Hats...

We live in the blazing sun. Most days are UV alerts here, days where the sun is especially strong. I don't usually venture out in the mid-day anyway because it is just too bloody hot, but even in the morning you can feel the stength of the sun. I put little hats on the children to shield them from the sun and within moments they have been pulled off. I know a hat can be hot all by itself but just wondering if any of you have preferred hats and any tricks to keeping them on our little babes heads.

TIA.

Sotto

 

At that age I didn't buy hats without chin straps. I just put them back on and tell them that they MUST wear them. I always told A&C that we could only be outside if they were wearing their hats. If they took them off then we had to go back inside. Usually they wanted to play outside and would keep them on! I would just be consistent about putting them back on and they will get the hint!

 

I think it just depends on whether they like hats or not. My son hated hats and couldn't keep one on him, my girls love them and especially love to have them tied around their chin. But they sweat so darn much that I'm beginning to wonder if it's not better just to slop them down with sunscreen and go hatless.

 

QUOTE(melissao @ Jun 17 2008, 08:50 PM) [snapback]832342[/snapback]
At that age I didn't buy hats without chin straps. I just put them back on and tell them that they MUST wear them. I always told A&C that we could only be outside if they were wearing their hats. If they took them off then we had to go back inside. Usually they wanted to play outside and would keep them on! I would just be consistent about putting them back on and they will get the hint!

This is sorta my M. O. too!! There's NO OPTION. You can probably look for hats with some mesh or something that will breath a little more than the bucket hats! It's tough, but once they get used to it the fight goes away!!!

 

At that age I just kept putting them back on and telling them they must wear them when they were outside. They eventually get it.

 

We don't give them an option. If they pull them off, I put them right back on. I only use the ones that have chin straps (even though I have ADORABLE baseball hats for them), and are lightweight and a light color fabric. I think consistency is the key. GL!

 

We lived in the desert in northern Mexico and now live 9200 ft in the mountains on the equator. The sun is intense in both places. We also followed the no hat, no play outside rule. If they took off the hat, we went inside. It took only a day or two to learn.

 

I'm not sure if yours might be a little too young to do this, but if I give the hats to my girls and they put them on themselves, the hats usually stay on....for a while, anyway. They like to play in the house by putting lots of things on their heads, not just hats. They try to put onesies on their heads, towels, etc., so if I hand them the hat and make it fun, they'll put it on and usually leave it alone.

 

We like the Flap Happy ones with a brim in front, flaps on the back & sides, and elastic around the crown. Not only do they cover a lot of skin, they stay on pretty well.

Sarah also has a Hanna Anderssen bucket hat that she keeps on her head because she loves it (just emotionally attached).

We have been really helped by daycare in this respect -- the kids are required to wear hats outside, and the teachers will stand there and hold the hat on until the child gets sick of standing still and decides to keep the hat on.

We have more of a problem with hats blowing off than with the girls taking them off. I've tried chin straps, but they hate them. However, they've more or less learned to literally hold on to their hats if the wind starts gusting.

 

For me what worked best (300 days a year of sun for us!) was to wear a hat. If I ever went out without a hat, they'd take their off. Hats for all of us, even DH who's very dark skinned, ment no fights. Hat's for just them, fight.