Description: You don’t need me to tell you what gloves are, but you do need to remember that you have two options – gloves with fingers and mittens.
Pros: Gloves without separate fingers – mittens – are the way forward for both babies and toddlers. They are easy to put on and as long as they stay on, they’ll be keeping your baby’s hands warm while you’re out and about.
Cons: Gloves with fingers are generally a waste of money for babies and toddlers – their fingers will never slide easily into the right finger space and you’ll waste valuable minutes trying to sort it all out. Go for the mitten option – all you need to find is the thumb.
What’s It All About? Make sure that any gloves you buy have Velcro or popper wrist fasteners in an attempt to keep them on baby’s hands. It’s not such a bad idea to use a length of elastic to attach them to baby’s coat sleeves – yes, he or she will look a bit nerdy, but so what? It beats having to buy fourteen pairs of gloves every winter. As with hats, just because you don’t tend to wear gloves doesn’t mean that you should make that fashion choice for your little boy or girl – your fingers might be nice and toasty while you exercise your muscles pushing the pram, but poor little baby is sat quite still in front of you and that cuttingly cold wind is chilling her exposed fingers fast.
Bloke’s Rating: Essential, but impossible to keep on their hands. Expect to given ‘the stare of hatred’ by little old ladies looking at you for being such a cruel bastard when your baby has lost the umpteenth pair of gloves and is riding along in the pushchair with what could soon become a nasty dose of frostbite.
