Is the Columbia Youth Whirlibird Mitten worth buying?

Reliable, warm, waterproof, and priced like a brand that isn’t trying to finance a small yacht — this is the easy recommendation. If I had to pick just one piece of advice beyond the products themselves: buy a mitten clip leash and thread it through your kid’s coat sleeves the way your parents probably did for you. I resisted this for two years thinking it was old-fashioned, and then I found a lone glove in a grocery store parking lot in February and finally gave in. It works. Low-tech wins sometimes. Rosie’s current lineup is the Jan & Jul mittens for serious cold days and the Columbia Whirlibird for everything else, and we have gone three months without a single lost glove, which I’m counting as one of my greatest parenting achievements. If you’ve found something that works even better for your kid — different brand, weird trick, whatever — drop it in the comments. We’re all just out here trying to get through winter with two gloves per child.

Note W000222. Filed.