Now in my mid-thirties, I feel quite the old crank telling my kids that they don’t know what it was like for me growing up. Heck, I had to rewind my movies when I was done watching them, roll down my car window manually, and — while waiting for the kiddy cocktail at the restaurant — had to make do with crayons and a Xeroxed placemat rather than the latest cellular-based gaming device.

Well, I have another one to add to the list: school closings. In Chicago, we are on our second day in a row of school being closed due to “unforeseen cold weather.” Come on. I’ve lived in Chicago most of my life and — in spite of all the climate models — we generally experience pretty cold weather this time of the season.

Last year, my kids had school closings on four days, all due to the cold. Back in the days of 2014 they called it a “Polar Vortex.” Whatever happened to that term, anyway? I have not heard it mentioned this year and I think it sounds like a great cover, though it’s refreshing for it to just be cold again in January, excuses or no. When I was a kid, I remember school closing due to the bus not being able to drive through the snow. That was about it. They called it a “snow day,” which sounds so old-fashioned now. Why can’t the kids go to school in the cold? It’s not like classes are outside.

In my young old age, I’m starting to think that school should only be cancelled if the buses cannot travel. I’m not suggesting we go back to the days when Teddy Roosevelt trudged through several feet of snow during the blizzard of 1888 just to keep an appointment with the New York Historical Society while other New Yorkers were scavenging for food, but there needs to be a happy median. Conditions that may qualify would include floods, zombies, government motorcades, and deep snow — but that should be about it.

Kids going to school in the cold is not going to turn this country around in and of itself but maybe — just maybe — it will help us regain a bit of the individualist can-do spirit we need.