Why do people bundle their kids up just to move them from a warm house to a warm car 20 feet away?

They are going somewhere, aren’t they? They have to walk from the car to the next building they are entering. It may be a bit of a walk. It Is cold walking from the house to the car, even if it is just a few feet. The car could also breakdown. Would you want to be stuck on the side of the road in a car that won’t run or have no heat and you aren’t properly prepared?

The car could also be cold upon entering it. It’s not good for your car to let it sit and warm up before you get in it. http://antranik.org/the-myth-of-warming-up-your-engine/

I bundle myself up because it’s cold. There’s no fear of cold. I’m just….cold!

No, like when they’re going home. When I had my daycare I saw the moms do this. They bundle them up to take them from my house to the car in the drive way, which is already warm ‘cause they drove it over there, then to their own homes. (If they ever had errands to run they’d run them before they picked the kids up.)

Even if your scenario happened, and the car broke down, you’d just have to put all the layers back on and then you would be prepared. It’s not like the car would break down and become instantly cold.

@hey_now So when you get in a car on a cold day, and the car is warm, you still wear your hat and gloves and scarf as you’re driving? Why would you do that?

Yes, I still wear my hat and gloves in the car when it’s really cold outside. My car gets warm with the heater on, but not too warm that it makes me sweat. I would need to put the hat, gloves and coat back on anyway when I’m exiting the car.

It’s not like the car would break down and become instantly cold. I broke down on the highway once with my kids in the car. The temp was minus 10 farenheit. The car got freezing cold quick.

I’m really confused as to why you can’t understand why people do this.

It is good to be bundled-up in case the unexpected occurs – such as the car breaking down. Also, even when a car is warm, the heat doesn’t circulate to the back seat all that well, except maybe in the high-priced luxury vehicles.

I have a question for you @Dutchess_III. Why would you want your kids to get cold when they walk from the house to the car? Isn’t it more comfortable to stay warm the entire time? Why torture yourself and the kids by walking outside for 30 seconds when the temperature is 20 degrees outside? Why not stay warm the entire time?

Because they are thoughtful parents? Because they have cars, like mine, with heating systems that have cold pockets and imperfect air flow?

During the dreadful cold weather of the past three weeks here, I wore my parka, hat, scarf and gloves in my heated car and was not exactly toasty.

What’s wrong with being cold for moment? Sure, I’d tell them to put on their coats but tell them to grab the rest in case it was needed. Not needed for a 10 second hike.

@hearkat I don’t get the “In case it breaks down,” thing. You still have those things with you, but why would you bundle the kids up like you’re going to hike through the North Pole when you’re just walking to the car?

This question came to mind because I watched my daughter working to get her 1 year old son’s coat on, after she took him out of the car seat to go in the building. She spent more time getting his coat on, standing in the cold parking lot, than it would have taken her to walk into the building which was just a few feet away!

I’d call it silly @gailcalled.

I don’t dress for the ride in the car; I dress for the conditions outside, that I might have to face if the car breaks down, if I run out of fuel, if I get into an accident, if I have to stop for any reason (such as to help someone else, for example), if I’m stopped by the police and have to exit the vehicle, etc. Parents who dress their kids as if the car is somehow sacrosanct, and the place they’re going to is 100% without problems (or fire drills) are idiots.

There can be any number of reasons why it might happen that you have to be outside. People who only consider that “your day will always go exactly according to plan” – aside from the incredibly boring lives they must lead – are frequently written about under the term “victim” in news stories about them.

You seem to not be happy if kids don’t want to wear their coats outside in your other question and in this one, you criticize parents for putting coats on their kids! It begins to seem like you look for things to be judgmental about.

That’s ridiculous. If I take a 200 mile road trip, I’m not going to ride those hours all bundled up like I’m in a covered wagon! I have everything I need in case the car breaks down…blankets, hiking boots, matches, candles, but I’m not going to clutch it all in my lap.

I actually drove a car, a mini van that had NO heat for two years. In that instance, we bundled up. I also splurged on real-leather shoes for the kids, because the cold ran right through the cheap vinyl of other shoes. That was COLD driving, man.

In my other question, @jca, the kid was setting out for a bit of a hike, a few blocks, NOT a couple of yards.

