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How to get your kids to wear winter clothes

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GET YOUR (STUBBORN) KIDS TO WEAR THEIR MITTENS

I’m going a little off-topic on the blog today but I HAD to share my excitement after FINALLY figuring out how to get my stubborn preschooler to keep his mittens on in the cold weather!! This parenting hack works so well for getting the kids in their winter gear WITHOUT tears!  It gets REALLY cold where we live. Like, REALLY cold.  Every year we end up with a huge struggle trying to get winter clothes on our kids. Especially the mittens –  kids and toddlers just don’t like having something on them that prevents them from using their hands! Last year, our babysitter thought of the genius idea to use socks on the hands. I did think this was quite smart, as the socks were thin enough that my son could still manipulate stuff, but it wasn’t the warmest solution. This year, my son is in school and they spend a lot of time outside. I was determined that I was going to find a way for him to wear his winter clothes and KEEP THEM ON!

The Inspiration

I’ve been listening lately (go Audible membership!) to a bunch of parenting audiobooks. I don’t have time to read (who does!?) but I drive a lot for work so I can often listen to books on my drives. Most recently I’ve been listening to ‘How to talk so LITTLE kids will listen‘ by Joanna Farber and Julie King. I have already listened to the parent book, ‘How to talk so kids will listen, and listen so kids will talk‘ and I have to tell you it really changed the way I parent for the better. All this to say, as I was listening to the book a familiar story came up. It was the story of the toddler who won’t wear mittens. And the solution that the mom in the book used was so GENIUS I absolutely had to try it.

How to talk so little kids will listen

 

Our Weather and Clothing Thermometer

We already had an outdoor thermometer outside our kitchen window, which made this project super easy. If you don’t have a similar thermometer you can buy one here.

I used Canva to make my printable design and Canva is SO EASY to use. I absolutely love it for any crafts or activities I do with my kids. I also use Canva to make all my printables and ‘pinnable images’ for my blog. Definitely check it out here if you want to make your own design to use (did I mention it’s FREE?)

The key to getting my kid to put on his winter clothes was to make it HIS IDEA. Or at the very least NOT *MY* idea. The weather thermometer is something external which he sees as ‘objective’ in telling him what he needs to wear.

A Simple DIY Project

You can access my design HERE. I simply created a circular pattern with some free clip art of kids wearing various outfits. The most important was the child wearing his gloves, hats, and scarf. I turned the design so that I was happy with how the numbers matched up (I arbitrarily chose 5 degrees celsius/40 degrees Fahrenheit for the winter clothes). You can turn the design so that that numbers match up to your preferred temperature ranges.  I laminated the design with this laminator to help it stand up to the outdoors. Then I cut out a hole in the center and taped it to the thermometer and I was done. Easiest DIY project ever!

Get your kids to wear winter clothes

Brrrr… It’s cold in here!

Kids winter clothes

And VOILA! It actually worked. In the morning, I showed my son the thermometer and I asked what it was pointing to. He exclaimed that it was pointing towards the kid with the hat, mitts, and scarf and then HAPPILY put all of these items on. I literally could not believe my success.

Kids ski gear

Outside our kitchen window

Get kids to wear snow clothes

‘Stubborn’ child happily wearing his clothes. Mom JAW dropped.

Feel free to download my printable HERE and I hope this thermometer brings you as much success as I had!

Get toddler to wear mittens

Getting on the bus IN his winter gear!

Drop me a line in the comments if you have any genius strategies for getting kids to wear winter clothes. Perhaps I’ll need them for my next (even more stubborn) second son.

xo

Kate

Are you struggling to get your toddler or preschooler to wear hats and mittens? Is there a morning struggle to get on their winter outfits? Use this simple DIY project to get your kids in their snow clothes without tears! #DIY #lifehack #parentinghack #winterclothes #winteroutfit #snowclothesAre you struggling to get your toddler or preschooler to wear hats and mittens? Is there a morning struggle to get on their winter outfits? Use this simple DIY project to get your kids in their snow clothes without tears! #DIY #lifehack #parentinghack #winterclothes #winteroutfit #snowclothes

 

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