Evil Looks
Strange title I am sure, but I am not being paranoid about this one. Every time I take my kids out into the public arena, I am greeted with Evil Looks.
At first, I thought it might be because we stand out like sore thumbs with the English but that is not it. Apparently, I am a bad mother. Let me explain...
Since coming to Prague I noticed the drastic difference in Dressing Styles. Of course, I understood this since a) this is not America b) the country is really only 5 years young as being open to Western Culture and c) I remember that back in the 80's, Japan had just embraced the 60's and were getting a kick out of having Levi's and Wrangler's available, listened to the Beatles and the Monkees, and were into all the psychedelic trends that I thankfully missed out on...so I applied that knowledge of being 20 years behind as the norm.
Now, I could go on about the fact that everything old is new again - which was the up and coming fashion trend back home as well - but that would be going off track of the real issue...which is weather related.
At home, we are used to 'dressing for the season'. We are not always the smartest people in the world...sometimes we give into fashion instead of common sense, but the majority are usually in the ballpark of what they should be wearing within say, 5-10 degrees.
Here, as soon as it falls under 20Degrees Celsius (68 for all you Fahrenheiter's), one should immediately start dressing your children as if they are undertaking an Arctic Expedition. This indeed includes the following articles of clothing: Layers of tops, tights & socks, fuzzy lined footwear, heavy coats, scarfs, hats, and mittens. If you do not prepare your child for the outdoors in this manner, you are a complete idiot and a definite bad mother.
At home, this type of weather would still allow for shorts on a bright and sunny day, short sleeves, and a light-weight jacket.
I have realized that it has not been much above 17.5 (63) so the shorts and t-shirts have been put away. Instead my kids have been in fleece lined sweats or jeans, long-sleeved shirts - usually with a zippered sweater or hoodie, and then a light-weight coat (Alex) or a blanket (Logan). I thought this was acceptable...the kids were not complaining about being too hot or too cold and no one has come down with pneumonia or bronchitis.
However, every day we get on a tram or wait in the Metro or just walk through the parks we are greeted by Little Nanooks and the Evil Looks.
Boy - I cannot wait to see how the kids are dressed in true winter. All I can imagine are babies looking like Maggie Simpson in her star suit and the older kids looking like Ralphie's little brother in A Christmas Story :)
At first, I thought it might be because we stand out like sore thumbs with the English but that is not it. Apparently, I am a bad mother. Let me explain...
Since coming to Prague I noticed the drastic difference in Dressing Styles. Of course, I understood this since a) this is not America b) the country is really only 5 years young as being open to Western Culture and c) I remember that back in the 80's, Japan had just embraced the 60's and were getting a kick out of having Levi's and Wrangler's available, listened to the Beatles and the Monkees, and were into all the psychedelic trends that I thankfully missed out on...so I applied that knowledge of being 20 years behind as the norm.
Now, I could go on about the fact that everything old is new again - which was the up and coming fashion trend back home as well - but that would be going off track of the real issue...which is weather related.
At home, we are used to 'dressing for the season'. We are not always the smartest people in the world...sometimes we give into fashion instead of common sense, but the majority are usually in the ballpark of what they should be wearing within say, 5-10 degrees.
Here, as soon as it falls under 20Degrees Celsius (68 for all you Fahrenheiter's), one should immediately start dressing your children as if they are undertaking an Arctic Expedition. This indeed includes the following articles of clothing: Layers of tops, tights & socks, fuzzy lined footwear, heavy coats, scarfs, hats, and mittens. If you do not prepare your child for the outdoors in this manner, you are a complete idiot and a definite bad mother.
At home, this type of weather would still allow for shorts on a bright and sunny day, short sleeves, and a light-weight jacket.
I have realized that it has not been much above 17.5 (63) so the shorts and t-shirts have been put away. Instead my kids have been in fleece lined sweats or jeans, long-sleeved shirts - usually with a zippered sweater or hoodie, and then a light-weight coat (Alex) or a blanket (Logan). I thought this was acceptable...the kids were not complaining about being too hot or too cold and no one has come down with pneumonia or bronchitis.
However, every day we get on a tram or wait in the Metro or just walk through the parks we are greeted by Little Nanooks and the Evil Looks.
Boy - I cannot wait to see how the kids are dressed in true winter. All I can imagine are babies looking like Maggie Simpson in her star suit and the older kids looking like Ralphie's little brother in A Christmas Story :)
posted by Pam at
5:21 AM
1 Comments:
I'm not sure how I missed this blog! I noticed the hats come out right away and immediately felt guilty and ran to the nearest place and bought some non-American-screaming ones. Since then I have noticed little kids at our preschool arrive and strip off an entire outer layer of clothing before exposing their "real" school outfit. I'm with you - layers are key. Just one more way for them to pick us out of a crowd as being foreigners :)
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