Rookie Mama: Here’s a salute to the snowsuit re-boot

By Michelle Cote
The Rookie Mama

Fiery red leaves sound the red alarm for the clothing reality check in our home, and I want to take a moment to share my textile-themed PSA, which as you can imagine does not stand for “pants, shirts, accessories.”

Octobers are as multicolored outdoors in Maine as they are in my kiddos’ clothing drawers, because we’re wild-eyed with clothing overlapping seasons that truly must be addressed.

Our mudroom is still lined with the boys’ brand new-ish school shoes buddied up next to summer’s muddy Crocs – brightly marked signs of outdoor play all season long.

As we phase through a shoulder season that shoulders burden of many garments – Seriously, we will need more coat hooks – we must take that seasonal self-eval and determine what stays and what goes to the leaf-pile-looking mound of a donation pile stuffed tight in Chewy boxes ready for a Goodwill drop?

Full disclosure, my children really do own more than three pairs of clothing.

Their jam-packed hand-me-down dresser drawers are proof positive of being stuffed to the gills with hand-me-down attire of all sorts.

But as all four boys are creatures of habit, they love to keep a couple of outfits on repeat, so much that if we go one day without running the washer, they’re running wildly and convinced that they have no more clothes to wear.

Oh wear, oh wear, are their clothes indeed?

It really strikes a friendly reminder that perhaps we should sift through it all and pull garments not worn for a long time. This is always rough going – Pulling out forgotten clothes from the backs of closets are like pulling off a Band-aid, but unlike a Band-aid, the pain’s not forgotten quickly afterward.

I’ll gently fold away the clothes they no longer wear and quietly add to a size-marked bin in our basement so they’re ready to be once again loved, worn and torn as boy clothes go, for the next kiddo down the line.

And because ‘tis the season, it’s critical to have your little ones try one last year’s boots, winter coats and snow pants.

The littler the kid, the probably more likely it is that they’re ready to size up.

Like many other things I’ve learned in parenting, I know this because I’ve learned the hard way – the Rookie Mama way, so to speak. 

In my early mama-ing years, I’d wait for snow to fly, run down to get a kid’s pair of boots, only for them not to fit and I’d be the one booting out to the nearest store only to find winter wear no longer on shelves, nor available online in right sizes.

You know how it is; in a culture of oversaturated back-to-school shopping sales in June, it’s no surprise that by the time snow hits the fan, store shelves have already replaced winter gear with Valentine’s hearts and Easter eggs.

And Easter eggs are the only thing I ever want to hunt.

As for boots for kids, shop now for best options – this I kid you not.

Try on the winter coats, and have your kiddos do the sleeve test by reaching up high to see whether those sleeves ride up.

To each his own, but when I see too much wrist, I know it’s time to park what I’m doing and find a parka.

Kids today will never know the pure technicolor joy of our ‘90s generation’s Starter jackets, but if they are lucky enough, they may find loose change or a long-forgotten pair of matching winter gloves in an old coat pocket, the jacket color notwithstanding (But oh, how I loved the Charlotte Hornets colors.)

Lastly take a peek at any snow pants while you’re in the neighborhood of winter storage bins. 

Just like the rule of wrist for winter coats, nobody wants snow pants too short or those that ride up in other places, for that matter – Just think of the cold snow on their ankles from a snowdrift step wrongly taken.

It’s still too early for a pot of hot cocoa and peppermint sticks – or is it? – but truly the time to get a foothold on winter boots and downsizing clothes from last season is now.

So that when the cold blasts through, you’ll be the one who’s chill – But you won’t have to worry about getting cold feet.

So re-boot now while you’re in Halloween shopping mode so you aren’t spooked in the months to come.

Out with the Crocs, in with Crocktober!

­­– Michelle Cote lives in southern Maine with her husband and four sons, and enjoys camping, distance running, biking, gardening, road trips to new regions, arts and crafts, soccer, and singing to musical showtunes – often several or more at the same time!