Dress a child for Finnish winter - my response to a friend's blog

A friend of mine wrote recently a great and funny post on her blog about how-to-dress-a-child-for-finnish-winter - dress for outdoor play of course. Melanie came to Finland from New Zealand and this is her first winter. So far she is coping very well, brave woman! What I particularly liked in her post was a picture depicting all the pieces of clothes needed for a particular weather. Especially the equipment for -20C was really impressive. Yes, with all that warm but light modern winter clothes you can really enjoy outdoor play, but what I would like to add is nothing comes without a cost. Yes, to dress your kid properly you need proper money. Winter overall at least 100 euros or if you decide for one of the best brands - and most parents actually do - its closer to 200. Boots. Something between 50 and 100 again. Balaclava - a good one, woolen with a wind-stopper could be 30 or something similar. Waterproof mittens another 15 (or about, or more if you go for big brands). If you also decide to get a woolen overall - especially for younger kids and for really cold weather, it adds another 40 euros or maybe more. I'm not sure, cause I never needed such. What people also use for their kids are thermal underwear, woolen socks and some other special clothes more similar to the alpinist's equipment than to a normal winter outfit. So, how much do we have? Something between at least 200 and up to 400 euros. Per one child, per one winter. Remember - kids do grow fast! One of my friends needed to buy a second, bigger winter overall for her child, because literally that winter was lasting from October till May and the kid simply grew out of the previous one. And it's not all, because if there gets wet and rainy and temperatures grow above zero, you will need some extra rubber pants and rubber boots. Best to get two pairs - one light for spring/summer and one with a warm filling inside for autumn/spring. Oh, and of course good rubber jacket and rubber mittens - remember it's so wet and muddy from March till June and again from September till November, that your child after playing in a park resembles a piglet rather than a human. Didn't I mention a set of outdoor pants, also waterproof but not rubber and same jacket? Yes. That's on your list too. I guess that is that barely. How much off your pocket already? Huh... And again, this is only the basics. And with Finnish weather conditions all the above equipment will be really used after one season. If you are lucky enough maybe the winter overall will be reused by your younger child. Reselling it? Yes, the second-hand market for kids clothes is very good and I am a regular customer of some "kirppis" shops, but not often you find there those big pieces of clothes. Why? My guess is, they are simply too damaged after surviving a harsh weather condition and being worn day after day for half a year. Yes, winter. 

Puu-Vallila or Wooden Vallila walk

Today we went for a walk to this old district in Helsinki - wooden Vallila, old Vallila. It is few blocks with old wooden houses build in the beginning of XX century. They look a bit like those old small towns like Porvoo or Rauma. I mean that by walking down those narrow streets along those small wooden painted houses you don't have a feeling of being in a big city. You get the feeling of moving back several decades to some long forgotten old days. The weather was also perfect. Cold, a bit cloudy (and finally it started to snow a little), first sunny but soon quite dark. You know sort of the atmosphere from Kaurismaki's movies. Old fashion. Old Finland. Places you don't know where they are. And they hidden form the public eye. They hide nowadays between much higher newer buildings (still quite old though) which stand along main streets. For me it was sort of a surprise to "discover" the whole Vanha Vallila right behind a street which I used to drive almost for the whole last year (it was on my way to a day care). The houses still look quite good (some were under renovation) but what they say it is not a posh neighborhood. It used to be working class area but nowadays it is becoming trendy (or bohemian) like Kallio. I'm not sure about those wooden houses, but it is said about the whole Vallila. Unfortunately we didn't check the battery in our camera (it was empty) so no pics were taken. But I believe the one Helsinki episode from old Jim Jarmush movie has a scene either in this area or another with very similar old wooden houses. So, you can google and see that scene (when the drunk guy ends up being kicked out of the taxi around his house). Anyway, I like Helsinki for still having so many places like that. Preserved for decades without any touch of modern life.

Saturday at Haltiala Farm