WINTER*
Let’s help our children grow in rhythm with the seasons. Let’s help them experience the differences, adapt to them, and develop a tolerance in their systems at an early age while their potential for flexibility is greatest. At school we set our thermostats at 68 to 70 degrees in winter and 78 to 80 degrees in summer. In this way the out-of-doors is not so unappealing and not such a shock to the children’s systems as they go between indoors and outdoors. Furthermore this helps the child live moderately in today’s world and prepare for tomorrow’s world of energy shortages.
When the weather begins to cool, you can help your child dress for the weather. Depending on your child’s comfort level s/he may need tights, undershirt, sweater vest or sweater, woolly socks, corduroy pants, long-sleeved flannel shirts, or combinations of these in layers. Please keep in mind:
- The temperature may be much warmer by the time we go to the playground in the afternoon. A heavy slipover sweater with just a thin undershirt underneath only allows a choice between two extremes.
- Though children are often more comfortable in cooler temperatures than adults, they are also closer to the floor, and heat rises.
- At school the children often work on mats on the floor.
- If your child wears a thin, short-sleeved top, it may cause her/him to want to wear a jacket all morning. Loose, bulky jacket sleeves can bring disaster to a child’s lengthy, elaborate work with Montessori materials having many small pieces, science experiments, cooking equipment, calligraphy tools and etcetera.
- Heavy outdoor wraps or ones with hoods are not worn indoors, but removed and hung up. Light-weight, long-sleeved sweaters or knit shirts with fitted sleeves that are snug at the wrist work best for the children to wear while working and studying indoors.
* From “The Weather,” Austin Montessori School News, Donna Goertz, December 1978
