Mittens or Gloves?

Mittens or gloves is the question

the answer to which I am certain

lies on the inside

where fingers and thumbs cry

for comfort, warmth and protection!

Working in the school district full time for over 20 years has allowed me the opportunity to view first hand how parents dress their children. Now, why would parents send their kids to school in the wintertime, knowing there was outside play at recess, with no snowpants, no boots, no hat (or hood on their jacket)and only stretchy gloves, if any, for hand protection? Poor kids used to have to borrow mittens/gloves and hats from the teacher or nurse's office and then stand where it was plowed and just watch the other kids play. What great memories those kids have ... NOT! The rest of the kids would be building snowmen, playing King of the Hill on the snowbanks and making forts. They weren't allowed to throw snowballs at each other but we managed to find a way to play snowbaseball and got away with it and it was my idea! Don't tell the principal.

My memory helped me understand the importance of good winter clothing and I definitely remember back in highschool wishing I had my mittens instead of my gloves; my wool socks instead of my nylon/cotton blended ones; my hat with little ear protectors built in and my real boots as opposed to my sneakers which were way cooler but definitely not practical .. and my mom did not know I left the house in them, heh, heh, heh! Oh, wait .. the jokes on me :-(

My own daughter in love came to play the other day with our 3 year old granddaughter, Belle, who had on snowpants, a warm hat that fastened over her chin, boots and mittens. Her mommy had a jacket, athletic shoes, no hat and nothing for her hands!! Then she complained about winter time. Helloooooo!!!!! Since I was working, she borrowed my snow boots and mittens and had a great time outdoors with Dad and her daughter, sledding and snowshoeing. Another daughter-in-love dresses very similarly for winter but doesn't complain. She also doesn't play in the snow as she and our son have no children, yet...

A couple of days later, we had our other granddaughter, also dressed for winter, over to play in the snow and had equally as great a time and I didn't miss a thing because it was Sunday after church! The sky was just beautiful and I hope my pics turned out on this page the way they are supposed to. Her mommy, our third daughter-in-love couldn't come but if she could she would be dressed for it as she has snowpants, boots, hats, mittens and now some of our snow shoes so they can trek around and take pictures. I think I'm going to invest in some winter gear for the other girls :-) The family that snowshoes together, drinks hot chocolate together and that sounds mighty fine right about now!

Meanwhile, back to my rant ... parents, dress your kids and yourselves for the weather. It's Feburary! My final words go back to my poem: Mittens are always warmer than gloves since your fingers get to hang out together and share

body heat. I even slip my thumbs out of their little home to be curled up inside my hand and sometimes I even drive the car that way! Just sayin' .. .around our house, mittens makes the difference between happy hands or miserable grandmommy!

End of rant.