During Duluth’s winters, all parents are living for the warmer days–the days we can get our over-energized, bouncing-off-the-wall children outside for fresh air, the warmth on their face, and burning all the energy they have been building up during the colder days. In our home, we take full advantage of the sunny days, irregardless of the temperature. This however doesn’t come without a price.
In general, getting a toddler dressed for the day can be a big task. There are many days I would love to comply with my little one’s demands and leave him in his PJs. But you haven’t dressed a toddler until you have dressed them in full winter gear. That experience can be traumatic, not just for the toddler, but also for the parents, too. Sometimes the memory of last time is so fresh in our heads that my husband and I think, “Do we really want to go outside today? Ugh, it looks so nice. Okay team, let’s do this!”
I’m not kidding; we literally have to give ourselves a pep talk some days! Just picture us hiding in the kitchen while the kids play happily in the other room. They have no clue what is about to happen. We are coming up with a game plan: “You take Abigail (10 months old) and I’ll take Liam… (2.5 years old) and break!”
Dressing a Toddler in Winter Gear
Now that we have a plan and approach my son, the screaming begins (he has a harder time because he’s 2 and everything is tough for a two year-old!) My toddler wears: long underwear, thick socks, a fleece zip-up over that, thick-lined pants over his bottoms, a fleeced-lined and waterproof full-body snow suit, socks on his hands on colder days with his Stonz mittens over that, hat, and boots.
I am sweating by the time I’ve gotten him dressed, and I kid you not, some days I feel like a professional and I can get it done in 2 minutes, but most days it takes 5 to 10 minutes to dress him and I have to psych myself up again to dress my daughter. The struggle is real, the screaming is real, and any parent who dresses their child for a winter outing in Duluth, Minnesota understands that!
I bring this up because when we go on hikes, we can’t dress our kids in the privacy of our home and hide the screams. We don’t usually hike directly from our home, so this means changing into winter gear will happen in public. Today, we had a dog and two small, grumpy children in the back of a minivan with a huge bag of layers that we’re trying to put on them as we sing songs and ask them if they want fruit snacks (bribery: not my best parenting moment!). Of course, all this goes down as a cute young couple (who look so, so put together with their dog on a leash and carrying their Starbucks coffees) walk by with and give us that look. You know the one–the “we are never having kids” look. I want to yell to them, “Yes, getting your children into winter gear is torture, but it is so worth it!”
I mean it. It is worth it. Once our heart rates dropped back to normal after dressing the kids, the beads of sweat dried from the small of our backs, and we got moving, the hike was wonderful. Liam ran through the trees, giggling loudly. What made it all worth it was his comment: “I am so happy.” My husband and I looked at each other with a smile and it was like the winter gear dance had never happened.
While I feel like I should be an expert with a whole 2.5 years of dressing small children in winter gear, I can’t really give much advice. But when you walk by those parents or sometimes parent, because some of us do it alone, just give them chin nod of approval–that chin nod that you have been there and get it because that is exactly the kind of encouragement they need in the moment. On this specific hike, a family with two older boys walked by us and the mom said, “We have been there and I am impressed.” My husband and I said thank you and gave ourselves an invisible high five. We felt like pretty awesome parents in that moment. It’s not torture all the time but when it is, it is still so worth it.
Outdoor gear we love:
- Stonz Mittens & Gear — you can get it locally from Little Neetchers.
- The annual Bentleyville hat -free if you meet Santa!
- Any thick, warm sock — synthetic or wool will work.
Outdoor locations we love:
- Amity Creek Trail
- Hartley Nature Center — HNC has a ton of rental equipment including our new favorite, kicksleds!
- Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory — the views are outstanding!
