By Kendall Powell

Special to The Washington Post

Every winter morning as my kindergartner and I head for the bus stop, I hear the same lament: "Do I have to wear my heavy coat?" I know I'm not the only parent to have heard this kind of protest, but as a science writer I can offer an evidence-based response beyond "Yes, because I said so."




"I think of them like little hummingbirds," says Deborah Mulligan, a professor of pediatrics at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "They are burning through calories at a higher rate, which renders them more sensitive to extreme temperature changes. You have to make sure they are replacing that fuel, with food and drinking.




"A hat can go a long way toward keeping your child warm," Beers says. "If you are going to fight over something, that might be the thing to fight over."

So, at what temperatures should parents enforce coat -- and hat -- wearing?


Hypothermia can be a risk for young athletes playing outdoor fall or winter sports, Stricker says. A child who has gotten hot and sweaty, then suddenly gets taken out of the game may experience a rapid drop in body temperature. "The child may feel hot," Stricker says. "But they need to avoid cooling off too quickly. They should peel off layers gradually."

So what are the best coats for that outer layer?

"By far, down is nature's best insulator," says Todd Christiansen, kids merchandise manager for Lands' End in Dodgeville, Wis. Elizabeth McCullough, a textile scientist at Kansas State University, explains that this is because down provides the most warmth -- by trapping air between the goose feathers -- for the least weight. And down is the most compressible insulator, giving kids less restriction. But down also loses insulating ability when wet, and it's expensive. Synthetic materials, such as poly-fill, are cheaper insulators that still work when wet.


In other words, she explained later, a one-inch layer of good insulation covering the whole body is better than a four-inch puffy coat that covers only a child's torso: "The best way to protect children is to protect all body parts as evenly as possible."

As any parent knows, that's easier said than done.