ParentingNOV 8, 2023

Internet Blasts Mom For Making Daughter Freeze At Night And Refusing To Adjust Temps

As temperatures drop, the cooler months are getting increasingly more difficult to bear, encouraging people to start playing with their thermostats.

This young woman was not given access to the thermostat in her home, though. Her parents asked the AITA community if they were in the wrong for not letting their daughter turn up the heating as she was the only one feeling cold, and the internet said yes. Scroll down for the full story.

The colder months of the year require more effort to keep comfortable, be it turning up the heating or layering up

Image credits: RossHelen (not the actual photo)

This woman suggested that her daughter put on more layers if she’s cold and refused to give her access to the thermostat

Image credits: Erik Mclean (not the actual photo)

Image credits: thermostataita

Image credits: Karolina Grabowska(not the actual photo)

Staying warm through the colder months might require taking a hit to the wallet

The cold months are not easy to bear, neither physically nor financially. It’s unclear whether money was the reason the parents in the story were hesitant to turn the heating up, but for quite a few people, heating prices are a strong encouraging factor to layer up instead of touching the thermostat.

The Office for National Statistics pointed out that the UK has experienced a substantial increase in heating prices in 2022. It suggested that because of the rising price cap set by the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets, the average annual bill for households rose by roughly £3000, from £1,277 to £4,279. However, because of the government-provided support, the average costs for households were estimated to remain at £2,500 per year, at least until April 2023.

Such prices have understandably made people worried about facing the colder time of the year. The Office for National Statistics reported that roughly six in ten adults were concerned about keeping their home warm over the winter, and nearly one in four said they weren’t able to keep theirs warm over the last two weeks leading up to the survey (carried out in December, 2022).

According to 2023 data, most UK households—roughly 78% of them—use gas central heating to keep their homes nice and warm over the winter. This option is far in the lead, followed by electric and oil central heating both used by roughly 5% of households. No matter the method, increasing prices have affected quite a few people, as surveys reveal that nearly half of adults in Great Britain had to minimize using gas and electricity in their homes because of rising costs of living.

Image credits: 100 files (not the actual photo)

Some people feel more hot or cold than others even when affected by the same temperature

Whether the house is comfortably warm or not, some people might feel more hot or cold than others even while in the same environment. That depends on the intricate processes of thermoregulation of each individual’s body, the issues with which can result in them being heat or cold intolerant.

Take cold intolerance, for instance—extreme sensitivity to low temperatures. According to Medical News Today, it is a disruption in the body’s process of temperature regulation. The process itself starts with the hypothalamus—a part of the brain that works like an inbuilt thermostat—sending messages around the body in order to heat or cool it.

The messages are received by the thyroid gland, responsible for one’s metabolism, which is informed of the need to increase the consumption of calories. When a person consumes those calories, they can generate energy and warm up. The circulatory system then spreads the heat around the body; but if there’s a disruption anywhere in the process, the person might not feel warm enough.

In the case of heat intolerance—when a person feels extra sensitive to high temperatures—the body also listens to the signals from the hypothalamus, but it reacts in a different way. Upon receiving the signals, the nerves on the skin increase sweat production, which then evaporates and cools down the body.

The OP didn’t detail whether her daughter was cold intolerant, or the temperature at home was simply too low for her to feel comfortable. Be that as it may, the woman’s position on not letting the daughter control the thermostat seemingly split the internet community into camps; while some seemed somewhat appalled by her views, others could see where she was coming from.