To not want my 4 year old to wear a school tie?

OPs DC will be 17 by now!

Ties are stupid.

They are particularly stupid for children.

Make him a clip on/elastic one- I doubt school will even notice.

One B of mine is disabled. We made up the tie - the sewed it up on the knot. Then cut in the middle that goes around the neck - inserted elastic and seeed up - easier for them to manage.

Well this is a 13 year old thread!

Anecdotally I can tell you that my DC made it through their entire schooling wearing ties. If that helps.

Hi there I agree. In fact I'm raising this with my local school just now it's an accident waiting to happen. Have you got any links to the national cases of kids or people being injured by ties?

Thanks

The kids I see are outside the school (my bus goes past two schools on the way to work, the school my children are at now, and the one they will go to once they turn 13) and pink and sparkliness isn't what stands out at the elementary or tartiness outside the high school. Really. Just lots of jeans and plenty of colourful t-shirts.

I picked dd and the 14 year olds to take them bowling to a sleepover so they were in party mode. Now of course they might just have happened to be a particularly conformist group, but I just think that as thy don't have to make a big statement with their weekend clothes, perhaps they don't.

My sister went to an all girls school where the uniform was bright pink (poor her). Most of the girls I saw on the way to school in the UK wore their uniforms as messily as possible, whether they were from expensive schools or the sink school down the road. I don't think it says anything much. But I do agree that school is about far more than academics, it's just for me uniform is irrelevant to all the other things I'd like my children to learn (how to be creative, how to work with others, understanding friendship, managing difficult relationships etc etc). I'm glad my two never had to wear ties though as I think that ds would have really struggled (at 11 he's not really conquered shoelaces) and I hate to think how likely he would right now be being bullied over uniform infractions if we hadn't moved.

In my personal experience, the schools that were best able to strictly enforce a uniform were the ones where the students felt a sense of pride in their school (wether or not the wanted to admit it).
That's why I take uniform (and the way it is worn by students) into account when judging a school.
There are schools that get great academic results with sloppy uniforms and vice-versa, but to me, school is more than just academics.

This is getting sillier and sillier.

Are you suggesting that if there is anything you don;t liek about your child's school or potential school you should just move to a different school? Not try to change it? Or at least discuss it with the head and other parents? really?

And what I am suggesting is the selective and regular restricting of blood flow to the brain might stimulate academic excellence. It's a theory that perfectly fits the parameters laid out in onceamal's post.

Seeker, academic achievement is obviously dependent on some blood flow to the brain. Off of the top of my head I'm struggling to think of any living people with no blood flow.

It's a bit of material. If you want your child to go to that school accept their dress code. if you don't like it then take the kid somewhere else.

So obviously academic achievement is something to do with blood flow to the brain? Restricting the flow in early youth makes the brain work harder and so makes for an outstanding school? It all suddenly becomes clear!

Honestly, onceamal - that really was a very, very silly post. You do see that, don;t you?

School with ties - Ofsted Oustanding, lovely little CofE school oversubscribed more than 3:1. School with no uniform - same catchment - Ofsted Good and so "right on" I would have had a very unhappy 10 years. School with sweatshirts - rather a different population - just about Ofsted "satisfactory". It was a no brainer really and ties for girls and boys came as part of the package and tbh were a bit of a non issue.

My children wore ties from age four and it just wasn't restricting at all, they played, painted all those things. And as for girls wearing them - so what???

I do think people are over-thinking the whole tie thing. Really, by the second week or so it won't be an issue, just part of school life.

A tie doesn't stop them from getting messy - they should be getting messy, that's the whole point. A tie is restricting - my dh has to wear one for work and he hates it. I think at 3 it's too young - yes, ties can be washed (but not the ones that our school currently uses) but they just get in the way of paint, water, sand .... and little hands tugging at them.

Plenty of time for wearing ties when they're older.

So nobody else thinks making girls wear ties is a bit wierd, then?

My son's school doesn't have ties - the little ones just wear (uniform) polo shirts and jogging bottoms and they look very sweet.

Personally I'm very glad because I don't know how to tie a tie. Am I the only one?!

Ties can be washed, you know............

How does a tie stop them from getting messy?

This is something that my children's school is trying to introduce for the start of next term. For all the children including those in the school nursery, ie for children of 3.

No-one is happy. In nursery and reception they're following the foundation stage when they get messy, they get wet, they get paint everywhere. Clothes should be informal enough to allow this to happen.

Mine are now slightly older and whilst I'm happy for them to wear ties/formal uniform on school trips etc I can't see that it's necessary for everyday school life.

Only on MN do people seriously overthink things!

I think this is the best quote ever! Can I borrow it for the future?

Totally agree! Seriously. 6 pages (so far) on a fracking tie!

It's not like we see newspaper reports of 4 year olds strangled on a daily basis from a school tie! Jeez

What next? School expecting the kids to use metal knives and forks? I mean they could poke themselves in the eye!

You are welcome :)

I have been on Mn for some 8 years now. It is only ever on here I see such things ridicoulsly over analysed. In rela life most peole are too busy getting on with their lives to worry about such trivial matters.

Only on MN do people seriously overthink things!

I think this is the best quote ever! Can I borrow it for the future?