Explained: Why do kids insist on wearing shorts when it's freezing outside?

This is a hot topic among my mom group this time of year: Why do kids - adolescent boys in particular - insist on wearing shorts when it's freezing outside? Just the other day, as snow and ice covered the ground, I saw a tween boy trudging through the snow in shorts on his way to get frozen yogurt.

Is there something going on internally that makes them hotter than the rest of us? Or is it just cool to be cool? 

"It drives parents crazy," Ryan said. But it probably doesn't have to, she adds.

Ryan said you can probably blame the kids' maturity level on their fashion choices. It's no longer cool to dress the way mom wants.

"They are starting to have their independence from parents, they are starting to fall into a peer group pattern," she tells me.

Ryan also points out that kids are typically more active than the rest of us so they may not legitimately be getting cold. In other cases, it might be comfort. Maybe they just don't like the feeling of pants on their legs, she said. And, in some cases, especially for the kids on the autism spectrum, it could be a sensory issue, she added.

If it's 30 degrees or even 20 degrees and kids are running from car or bus into the school entrance, naked legs are probably something parents don't need to worry too much about, Ryan said. The kids should be fine. (And, let's face it, in many cases, kids have their Nike Elite socks pulled up so high that really only their knees are exposed).

But parents do need to worry about prolonged exposure to the cold, she said. Wearing shorts in sub-freezing temperatures on a long walk home from school probably isn't the best idea. And parents should talk to their shorts-loving kids about what they might do if they get stuck in a broken down school bus or car and have to wait in the cold for help.

"If it goes below 20 degrees, wear pants," Ryan offers.

Parents also can use the experience as a lesson for their kids. If kids don't dress warmly, they'll eventually learn that they do need to don more jackets and pants and fewer shorts when it's cold, she said.

That's what happened with Ryan and her daughter. Her daughter refused to wrap up for an outdoor, cold weather soccer practice one week despite her mother's requests. She got cold. The next week, she bundled up on her own.

But, if you're still worried about your kids being too cold, Ryan said the fight shouldn't be over pants. Focus on a hat.

"You lose 40 percent of your body heat through your head," she said.