To ask why people have clothes “for nursery”?

There's a difference between:

Nice clothes - for events, restaurants, family get togethersnetc,

Messy clothes - that are wearable but stained and suitable for messy play

Everyday clothes - for the inbetween. If I take my child to a play date - I don't take them wearing stained clothes but nor do I take them in something fancy. I take them in a non stained pair of jeans and a jumper. I have some weekend wear that they go to their activities in, the supermarket, to a friends house, to the doctors, to the library, to go shopping, to the cinema - stuff I don't send them into nursery in - so that they are presentable - but they aren't special occasion clothes.

Does this really need explaining?

You'd think, but given they spent the first two years trying to persuade him to try painting, it'd be a bit counter-productive. Also, this is the child who claimed he 'didn't want to play outside' so he wouldn't have to put suncream on...

We had nursery clothes for DC1. We are less strict about it with DC2 now, he seems to just get a lot less mucky clothes than DC1 did. I think DC1 was more into artsy activities than DC2 so would have more clothes ruined by paint. Also had better physical skills as DC2 has joint hypermobility, so doesn't get as muddy and things too presumably as he's doing less physical play of that type. Also at home until they both were turning 3, they used to wear a bib at meal times, whereas their nursery doesn't use bibs for meals. So their clothes would get much dirtier from food at nursery than at home.

My kids of course often got muddy or food down their clothes but they did more muddy play, more painting, more messy play at nursery than at home with me. So their clothes did/do get more wrecked there than at home. Particularly until about the age of 3 with the eating.

No, I have nursery clothes, garden/everyday home clothes, and nice clothes. The everyday clothes for home are still clothes I like, but they're maybe a bit old or faded and are fine to get muddy. I wouldn't send them to nursery because I still like them and I'd be sad if they got lost, stuck in a spares bag for months on end until they didn't fit any more, or totally ruined.

If you don't want to put on an apron you don't get to paint or Cook will almost instantly get rid of this bollocks!

There are so many children to care for that the staff don't have the same amount of time to worry about keep the clothes as clean as you would if it at home. If they take their apron off to get up from painting and run off to something else then go back up to paints and start going for it, they aren't going to be jumping to put it back on again to keep them clean. Depends on the style of nursery but my DD2 goes to one where it is free flow of the play so they can come and go to and from activities and from inside to outside freely (they do ensure they are wearing appropriate clothes for the weather etc).
Her clothes come back very dirty every day. I do send her back in lightly stained clothes but not with holes in or really heavily stained stuff.

i think the closest I got was the water pens that the kids used on a matt and it changed colour! 😂

I can vouch for the £7 sport t-shirt and matching short sets from Primark, even my eldest will happily wear them. Wash well, don't look scruffy but you won't cry when they come back after a kick around at the park 🤣

We used to have day to day wear clothes - that are fine for nursery. Some things were little worn by the end! Definitely things I wasn’t bothered by loosing - and suncream damage to them- I’d rather they outside having fun appropriately dressed and suncream as needed!

I remember the day she came home in the spare clothes we had in a bag….she really looked like orphan Annie - far far to small.

We have bought a lovely new coat which she was desperate to wear to nursery ….it never came home or found!

Clothes to nursery saying is like saying clothes that are practical, won’t be missed or happy for then to have stains on them :)

I have nursery clothes, non nursery clothes and smart stuff for my toddler, had the same for my eldest.

My children when they are at nursery are allowed to explore which includes mud kitchens, forest school, painting, chalks, dyed water, making salt dough with food colouring etc etc. Not a single day goes by where youngest doesn't come home covered in something (also an apron refuser). He's in 4 days a week stuff gets absolutely trashed! I buy cheap bundles off vinted for that very reason and then it goes in the rag bag collection.

Whilst we do some messy stuff at home it's with an adult sat next to him so he doesn't get absolutely covered. Outside he's in overalls at home (he always takes his jacket off when at nursery).

I do it because it makes life easier nursery days use the nursery drawer non nursery days the other I don't have to scrabble for a tshirt which isn't stained with something.

You will definitely need cheaper stuff with boys that they can get muddy once they hit the brand phase 🤣 mud and grass stains on their Nike tech gear and trashed bright white air force ones is actually painful!

Sun didn't work on this one unfortunately!
I do make good use of the sun though, we did cloth nappies and our white muslins were still white after 2 and a half years of use by hanging them outside as much as possible!

My kids are all older now (12, 9 and 7) and they still have 'playing' clothes. Cheaper clothes that I'm not fussed if they ruin. May have some stubborn stains that I couldn't fully get out or small holes. I also have cheaper trainers too. We have nicer stuff if we're out and about. So to the pub, out for a meal, shopping, seeing family. My lads are big into brands so no way am I letting them play football at the park in a £80 hoodie.

Just the sun? Or washed and dried on a line?

Sadly, in the UK, this isn't something we see as many times a year as my child likes to eat oranges...

No, but at home if they fancy making mud cakes in the garden for example can do a quick change into something you don't mind getting stained/ripped potentially, at nursery obviously they don't have time for this, so seems sensible to send them in clothes you are truly not bothered about getting ruined. DS only had a few sets of 'smart' clothes for weddings etc, but still had some he used more for nursery.

My first one had nursery clothes because he dressed himself (ie chose his own clothes and put the easy ones on) from very young. I really wanted to make it simple so I stencilled some very cheap t-shirts with a logo that was easy to spot in the drawer.
The nursery started doing their own shirts in the end so I didn’t need to carry on for the rest of the DC.

Fwiw the sun is like magic on organic stains like apple, carrot, tomato sauce...

Yep, apples stain, wouldn't have thought it before I let madam eat one while wearing a white jumper (with a pattern on it).

But also...why are so many little girl clothes white or cream?? Do the designers assume girls aren't messy??

Travelling the world on a yacht, for example

Ffs 🙄

I think it says more about how lots of people can't bear to put clothes in the bin (me included) than about what is and is not worn at nursery

Nurseries don’t use washable paint.

This.
We have clothes that were for daily wear which included nursery clothes then we have a small number of clothes that were reserved for nice days out and birthday parties things like that.
My general view is kids can be messy assume most clothes they wear will get messy!
When my daughter was about 9 months old she managed to permanently stain a top eating an apple! I never thought apple juice would stain a mostly white t shirt but you live and learn!