Snowy Climate MOOKS

[browneyedgirl9]

We live in Massachusetts, we only wear snow pants to go outside and play in the snow. Or for a prolonged outdoor event with snow on the ground.

[hermione]

I am in MI. Our school doesn't allow them on the playground if there is snow on the ground unless they have boots and snow pants. I know that is true through 5th grade, I have no idea if it goes through 8th.

[waverly]

If there is snow the kids are not allowed to play in it during recess unless they have snow pants. Recess goes to 5th grade and 6th is middle school with no recess. So anyway, I provide snow pants for recess through 5th grade. After that they would only need it for sledding or skiing. Oh and they bring them in a bag for recess only. They don’t wear them to and from school. We have bussing and don’t walk to school so they don’t need them to and fro.

[jaycee]

NE Wisconsin

Snowpants until 5th grade

[pierogigirl]

Upstate NY - K-5 kids need snowpants and boots to play in the snow. We go out for recess if it's 14 degrees or higher.

My 8th grader has snowpants but never brings them to school because there's no recess starting in grade 6. Neither kid ever wore them to school. They would bring them in a bag for recess.

[ilikedonuts]

My kids take them to school for recess, but there is no recess starting in 6th so they’ll have no need for them at school then.

[sparty04]

DS1 stopped wearing snowpants at recess around 2nd grade. He's just too cool for them I guess. He's in 5th grade and I still send them but he never wears them. Same with boots. He keeps them in his locker (I have an extra set of snow stuff at school) but he doesn't wear them. They're not allowed off the blacktop if they don't have snow gear. He doesn't care.

None of my kids wear snow gear to/from school (besides hats/gloves) even when we walk, but it's only a 5 minute walk. I just keep an extra set of everything in their locker.

[origami]

We stopped the snow pants in 6th gr because they don’t have outdoor recess at that point

[SusanBAnthony]

They were required in elementary. You could leave them at school but had to have them daily for recess.

That ended in middle school (6th grade) and my kids virtually never used them. Maybe in once or twice when the temp was around -20.

MN.

[devonpow]

I’m in Boston. DS2 is in 5th. Boots and snow pants were basically over last year except for skiing or sledding - so never at school.

I have a 15 year old who won’t even wear a coat (or hat, or gloves…) and he walks a mile each way to school. I have given up on even trying.

[erbear]

The school rule for recess is that you can play in the snow if you're properly dressed (snowpants, jacket, hat, gloves, boots) so the younger one (6th grade) always brings that stuff and the older one (8th grade) does if she feels like it.

Not the point but the number of people saying their 6th graders don't get recess is depressing.

[UMaineTeach]

Our school requires full gear to go off the tar when there’s snow. it comes down to what you want to play and what your friends are going, much like all of life.

We have 4th graders in full gear and 4th graders with no coats (on purpose, not for lack of having one).

[osulori]

We're in Central OH and I've never sent snow pants (Kid #1 is in 4th grade)-I've sent him in boots if there's snow on the ground and that plus hat/gloves/coat has been good. They aren't allowed on the grass if it's snow covered or really wet so blacktop only, and if it's below 20 it's indoor recess time.

[shauni27]

Jan 16, 2023 16:14:19 GMT -5 waverly said:

If there is snow the kids are not allowed to play in it during recess unless they have snow pants. Recess goes to 5th grade and 6th is middle school with no recess. So anyway, I provide snow pants for recess through 5th grade. After that they would only need it for sledding or skiing. Oh and they bring them in a bag for recess only. They don’t wear them to and from school. We have bussing and don’t walk to school so they don’t need them to and fro.

similar here in NH at our school. The policy is that in winter, kids in elementary school are required to have hat, gloves, boots, snow pants and jacket to play outside. Elementary goes through 4th grade. 

But the kids rarely wear them TO school--we keep a pair in his backpack and a pair in his cubby at school.

I would imagine by 5th grade/middle school the kids are not going to be doing stuff that requires snowpants daily.

[kitty]

Very southern new england and snow gear isn't a thing at our elementary school. It is blacktop only if there's more than just a coating of snow no matter what you are wearing. I have no idea if this is true in all school districts but it feels in ours like they don't want to "waste" time having the kids put their gear on and change into boots when they could be doing more academics. So we haven't done snow pants at school since daycare. We are also no recess starting in 6th which I also find disappointing. My 11 year old is still a kid!

[Ashley&Scott]

Our elementary school (K-5) requires snow gear (boots & snow pants) if there is snow on the ground. Anyone without snow gear has to stay on the black top during recess rather than having full access to the entire playground, fields, etc. Indoor recess only occurs when it's raining or temps are below 0, students cannot opt to stay inside without a medical reason/note.

ETA: Middle school & high school don't have recess in our district.

[rocklake]

UT here--if our kids wear snow pants to school (required if they want to go off the asphalt during recess) then they have to keep them on all day! They get three recesses so I understand that the donning/doffing of snow pants would take up too much time but my kids say it's just too hot to keep their snowpants on all day. My fourth grader would happily play in the snow if he could tolerate the snow pants all day! My 6th grader is content to stand on asphalt with friends looking too cool to play in the snow.

