To send little one to nursery in a dress without shorts?

Ever occurred to me. Surely the underwear is what protects her modesty/and also her bum while playing, and we don't need to protect the protection as well.

Yes, and the vast majority of boys I know wouldn’t willingly wear a ‘dress’.

For a long t shirt to be equivalent, it would have to actually be so long it could be called a dress.

I think those shorts/knickers from Next are great. I can distinctly remember DD at about 3 (25 years ago) rolling all over the floor at the front of the church at Sunday School with her dress round her waist and cringing. Girls are no more likely to sit demurely at that age than boys.

They are the equivalent of our gym knickers at my girls' school only not navy blue.

But also if she wants to wear shorts then just wear shorts - if she wants to wear a dress then the dress is fine on its own.

She’s 3 - 3 yos don’t have to worry about modesty. Plus she has knickers to cover her - you don’t need to cover the covering!

It’s so hot that you really don’t want to be putting an extra layer on children than is necessary.

They’re not like those of us who now need to wear chub rub shorts!

If it was a nappy she was wearing, maybe, because they tend to sag and sometimes fall down without something over them, and also no one needs to see a wee- filled nappy if the dress does ride up for any reason.

Those are super cute and avoid burnt bottoms on a slide!

I didn’t put shorts under dresses at that age but I do for my year 1 DC, she is always climbing things and asks to wear shorts underneath her skirt/ dress.

I usually put my DD in shorts and T-shirts for nursery (and in general tbh as I find they aren't that practical for climbing!). But it's boiling hot today and she's in a comfy jersey dress to stay cool. Putting shorts on would totally defeat the object of putting a dress on her as it's adding an extra layer.

Sorry if someone has already said this but why can’t she just wear shorts?

I have a 3yr old boy so my opinion probably isn't relevant! The little girls at his nursery never wear dresses, usually shorts and t shirts.

My friend has a 2yr old girl who never wears shorts under her dresses. The only thing I'd say that is 'bad' about the dresses is that she gets her foot caught in the bottom of it a lot when trying to climb things. When she is with me I often end up tying it to the side with a hair tie.

Yes.
and if her underwear doesn’t cover properly, get better underwear!

wtf is the point of a nice cool dress if you’re going to put shorts under it - shorts and a top, OR dress and good pants.

It doesn’t though, and people have said that further up
the gusset is gaping when they’re sitting cross legged and they’re not covered
short style knickers are probably better

I guess it’s the same as women’s knickers now where the gusset is much more narrow than it used to be

I use those next short tights for my dd.
All good and well saying underwear covers it, but I clearly remember a very uncomfortable incident.
at my older ds school event the kids were all seated on the floor and one girl had just her knickers on, legs wide open and some sort of a wedgie happening. It was really awful and the poor parents were so embarrassed. They tried to catch her eye to close her legs but she didn’t.

For me it’s for protection, going down a slide and legs getting stuck to the slide etc
I always put shorts on under dresses

I always buy my daughter the boxer short type pants from Next. You can get black ones that she wears under her school uniform. Perfect as she likes doing cartwheels 😂.

I agree, underwear covers everything so why the need for shorts too?

I remember doing that in the 80s too!

I also remember boys looking under the table in primary school, so they could see what colour our knickers were.

I can only imagine what my reaction would have been if dd came home and told me that now.

I'd never heard this until MN though I'm seriously old, as a child in the '50s I recall tucking my skirt/dress into my knickers if I was doing handstands, never reached the dizzy heights of cartwheels!

If there are any issues like knickers are always on display or not covering enough then the nursery will tell you. They shouldn’t and don’t want to be in a position where they are seeing private parts unnecessarily and kids have a right to privacy from other children in a childcare setting (usually children in nappies won’t be changed in full view of other kids). On a personal level I wouldn’t care if the kids in my care were all naked because it’s natural, however the rules/guidelines are there to protect everyone, and it’s hard to teach kids about who should and should not be seeing their privates if they aren’t covered in the first place (just making the point that it’s about protection not sexualisation). I think shorts and a top is generally just more practical

Mine played loads. That’s why they generally wore shorts and t-shirts. Not for any reasons of modesty though, just because dresses aren’t really practical as they get caught on things. That would be the same if they had shorts under them or not.

ETA some kids (boys and girls) are into different kinds of play though… crafts etc. And that’s fine too.

Parents of little girls just wearing knickers, did yours not play much? Mine climbs trees, slides down ropes, throws herself around indoors and out. When we've just had knickers she always ends up with scratches or grazes on her upper legs/ bum etc.

Even if they just sit on a bench, dress goes up a bit and then it's their bare skin on the wood whilst they're shuffling around. More fabric is just more protection.

You buy bloomers from h&m, they're like slightly bigger knickers with elastic edges but thinner than shorts.

I disagree. Little boys can just wear trunks on the beach or swimming (as in fact do adult males.) It is less acceptable in shops etc but men do go without a top in the summer in their own garden or home. When boys wear shorts, they are not wearing another item on top such as a skirt or dress. Pretty sure if they wore a kilt to a wedding or function they wouldn’t wear shorts under it.
The idea that women and girls have to go to great lengths to hide parts of their anatomy from others seems to me to be patriarchal in origin.

I don’t think some parents realise quite what can be on show at carpet time.