOOL is like asking them to jump through a burning tree house to fetch a pail of peas. There is just no motivation, no interests, and NO, NO, NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
This morning I had tears, fights, threats against continuing to be my child, a promise to move to “Alex’s house because his mom doesn’t make him wear a winter coat” and negotiations that involved eating buckets of mashed potatoes if I would relent my desire to ruin lives by requiring winter coat wearing.
Does anyone else feel this strongly about winter?