[lolalolalola]

Probably around 5th grade for my kids if I recall correctly.

Now that they are in high school, one of them doesn’t ever even wear a winter coat. It’s so annoying. And I’m in a cold Canadian climate….

[gerberdaisy]

Upstate NY - we send them once in November and have them stay there until March. They have outdoor recess almost every day (think the temp cutoff is 10?) but don't know if/how often they wear them. They've never worn them to school though.

[momin2013]

Jan 17, 2023 15:40:57 GMT -5 rocklake said:

UT here--if our kids wear snow pants to school (required if they want to go off the asphalt during recess) then they have to keep them on all day! They get three recesses so I understand that the donning/doffing of snow pants would take up too much time but my kids say it's just too hot to keep their snowpants on all day. My fourth grader would happily play in the snow if he could tolerate the snow pants all day! My 6th grader is content to stand on asphalt with friends looking too cool to play in the snow.

Wow - I can’t imagine that! They must roast!

[polarbearfans]

I don’t send them at all. If there is snow on the ground they have inside recess at my daughter’s school. It is a small school and they would have nowhere to store all that snow gear and then probably don’t want to do with all the melted snow inside.

[polarbearfans]

I don’t send them at all. If there is snow on the ground they have inside recess at my daughter’s school. It is a small school and they would have nowhere to store all that snow gear and then probably don’t want to do with all the melted snow inside.

[CloudBee]

I grew up in Maine and my sister’s children all went through elementary school up there. Pretty much everyone has snow pants for recess until they hit middle school. You aren’t allowed off the blacktop without boots and snow pants, and teachers usually have backup pairs. Many kids wear them at the bus stop.

Now I’m in CT and from what I hear kids don’t wear them at school beyond preschool? Not positive. I do know that our district has a low threshold for keeping kids inside. It’s something like temps below 35. Growing up if lack of a jacket were the issue the school would remedy that as they kept all the old lost and found items as extras. No child in my hometown district in ME would ever be without a winter coat for school or home as the school would make sure they had one to keep. I wish my current district offerer such a solution because going days or weeks on end without recess must be brutal.

[dontlook]

Jan 16, 2023 10:43:26 GMT -5 momin2013 said:

O.k., maybe this is a Canadian thing. But I don't understand - don't your kids like, roll around in the snow at recess?

I’m in MN or South Canada as I like to call it. Kids are required to have them to play at recess or they have to stay on the blacktop so kids usually wear them through 5th grade (end of elementary school).

By middle school kids don’t wear snow pants or coats either which drives me nuts.

[glitzy07]

I'm in MN and I always send my kids with boots and snow gear when there is snow on the ground or in the forecast. My youngest (7yo) can fit his in his backpack and the older one (9yo) carries his snow stuff in a separate plastic bag to school. If the kids don't have snow clothes, there are certain parts of the recess playground/yard that they're not allowed to play in.

[Gato]

Our kids' elementary made them wear snowpants through 4th grade, or they couldn't play on the playground. I think this was because the school provides sleds and most of the kids wanted to go down the big, snowplowed snowbanks, which means they would've gone through the afternoon soaked without snowpants.

Then suddenly this year DD is in 5th grade and this isn't a requirement, I think maybe because there's a new principal? Lol, or maybe DD is making this up because she considers herself "too old" for snowpants. I think she would have stopped wearing them regardless.

[KellyEasterbrook]

I’m in a ski town in the west and I see the kids in my daughters school (so preK through 8th) in snow gear whenever there’s snow in the forecast— all grades are supposed to spend at least an hour outside everyday and I don’t think they stay inside unless it’s in the 20s. At our last location, recess wasn’t inside unless it was below -20 and kids could ice skate or play hockey during recess. no one of any age left their house without full winter gear from Oct through April/May.

[jeaniebueller]

7th grade. They no longer do recess. For younger kids they still go outside every day unless it is in single digits or icy.

[momin2013]

Thank you everyone for chiming in! Sounds like 4th-6th is sort of the range for kids not wearing them anymore.

Last time we had a couple of inches on the ground I sent DS with snowpants, and he was miffed that the teacher said if they’d brought them they “had” to wear them. It snowed again today so I just asked if he wanted to bring them tomorrow or not and he said no, that he’d just stay on the tarmac. So we’ll go with that and see if he comes home with dry pants, lol!

I recall the days of him coming home with soaked gear basically every day, needing to put it all in the dryer, etc. but maybe those days are behind us!

[deo]

If there is snow on the ground, my kids wear full snow gear to school (Canadian, so pretty much October to end of March).

My oldest in grade 6 and only wears them occasionally if there is a lot of snow on the ground. My 4th grader sometimes doesn't wear them because he plays soccer at lunch and they are too bulky but still brings them because they usually have gym outside.