Northern Moms vs Southern Moms :: What Winter Really Looks Like

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Motherhood, the tie that binds together women all over the world… until winter strikes the United States. By a quick peruse through social media, it’s obvious how different our lives are October through March. While, yes, basic parenting and everything inside the four walls of a home remain common and similar, the second you step outside your front door, it’s pretty obvious whether you’re a mom in the north or a mom in the south.

I polled moms across the country to help get a glimpse of life as a northern mom and life as a southern mom. Here were some of my favorites…

Winter: Northern Moms vs. Southern Moms

Southern Mom :: My idea of a cold day is when the temperature drops below 60 degrees. Brrr!!!

Northern Mom :: 60 degrees??? Ha!!! Below 30 is considered cold. And only if the wind chill is lower than the actual temperature.

 

Northern Moms :: Below zero and we start to think about wearing hats and mittens. Above 32 degrees sandals and shorts are fair game.

Southern Moms :: It’s 70 degrees. Break out the puffy jackets and Ugg boots!!!

Southern Moms :: School closes when the overnight temperature drops to 34 degrees.

Northern Moms :: School closes when the wind chill hits negative 40 degrees.

 

Southern Moms :: Realize on the first day of “winter” (which is usually mid-January) that their kids have outgrown their coats….the same coats they wore approximately 3 times the year before.

Northern Moms :: Make sure to have several pairs of mittens (because mittens are like socks), two pair of snow pants (one for home and one for school), and a winter coat ready no later than September 1.

 

Northern Moms :: You have very vivid memories of your father with a snow blower and have a weird occasional flash back to those days when you look out the window and see your husband snow blowing the driveway.

Southern Moms :: What the heck is a snow blower?

 

Southern Moms :: It’s March and it’s 44 degrees! We can’t step outside or we might freeze to death!

Northern Moms :: It’s March and it’s 44 degrees! Where are the sandals and the tank tops???

Northern Moms: You fight with your children to not wear shorts when it is the 50’s.

Southern Moms :: Pants weather is non-negotiable when it goes below 70 for your kids.

 

Southern Moms :: We are seriously jealous of those adorable pictures of your kids making snow angels and snow men!

Northern Moms :: While watching our kids making snow angels we close our eyes and dream of somewhere tropical i.e. Anywhere with a temp above 50.

 

Southern Moms: Literally cannot comprehend what negative degrees must feel like.

Northern Moms: It’s only really “cold” when it hurts to breathe and your exposed skin feels like it might shatter.

 

Southern Moms :: That one time that the temperatures were in the teens and the grocery stores got cleared out of water and toilet paper like people were preparing for Armageddon.

Northern Moms :: Temperatures in the teens??? Woohoo!!!!

 

Southern Moms :: Winter lasts for like 4 days in January…and then that one random freezing day in March.

Northern Moms :: Winter is cold and long and it will last you the rest of your life…or so it seems.

 

Southern Moms :: Teachers hate days when it’s anything under 45 degrees because the school shuts down the playground for fear that the kids might get too cold.

Northern Moms :: Mad respect for teachers who get an entire class of kids in snow gear for recess when it takes 30 minutes to dress one child at home.

 

Northern Moms :: Argue with their husbands that they don’t need another piece of snow removal equipment stored in the garage.

Southern Moms :: Argue with their husbands because of course 75 is cold enough for a fire in the fireplace. We have to enjoy it some time!

 

Southern Moms :: We have no clue what Sorels are and why one would need to own such a boot.

Northern Moms :: Sorels are a wardrobe staple…because do you really want your toes to FALL OFF???

 

Northern Moms :: Long johns and cuddle duds.

Southern Moms :: What????

 

Southern Mom :: You kids are driving me crazy!!! I heated the pool. Go get your swim suits on and jump in the pool! You need to burn off some energy.

Northern Mom ::  You kids are driving me crazy!!! Go get your snowsuits on and play in the snow! You need to burn off some energy. {Sidenote: You get frustrated that after spending 20 minutes bundling up the kids to go outside to find that they want to come back in after only 5 minutes because it’s too cold.}

 

Northern Moms :: When you pick your kid up from preschool and you have to pull off their hat, mittens, coat, snow pants and boots to put them in their car seat.

Southern Moms :: When your MIL calls you in a panic because she saw the report of the Today show about how dangerous it is for kids to get strapped into their carseats in winter gear. Does she realize that winter gear for your kids is a long sleeved t-shirt???

 

Northern Moms :: You spend 30 minutes dressing for kids to play outside for 10 minutes.

Southern Moms :: You spend 30 minutes convincing your child that they need to put their shoes on to play outside because it’s 60 degrees and you don’t want them to catch a cold.

 

Southern Moms :: It’s snowing outside. We don’t drive in snow. I’m clearly stuck in the house all day.

Northern Mom (visiting a Southern Mom) :: “It’s a dusting of snow! For the love, give me your keys and I will go get the milk for you.”

 

Northern Moms :: You wouldn’t dream of turning on the heat in the house until it drops below 60 degrees.

Southern Moms :: You can’t wait for it to hit 70 degrees so you can crank up the heater and have that “first heater of the year” smell in your house.

 

Southern Moms :: Do they make smocked snow suits?

Northern Moms :: Eye roll…..

 

Northern Moms :: Switch out the closets from the summer wardrobe to the winter wardrobe.