Why are you fixated on this?

I wouldn’t bundle up for a 200 mile trip either. I thought we were talking short trips in the car. Are you drinking again?

Short trips, long trips, what’s the difference @hey_now?

I give up. I think I need a drink now.

See @CWOTUS
Semper paratus

Why do some people have to make a big deal out of every day things?

@hey_now Short trip. In town. Long trip. On the highway. You said everyone needs to be bundled up like they’re hiking through the arctic when they’re in a car in case the car breaks down or you get into an accident. Why wouldn’t you be bundled up for a long trip, where a break down or accident would be more serious, but you would for a short trip?

That is not what I said.

You did. In your first and second post at the top of the page. @hearkat echoed your concerns in the 4th post on this thread about breaking down. Yet you wouldn’t be all bundled up for a long trip, only for short trips. Makes no sense.

Maybe ya’ll are misunderstanding me again. I’m not talking about simply putting on a coat. Of course you’d want to wear a coat if it was cold. You’d want your kids to wear a coat, but I’m not talking about just wearing a coat. I’m talking about putting on a knit cap, gloves and scarves just to walk a few yards to the car where you’ll probably take them off.

I wear a coat when I run errands around town, but it’s not buttoned or zipped up to my chin. I have gloves in the pockets in case I need them, but I don’t wear them unless I’m taking a walk, or sometimes when I’m pumping gas. I don’t drive around with them on. (I did in my mini-van with no heat, though.)

I have gloves in the pockets in case I need them, but I don’t wear them unless I’m taking a walk, or sometimes when I’m pumping gas. I don’t drive around with them on…

You are not a very small child.

You really need to read what I wrote. Your question was about dressing for the trip to the car from the house. I answered with reasons why a person would dress for cold weather. You then asked me if I wear a hat and gloves in the car. I said yes and I gave you reasons why I do.

I keep bundled up for short trips because it takes time for the car to heat up. There are times when the car is just getting heated by the time I reach my destination. A short trip involves getting in and out of the car in a short amount of time. If I was driving a 200 mile trip (your example) the car will become heated and I won’t be entering and exiting the car much because I will be driving for a long period of time. It would be more comfortable for me to take off all of these accessories if I was driving a long distance.

I didn’t expand in my details enough @hey_now, and that was my fault.
The car is already warm. They’re going from a warm house to a warm car with their only destination being yet another warm house, yet the parents still spend 5 minutes getting hats and gloves and scarves on the kids, with kids wailing in protest, and I don’t understand why. The kids will have those things with them, but why make them wear them unless they plan to spend some extended time outside? They’re going to take the gloves and hats off when they get in the car so why bother putting them on in the first place, especially when the kids are fighting it?

Not every child throws a fit, and not every child takes their coat, gloves and hat off in the car. I never took the coats off my young children when I put them in the car. Why would I do that when we’d be getting out of the car in 10 minutes? Maybe you don’t mind being cold when you walk from the car to your home or wherever you are going, but many people do mind, even if it is just for a moment. Are you trying to tell me that you have no problem walking a one year old child from the car in a parking lot to a building with only a shirt, pants and shoes in 20 degree weather?

You mentioned you asked this question because your daughter took the coat off her child when she put him in the car, and she had to put the coat back on him before they entered the building. She could have avoided the hassle of putting it back on him in the cold parking lot outside of the vehicle if she had kept the coat on him.

I never took my kid’s coats off in the car either when I knew they were going to be getting out of the car for another stop soon. But I never bundled them up like they were going to freeze to death if they had to walk 10 feet without gloves, scarves and hats to boot.

As far as my daughter, she has twins. She had gotten the straps on one seat adjusted for a coat, but not the other. I’m sure it’s corrected by now. It’s been 24 hours after all.

Maybe they are not going straight home after bundling them in the car. Quite often my mum would pick us up from somewhere and we’d have to run a few errands before going home so she would make sure we were warm (and if we refused to have our coats or scarves on we didn’t dare let on that we err cold!!!)

In the event of a car crash or breakdown, they’ll stay warm.

We already covered that @kritiper.

@Dutchess_III OOPSIE! My bad…

Just don’t feel like going back and reading EVERY SINGLE ENTRY to see what others have said. I have other things to do today.