Warm Your Toes With a Hat.

Do your parents or teachers ever remind you to wear a hat? Have courage. You're not alone. For generations, grown-ups have urged kids to put on a hat before going outdoors in cold weather.

But why cover your head when you feel toasty warm inside a coat?

A coat does trap some of the heat that your body creates. But a lot of that heat goes to your head in the large amounts of blood your brain requires to do its work. More than half of the body heat that escapes gets away through the top of your head. Wearing a hat traps that heat.

It makes sense to wear a hat outdoors during cold weather. But what about wearing a hat to bed? At one time that was a good idea, too. Long before gas or electric heaters were invented, people heated their homes with fireplaces. Because fires could not be left burning unattended, homes were not heated at night. Rooms grew so cold that people could see their own breath.

In such bone-chilling rooms, cold feet made sleeping difficult. Some families wrapped a heated brick in soft cloth and placed it between the covers near the foot of each bed. Other families moved a long-handled warming pan between the covers. This flat, round, lidded pan contained hot coals that warmed the bed. Still, a person's head stuck out above the covers. And that could get chilly!

Wearing a nightcap kept body heat from escaping and helped warm not only the bed but also the person in it, including their ten cold toes.

Ways to stay warm inside a home have changed greatly through the years. However, staying warm outdoors in the cold remains much the same: Put on your coat to trap body heat and wear a hat--to warm your toes.

CHUCKLE TIME

What kind of clothing does a house wear?

A dress (address)!

Summer Day El Dorado, Arkansas

(Send your illustrated jokes to "Chuckle Time," U*S*Kids, P.O. Box 567, Indianapolis, IN 46206. We'll publish as many as we can.)