Maybe they fell on their heads a few too many times when they were little....goodness knows they did a LOT of falling back when they were pre-5 feet tall, maybe they're not getting enough fiber or they've been chewing on windowsills painted with lead paint. Whatever caused it doesn't really matter, because it's been caused and can't be undone. Here's the setting, October 10th, in the middle of Wisconsin, the wind is blowing so hard the house shakes, the thermometer outside says it's 40 degrees. My darling son, child #3, is sitting at the table, eating breakfast before school, I notice what he's wearing. SHORTS! Really? Shorts? So, I look at him and say, "Really? Shorts?" He claims that the hair on his legs will keep his legs warm. Yeah, whatever. Then kid #4 comes in the room, she gets straight A's, the teacher love her, this is not a stupid kid, which is exactly what I said to myself when I see she's wearing a sweatshirt and long pants - then her feet come into view. I obviously spoke/thought too soon. She's wearing FLIP FLOPS, and she doesn't have hairy toes, so I don't know what the heck is going to keep her feet warm. When they were little, I wouldn't have hesitated to send them back upstairs and dress for the weather, but you know what? They're teenagers (which may account for the brain damage) and if they haven't figured out how to dress for the weather by now, there's nothing I'm going to do to enlighten them.
We had another episode of poor garment choices last night. Rent-a-Grandma came over an together we went to Angel #4's volleyball game. (Go Panthers!!) The weather was even worse yesterday than it was today, because in addition to the wind/cold we also had rain. After the game, #4 came up and asked if she could stay after and watch the middle school football game. I asked if she had a coat and she said yes (turns out that apparently, the terms coat and lightweight sweatshirt are interchangeable) and I mentioned, very emphatically, that it was very cold and wet outside and did she really want to go to a stupid football game. She just as emphatically, said she did indeed want to go to a stupid football game. As she wandered outside with her friends, Grandma said that in situations like that her dad always said No Sense - No Feeling. Flash forward 3 hours, when I went to pick #4 up at the football field. She was wet, cold and huddled over the heater in the van. She said she couldn't even feel her feet anymore. I related Grandmas comment to her and her response was: well, don't tell her, she doesn't need to know that she's right! I said I didn't think I needed to tell her that since we ALL already know she was right.
1 comment:
Years ago our oldest insisted on wearing shorts when the temps were in the 30s and 40s. What did I care? It was unlikely he would die from being cold. And one entire school year he wore sweats because we refused to buy the expensive brand-name jeans he HAD to have. He refused to wear the ones we did buy him, so ... sweats. My motto: Pick your battles and do not engage.
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