baby with skis on

The Ultimate Norwegian Daycare Challenge: Dressing Your Child Right

Many of us parents in Norway grew up in countries where there’s neither “bad weather” nor “bad clothing.” (In reference to the Norwegian saying “There is no bad weather, only bad clothing”). In France, for example, there are no 100% wool garments for children, and a winter suit might be rented once or twice in a lifetime when kids learn to ski. What we consider winter clothes are polyester sweaters with Nordic patterns.

In Norwegian daycares, the idea is that kids must be outdoors, which is fantastic, especially when you look at studies showing that children need both nature and physical activity for development. But how to choose the right clothes for our kids when we ourselves don’t know how to dress for this strange Norwegian weather?

Once, I picked up my child at the local Norwegian barnehage (daycare). He  was around 18 months at the time. The daycare staff wanted to have a word with me.

“I see that your son is wearing the wrong clothes. He has a parkdress, but he needs a regndress because it’s raining,” she says.

“Right” I replied. I had no idea what she was talking about.

I didn’t even know what I had bought was called a parkdress. I bought outerwear in a Norwegian children’s store, covering the entire body and meant for outdoor use. Is a parkdress for going out at the park but can’t be used in the rain? How many clothes does a two-year-old need in this country, I wondered.

At the moment I bought it, I felt like a good immigrant. It cost over 1000 NOK, which I felt was quite a lot of money for one garment, but I thought it was an investment in my child’s Norwegian upbringing. He’s outside so much in daycare, he must have the right clothes.

“Look, like Matheo over there. He has the right suit—a regndress” she said.

I look at the two boys. To me they were dressed exactly the same, like little firefighters, just more colorful.

“One last thing. I see that your son only has vanter. We clearly wrote on the clothes list that the children need votter. And they must be waterproof.”

“Of course,” I replied.

I went home and Google “difference between parkdress and regndress” and “difference between vanter and votter.”

That day, I discovered there are rain mittens, winter gloves, waterproof gloves, ski gloves, winter mittens, and waterproof winter mittens—with lining. Why are there so many words for things that children lose within five minutes anyway?

Nothing prepares an immigrant to dress their Norwegian-born children. It’s not something we learn in language courses or at health stations. I speak Norwegian at C-1 level, and at the start when I received the first clothing lists from the barnehage, I barely understood what was written. Imagine parents who don’t read so well or don’t speak Norwegian.

The problem isn’t the language. It’s that the clothes are so technical. So I asked my friend, who is a head teacher and knows a lot about Norwegian children.

She was clear. “The most important thing is that the kids are dressed for the right season—not too cold, not too warm, and not wet.”

That sounds easy, I thought.

“Oh yes, they must also be able to play outside all day without getting wet or cold. And they must be able to go on hikes in all kinds of weather. And the clothes must be made of materials that breathe, so the children don’t sweat.”

Suddenly, it got complicated. I had to take notes.

“And the layers need to be right. It must be wool as the first layer, directly on the skin. Then another wool layer, like a wool sweater or fleece. Then something else on top, usually a shell or suit.” Here we go. The suits again.

Winter suit is obviously for winter. Rain suit is for rainy weather. Then there’s the winter rain suit, for days that are both cold and wet. There’s also the park suit, for days when it’s not raining and not winter.

“It’s similar to softshell, but softer,” said my neighbor, who’s a teacher. According to several daycare clothing lists, which are often multiple pages long, you need several of each suit throughout the year—and lots of wool garments.

The costs of these things is also substantial, especially if you buy new for every season. I calculated a budget of new things, could cost around 15,000 kr per season. And since most of us foreigners don’t inherit clothes from friends or family as much as Norwegians do, it does add up. They key is of course to buy second hand, but again, one needs to know what to look for and where.

An older lady who had a British mum told me she remembers so vividly being so cold all the time as a kid, because her mum did not understand how to dress her. I’d love for the public institutions, even in the barnehage themselves, to have a one hour course on how to dress your kid for every season.

More about raising kids as a foreign parent in Norway: The Joys and Miseries of Raising Kids in Norway

Why do Norwegian kids eat such bad food?

Portrait of Lorelou Desjardins smiling, wearing a patterned sweater, with a blurred natural background.

Lorelou Desjardins is a French-born writer, journalist and speaker. She is the author of several best-selling books about Norway, and is a columnist in Norway’s largest newspaper VG. She writes on topics ranging from culture to language and environmental issues. She has been observing Norwegians and writing with humor about them in her internationally famous blog A Frog in the Fjord. Lorelou also gives lectures across the country, helping foreigners better understand Norwegian working culture and make meaningful local connections.

Comments

2 responses to “The Ultimate Norwegian Daycare Challenge: Dressing Your Child Right”

  1. John Helle Avatar
    John Helle

    Why don’t you go to a children’s clothing store and ask for their advice? They will know. You don’t have to buy everything they suggest at their store, but it will get you started and then can look for things at second hand stores or bazaars.

  2. 50 years have passed since I had a toddler and immigrants are still struggling to break the code of what is the correct dress for the day’s weather conditions? Way past time for practical language and cultural classes!
    Hint: Along with the correct outer dress, the layers under are the next challenge.

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