Getting my daughter to understand why I want her jacket zipped up.

My daughter Rhona (7) likes going out during winter, she does wrap up warm, well sort of, she will put on a scarf, gloves and hat/hood and her nice warm regatta jacket but she doesn't want it fastened up but winter here in Scotland can be really cold, sometimes in the minus temperatures so I always zip it then tell her that it'll keep her warm.

Any tips on how I can get to understand why its important to zip up and that its not me being strict?

As frustrating as it is, sometimes when our family members (children, husbands, whatever) don't listen to us, they'll listen to the same information coming from somebody else. Maybe if you have a teacher or a doctor explain it?

At 7 years old it would seem that if she doesn't want to zip it then it shouldn't be that big of a deal.I'm sure she's old enough,and smart enough to zip it if she gets too cold.

If she's wearing a scarf,gloves,etc.that should be good enough.It would be different if she wasn't wearing a jacket at all,which I have seen happen with many kids her age.

Well, as I said in my other topic, she came out with just a T-Shirt afte school due to rolling around in the snow so, because her jumper was dirty and the jacket just wet, we both decided that she would wear her jacket as it was still snowing but she ended up taking a tantrum when I zipped it right up.

She took a tantrum today because I asked her to zip up because it was minus 2 degrees outside and she wanted to go out in just a T-Shirt and a wide open jacket, she didn't want a jumper on so I said that was ok as long as she put on her jacket.

I only wanted it zipped as a security measure, If she left it open then she would have been frozen and maybe hypothermia.

I zipped it right up and put hood up but she started crying and stamping her feet saying "I do not want it zipped up", my reply was "fine but you stay in instead if you don't leave it zipped", she then ran upstairs, slammed door and lay on her bed for 10 minutes before coming back down and agreeing to my decision.

Do you have many kids in your area dying of hypothermia? Or exposure?
I only ask this bec you sound like a very caring parent, but you don’t seem to trust your child to come in from the cold when she’s cold.
If she doesn’t have any pain receptors to extreme cold I’d be asking a specialist why not, if she’s coming in with second or third degree frostbite.
So my next really hard question is why is this such a sticking point for you? Do you feel like a bad parent or lacking parental skills, because it sounds like you care very much about her health.
I must admit 6 yrs ago I was very pregnant & we had a huge snowfall & my girls were driving me crazy! They wanted to go outside naked in the snowstorm. Really! So my SO put their boots on & they went out naked! Made a couple snow angels & ran back in. They were exhilarated, but also knew that cold can hurt.
And I do understand very well about being an overprotective parent. 9 yrs ago we lost our 23 month old niece to a very preventable household accident. It changed us significantly & how we parent. I learned to take some deep breaths & stand by my parenting pillars, but also how to compromise.
So if she wanted to go outside in a t shirt, which is just over the top, maybe compromise (& explain the word to her) & say well how about not a t shirt, but a jacket would be great.
Deep breaths! And enjoy the compromises bec she’ll learn to trust you more & know you’re will to negotiate instead of a flat out no. It gives you wiggle room to say YES!

Would wearing a pullover sweater under an unzipped jacket be a good solution? It sounds like the zipper really, really bothers her for some reason.

Yeah but then there is still the problem with the school teacher insisting that she zips it up whilst outside during school.