When in Rome

The other day it was raining, relatively lightly, though still heavily enough that I would never have taken O out to play had we been in Washington. But given that we were in Sweden, I felt compelled to do what the Swedes do. You know, "There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing." And we had, after all, invested a decent amount of money in a rain jacket, rain pants (with attached fleecy bib) and boots. The only problem is that my son hates having anything on his head. It was a real struggle getting the rain hood on, and that seemed to spoil his mood completely. Whereas he'd normally be content to walk from our building to the little playground that's literally five minutes away, this time he insisted that I carry him. In the rain. At the playground, he kept fighting with his hood. It didn't matter that I pointed out how literally every single child but him had his or her head protected from the rain, so they wouldn't get wet and cold and sick. We probably stayed for fifteen or twenty minutes, neither of us especially thrilled though he did seem to enjoy playing with some of the cars and trucks. But you know, we have cars and trucks at home, where it's dry. And we also have books, which I think he might even love more than playing outside. So while I know the Swedes take their kids outside every day, no matter the weather, we might be content to make that decision on a case-by-case basis, probably winding up somewhere between our old habit of making a run for cover at the first drop of rain to the Swedish way of splashing around in 40F weather.