Parenting Pointers: Hats and Caps

 Do you like hats? Honestly, as a kid I never wore them unless I absolutely had to. And when I did, I wasn't a fan. They made my head sweaty, they squished my hair and made it look funny, and it was obnoxious to put my hair in a ponytail. Or so I thought. Apparently, I was just wearing hats wrong, because my kids love them - and so do many other people.

For my older daughter, wearing hats was an absolutely necessity. She was a bald baby - and didn't even really get much hair until she was in preschool. Even then, it was super fine, very pale, and you could easily see her scalp. It wasn't until she was in elementary school that she started getting really thick hair. However, even now she will often wear hats to protect her face, and because she has such pale skin, to protect her part line as well.

My younger daughter didn't have as much of a problem with that - she had hair from birth on, and she has slightly darker skin tone that doesn't burn as easily. However, she will still prefer hats as sun protection (and it's easier to see if you aren't blinded by the sun too). Her go-to fashion style is camo bucket hats. She loves wearing them because they aren't girly (although you can find them in more traditionally feminine colors) and right now she's thinking of going into the armed forces so she likes the idea of camo gear. Bucket hats are great because they provide all-around coverage, which is perfect for her since she often has short hair and needs the protection on the back of her head and into her neck too. We often choose bucket hats that have a chin strap - if it's not windy, it's easy to tuck the chin strap up in the hat so it's not visible, but when it's windy, it's really nice to have, especially for a bucket hat that can catch more wind and fly off. A lot of bucket hats now are designed with more lightweight material or mesh or other features that improve breathability, so they're more comfortable than some of the hats I wore as a kid.

Hats can also be a fashion statement. My older daughter likes what I call "goth lite" or "emo lite" - she isn't into the hardcore elements of goth or emo fashion, but she is intrigued by things that are a little dark or spooky or fringe. Hats are a great way to add just a little bit of that element to whatever she's wearing. They can accentuate something she likes or just be used to add some creativity.

Hats can state a message as well. The advantage of snapback hats is that you can adjust them to fit any size head. Snapback hats are often the same as baseball caps, they are just more specifically the ones that have an adjustable back to provide a one-size-fits-all hat. You can even buy snapbacks hats wholesale. My biggest problem when I was younger was getting my ponytail in the right spot to go through the space between the parts of the hat in the back.

One specific type of hat is the trucker hat. It has the snapback closure on the back for adjustability, but it's typically a foam front and mesh back - plenty of space for a message on the front, and the mesh back makes it much more breathable and comfortable to wear all day. You can also buy trucker hat wholesale.

Ironically, even though one of my grips was that hats made my hair look funny, they can actually help hide bad hair days too. If you didn't have time to wash your hair, or it's extra frizzy or for some reason just looks greasy that day, a hat can hide that. I think it's kind of cute when my daughter puts a hat on her frizzy hair and it frizzes out underneath the hat. Hats can also keep the hair out of your face - when I pull my hair back in a ponytail I always have a few flyaways, but usually when I wear a hat too it holds everything back in place where it's out of my eyes.

Depending on the kinds of hats you use, you'll want to make sure to store them properly. We mostly have bucket caps that are flexible, so they just get stacked together on a shelf, no worries about crushing them. The shaped straw hat I have sits right on top, and our baseball caps go in the middle - most of them are pretty flexible and thinner fabric so they pop right back into shape. However, my dad has a fancier had made out of a little sturdier material - he always hangs that on a hook to prevent crushing, and for more expensive hats, that's definitely a good idea.

What's your favorite kind of hat?