You know that old saying, “Pick your battles”. Well, there is one I’m not picking. And it’s the coat battle.
Every winter, as my family scurries out the door, I am heard saying “Get your coat.” Oh, let’s be honest. It’s more like “GET YOUR COAT!!!” It is met with moans, groans, and things like, “Well I’m not wearing it, it won’t fit in my locker, I don’t need a coat, and I don’t know where it is!”
I usually win the argument because, well, I’m Mom. But what is the result of winning the argument? A coat that is left in the van, at school, or lost.
So I decided to think long and hard about the importance of the coat. Do my kids wait outside in the cold for the school bus to get them? No. Do they walk home from school? No. Will they be spending more than 5 minutes outside in the cold? Probably not. Do people really get a cold from forgetting their coat? Doubtful.
So I’ve decided to drop the coat issue this year. I will suggest it, but I won’t force it. And this is what I think will happen. Are you ready, because this is profound…
If my kids get cold, they will take their coat.
I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before now!
The best lessons are the lessons where someone makes a choice, and then has to deal with the consequence of their choice. You can’t argue with something you chose to do, right?
So here’s hoping my kids don’t get deathly sick from a cold, due to lack of wearing a coat.
And I may or may not be secretly praying their school has a fire drill, in the freezing cold, when they have chosen not to bring a coat ; )
I agree 100%, so I’m always still shocked when my mom instincts compel me to utter those words every time we leave the house. It’s the same with “Be careful” — I know that those are probably the most pointless two words ever spoken (incessantly) by a parent, yet I do it too, driven by some deep evolutionary purpose I have yet to understand. I have a feeling it’s simply another way of saying I love you. ?
So true Tracy. It is another way to say “I love you!!”
They don’t get their coats for fire drills! At least not at any school I’ve ever taught in. Those drills are timed and have you ever seen how long it takes a kinder to put on a coat?!!!
Oh wow Karin! Then I guess I can’t hope for that!