Southern Moms :: Your wardrobe contains summer and winter wear year round because while there’s snow on the ground today, it’ll be 80 degrees in 3 days.

Southern Moms ::  I can actually feel the cold on my cheeks! Let’s sit outside and enjoy this. It’ll be 117 in like a month.

Northern Moms :: When you feel your eyebrows freezing, it maybe time to wear a hat. Maybe.

 

Northern Moms :: You vacation to Disney World in January and its 60 degrees. You and your family are in shorts and tank tops while surrounded by crazy people in down jackets.

Southern Moms :: You vacation to Colorado and Utah in January so your kids can actually know what snow looks like, but you have to borrow snow clothes because nothing in your closets are sufficient. And your husband suggested just ScotchGuarding everyone’s jeans because that’s what he skied in growing up.

 

Northern Moms :: You feel genuine sadness for your friends and family in the South because their Christmases aren’t white or cold. I mean do they decorate palm trees?

Southern Moms :: You feel genuine sadness for your friends in the north dealing with those nasty grey piles of sludge that gather on the sides of the road. Snow should be pretty, white, and last 5-7 days max before it melts away forever.

 

Northern Moms :: By February you promise yourself you’ll move somewhere warmer and less grey soon.

Southern Moms :: By February, you still haven’t had a cold snap so you start bracing yourself for the pterodactyl sized mosquitos that are sure to show up any minute.

 

Northern Moms :: You bring in a bowl of snow for your toddler to eat to save yourself spending 20 minutes getting them dressed to go outside to eat a couple of handfuls and then turn around to come right back in.

Southern Moms :: You make a trip to the snow cone place at least once a month to try to teach your kids what snow tastes like.

 

Northern Boy Moms :: They will write their name in the snow. Don’t fight this. Just accept it.

Southern Boy Moms :: They’ll learn that going against the winter wind will end up bad. Always aim in the direction of the wind.

 

Northern Mom :: “And the playroom is down here in our basement.”

Southern Mom :: “What’s a basement?”

 

Northern Moms :: A winter wedding always throws you off b/c you need to shave and get a pedicure.

Southern Moms :: You get annoyed that you have to shave your legs and have painted toes year round because is one month of pants and boots weather too much to ask for???

 

Northern Moms :: Broomball, kicksledding, and curling are all sports.

Southern Moms :: I don’t understand any of those words.

 

Northern Moms: A roof rake, a rake for removing snow from the roof, is a thing.

Southern Moms :: We are are finally raking leaves for our kids to jump in in January!

 

Southern Moms :: Feeling a sense of excitement and unity with their northern mom friends when the big freeze of the year hits their area….for two days.

Northern Moms :: Giggle when they see southern moms on social media complain about the “cold.”

 

Southern Moms :: Figuring out we can make the Amazon Prime Box into a sled because who actually owns a sled?

Northern Moms :: How did we get so many freaking sleds??

 

Southern Moms: The yearly struggle to find Halloween costumes that are not too warm, short sleeved and not fuzzy. Halloween always is in the high nineties.

Northern Moms :: You buy kids Halloween costumes a size or two too big so you can layer the kids up with turtlenecks and long johns. Let’s place bets. Will it snow on Halloween this year???

 

Northern Moms :: Chances are a mom is wearing a hat to cover unshowered hair rather than to keep warm.

Southern Moms :: Chances are a mom is wearing a hat to cover unshowered hair rather than to keep warm.

 

Northern Moms :: Why don’t we live in California???

Southern Moms :: Why don’t we live in California???

West Coast Moms :: The only thing worse than when it’s hot is when it’s cold. Why wouldn’t you just live in California???

The Contrast Continues

And a few more of my favorites, just for good measure….

Life as a Northern Mom ::

  • Trying to decide if it’s worth it to put jacket on indoors to take it off before putting children in car seat.
  • You have to call the city because the snow plow ran into the mailbox…again.
  • Trying to make the salt marks on our jeans a fashion statement is a yearly struggle.
  • Checking the forecast to see if it will get warm enough to melt the snow so as to avoid shoveling for the fifth time this week.
  • It’s below freezing means we can finally make our backyard ice rink for the kids to play hockey on!
  • You watch your Facebook feed with anticipating for another district to call a delay and your fascinated by mothers who melt down when they don’t.

Life as a Southern Mom ::

  • You wrap your plants in blankets and sheets if there’s a sign of a freeze coming to save your plants through the winter.
  • Frantically run to Target, Academy, and Walmart at 9pm at night to buy coats for your kids when it dips below 40 and they’ve outgrown everything from last year. Plus, you know they will wear them twice before they grow out of them again so you buy 3 sizes larger.
  • You convince your child that warm socks are gloves and that trash bags over shoes count as boots to play in the snow.
  • You can’t play outside in January. Not because of temperatures (it’s high 70s) but you are still being eaten alive by mosquitoes.


Regardless of which side of the Mason-Dixon line your family resides on, I think we can all agree life might be a little sweeter if we were all just living at the beach!

Contributing Author

About {Brooke}

Brooke is the Director of Sales for City Moms Blog Network. She oversees the sales team and CMBN’s advertising and strategic partnerships. She’s also the Co-Founder of San Antonio’s Alamo City Moms Blog. Brooke is married to Jared and they have a daughter who dances her way through life and a son who is the life of the party! Brooke is a proud Texan who loves live music, a long run, a great party, a good bowl of queso, and traveling around the world.