Your mom was wrong, and so was mine for the record. 

If I had a dollar for every time mom told me that I needed to put a coat on or else I’ll catch a cold I would be filthy rich.  I could buy a hundred coats and a first class plane ticket to Hawaii.

The truth is, and I know this may seem shocking to you since this message has been engrained into our heads our entire life, but you cannot catch a cold by being cold. 

Walk around all you want without a jacket when it’s 10 degrees outside.  You undoubtedly will get cold, but you won’t catch a cold. 

If your child walks around with shorts on in December, they won’t catch a cold…they’ll just have cold legs.

Get this, you can walk outside in winter with wet hair and not get sick, either.  You’ll have a really cold head and icy hair…but, again, you won’t catch a cold. 

Colds are caused by viruses.  You can pick up a virus from a door handle, elevator button, shaking someone’s hand, etc, but not from being cold. 

Again, I know it’s hard to accept for some of you, especially those who are mothers, but you can’t catch a cold just by being cold. 

But please, by all means, don’t stop wearing a coat just because it’s not the virus protecting armor your mother says it is.  Coats are good; they just don’t keep you from catching colds.  For that, I suggest washing your hands regularly and, like me, carry around one of those little bottles of hand sanitizer in your pocket this time of year.