OS how to keep toddler and preschooler warm?

[maestramommy]

After this first snow the girls are wearing their winter coats. One is a Lands End Squall jacket, and the other is an LL Bean something. I've noticed that they are quite bulky, esp. the Land's End. It's kind of thick, and I have to really work at it to get the harness tight. Even then I'm not really sure how tight it is. Since these are the coats they are going to live with this season, what do I do? Do you all really just not have your kids wear coats in the car? I could see if you were going on a long ride, but for school pickup and dropoff? They do wear some layers, but even the garage is in the low 40s high 30s, and once winter gets really underway it's going to be 20s in the parking lot. Today it was blustering, and I was really feeling it just because I wasn't wearing a hat. I can't imagine having them take all the time to get out of their seat onto the ground, THEN put their jackets on. And I'm wrangling 3 kids everywhere we go.

[GraceH]

This is what I just wrote on lmh2402's thread:
"My first choice:
- put on coat backwards (velcro only, don't zip)
- go out to car and place in seat
- pull back open so child is directly in seat
- pull each arm out of coat, put through harness and back into sleeve
- secure harness
- tuck in sides of coat

My second choice:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLTVPqn0aR8
(you really shouldn't pick a winter coat as puffy as the one in the video though... stick with a thinner thinsulate/polar fleece variety)

I try to go with my first choice, but on days like yesterday when it's "real feel of NEGATIVE 10", the second choice wins due to less exposure

PS -- this is yet another reason I loved getting through 2 winters with my SS1/SR32/SR35! "

[KrisM]

My kids don't wear coats in the car. I try to convince them to and they don't want to. They do wear them in the garage and then get in the car and take them off. I unbuckle from the front seat and they put their coats on before we get out. DD just learned to zip her own recently, too :cheerleader1:.

[maestramommy]

GraceH I understand what I saw in the video, but I don't understand putting the coat on backwards. Wait a minute, maybe I do. This is just to get them to the car without exposing them to cold, right? :p

[o_mom]

If you have just a regular Squall jacket (not the 3-in-1), it shouldn't be super thick. DS1 wears one in the car on really cold days. I make sure to pull it up off his lap and it doesn't add too much bulk. Unzipping the coat and then putting a blanket over them is also an option. DS1 and DS2 can put their own coats on, so that helps some as well. This is also where that minivan comes in handy since I can stand inside with them to put the coats on. :)

[GraceH]

GraceH I understand what I saw in the video, but I don't understand putting the coat on backwards. Wait a minute, maybe I do. This is just to get them to the car without exposing them to cold, right? :p

It allows DS to get out to the car staying warm, something on him while the car is still cold (think a-la Snuggie over harnessed child), then have the ability to take it off once the car has warmed up enough to not need a coat... for a longer trip, if you used the option in the video, it could be more of a hassle to get the coat off

[Tanya]

Kris, my kids are the same way. I used to be able to leave a light jacket on my first daughter, but the youngest has always refused any jacket in the car. They get into the car and toss their jackets/coats onto the front passenger seat. I even keep a blanket in the car, but they never want to cover up with their coats or the blanket either.
Me, I wear my coat and turn on the seat warmer as soon as I get in the car. Ha ha.

My kids also strip their socks off in the house as soon as possible and run around with cold feet. I even wear socks to bed.

The cold just doesn't bother them like it does me. But yes, I do enforce coats, hats, mittens, etc. when they are outside.

[bubbaray]

I'm with omom. LE Squall and the similar LLB Warmup Jacket are fine in the car. I unzip the front of the jacket 99% of the time and put the harness close to the chest.

[Joolsplus2]

I just recently stuck a big fluffy blanket in the car (well, 30X40, but thick and furry, not just a light fleece, but a velboa thing) ...Leah jumps in, takes her jacket off (her choice, honestly I'm ok with her Squall in the seat, but she likes it off), and then I toss the blanket on her really fast. Granted, I do know that it's not terribly terribly cold where I am compared to some of you all, and she's in the middle of the minivan, so we have oodles of room for all this maneuvering!

[maestramommy]

Okay, today I tried unzipping the jackets to putting the harness close to the chest. That, as it turns out, has it's own issues. Namely that the presence of a hood still makes the jacket bunch under the straps where it goes from outside to inside the jacket. I didn't bother doing it for Laurel after the first time because the jacket she wears is thinner than the typical polarfleece. It's really an issue with Arwyn's jacket. Whether the harness is outside or inside it bunches somewhere. Partly because her girth is so much smaller than the jacket:rolleye0014:, esp on the shoulders. Really the safest thing to do is put the jacket on backwards. But she is so obstinate these days it's hard to get her to do anything different that she doesn't want to do. Just wrestling her into the car today was a nightmare. If Dh wasn't there I would just stayed home.

[Joolsplus2]

I have a www.carseatponcho.com I got for Leah a couple years ago, and I adore it, but she freaks out that there's no sleeves, so I hear ya on kids being kind of moody about doing things differently. Sigh.

[maestramommy]

I have a www.carseatponcho.com (http://www.carseatponcho.com) I got for Leah a couple years ago, and I adore it, but she freaks out that there's no sleeves, so I hear ya on kids being kind of moody about doing things differently. Sigh.

I saw those things on the other link, and was like, "yeah right!" Arwyn would rip it off her head with a big "Nao!" and fling it on the ground.

[maestramommy]

Okay, I have to work with what I got this year, but for next....
I thought I saw jackets that are 3-in-1. I mean, there's a fleece layer, and a shell layer, then maybe one more other (down?) layer. Was it LL Bean? I was thinking they could wear the fleece layer in the car, then throw on the other layers when we get to where we're going. I do have one Columbia fleece vest that would probably fit either kid, and a plethora of fleece jackets/pullovers that are insufficient for being outside, but would probably work for in the car.

[o_mom]

Okay, I have to work with what I got this year, but for next....
I thought I saw jackets that are 3-in-1. I mean, there's a fleece layer, and a shell layer, then maybe one more other (down?) layer. Was it LL Bean? I was thinking they could wear the fleece layer in the car, then throw on the other layers when we get to where we're going. I do have one Columbia fleece vest that would probably fit either kid, and a plethora of fleece jackets/pullovers that are insufficient for being outside, but would probably work for in the car.

The 3-in-1's are great for that. Lands End makes a 3-in-1 Squall, but you can also find them usually at Walmart, etc (probably not the same quality as LE, but cheaper).