Temperature for wearing short sleeves?

[angelheart]

My ds is 6 years old & autistic/nonverbal. He currently only goes to school for less than 2 hours a day (he still can't tolerate more than that, but we're slowly increasing his time at school). He gets on the bus at 6:40 am & gets home around 9:45. About an hour of the time he's gone is spent on the bus.

Well, I'm at a loss for how to dress him now. The weather is sort of "in-between" here in NC right now. It's usually in the mid-50s when I put him on the bus in the morning. It feels sort of chilly to me. My gut is to dress him in long pants & long sleeves & a coat! (I'm not very tolerant of cold lol.) The thing is, it warms up considerably by the time he gets home...in the '70s. The coat seems to make sense in the early morning, but not by 2 hours later.

I could solve this problem by dressing him in long pants, short sleeves & then put a light windbreaker on him. The thing is, I've shopped for weeks & can't find one that I can afford that's in his size. I don't have my own car & the next time I can go shopping is this weekend. I need to have opinions about what to do in the meantime.

So what would you do? Do you think it's okay to send kids to school in short sleeves when it's 55 degrees outside? I think some parents are, but I'm not sure. It's hard for me to talk to other parents about this (or anything). Parents of autistic kids tend to be as closed off from the world as our children are.

My mom says not to put the winter coat on him at all anymore, even though it's still technically cold in the mornings. And to especially not put it on over short sleeves (which I've never done lol).

[PreggieUBA2C]

We wear hoodies and ponchos for this and they take them off when they are comfortable in less. A nice 'old man' sweater (knit and with a zipper down the front) works very well too, but we do prefer the hoods.

[velochic]

I would still do layers. You have long-sleeved shirts for him and short-sleeved shirts. Put a t-shirt on first, then put a long-sleeved shirt on top. Maybe a sweatshirt after that and skip the coat. If your child can't communicate, perhaps the teachers would be willing to make a judgment call and take the sweatshirt off when it's no longer chilly, then take off the long-sleeved shirt before he leaves to get on the warm bus. I'm assuming he has a backpack that they can pack the extra shirts into.

[MJB]

We've been having highs in the 60s/70s and my 7 yr. old wears jeans with a short sleeve shirt with a jacket or sweater to school, then comes home with the jacket/sweater stuffed in his backpack. It's in the 40s/50s when he leaves (at 8:35) and he walks to school.

Do you have any sweaters, hoodies or jackets? I think any would be fine with a s/s shirt for 55º.

[eepster]

I'd go with the hoody for the bus ride, and let the indoor environment determined short vs long sleeves on the shirt. If the school tends to be stuffy, put him in short sleeves. If the school is chilly put him in long sleeves.

I would definitely not go with a winter coat over short sleeves, that leaves him going from too hot to too chilly with no in between.

I would send a note with him about not putting the hoody back on him on the way home on days when it is over 70 degrees.

I went nuts looking for a windbreaker for my preschooler too last spring. I finally found one at sears on clearance (so it was the only one in his size.) I didn't realize till I got home but the zipper was actually broken. I could have taken it back to replace it, but I just didn't think I'd be able to find one that had a working zipper. I have no idea why it's so hard to get decent wind breakers for little boys.

[liberal_chick]

I found my boys some cute light jackets at Target. I bought them a month or so ago, but I was there again this weekend and saw that they still had them out.

I agree with layers. T-shirt with long sleeves over it until you get him a light jacket or windbreaker.

[Drummer's Wife]

Mine having been wearing short sleeves for the past couple of weeks - but I send them with a hoodie every day in case it gets chilly.

[lilyka]

My kids have a variety of hooded sweatshirts and sweaters. As a general rule they wear a t-shirt with a sweater or swaetshirt or fleece over it. once they get warm off with the sweater. We start this when it hits about 45-50 degrees in the mornings but 60-70 in the afternoons. anything over 45 seems too warm for the winter coat.

why wouldn;t you put the winter coat on over short sleeves. does that irritate him?

or just send him in a long sleeve shirt. its only a couple of hours right. It is still morning when he comes home. if he gets hot he can just push up his sleeves.

[meco]

We do layers too. That way he's never overly cold and can remove layers if he gets too warm. My child wears a hooded sweatshirt or a light spring jacket--and sometimes both if it's going to be an overall cooler day.

[emmalizz]

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[limabean]

My Target sells plain zip-up hoodies for about $10 -- that's what DS wears to school (over a short-sleeved t-shirt) on mornings like you describe, and then he can take it off and put it in his backpack when it warms up.

[mamadelbosque]

I'd put him in long pants & short sleeves with a sweatshirt/hoodie/flannel shirt overtop for now and keep your eye out for a windbreaker. That way he can take off the sweatshirt/hoodie/whatever when he gets hot and put it in his backpack. Good luck!!

[Owen'nZoe]

I agree with all the hoodie suggestions (or just a long sleeve shirt over a short sleeve, if you don't have a hoodie). That said, my kids often refuse to wear anything over their short sleeves once it hits the mid-50's, so I usually just pack the hoodie in their bag in case.

[Polliwog]

Depends on the child. My five-year-old will only wear short sleeves and shorts now that it's warmed up. Unless it's in the 40's, he won't wear a jacket of any kind. I usually tuck a hoodie into his backpack just in case, but it usually spends the day in there.

I'm in NC, too.