What's wrong with a tankini?

[baskingseals]

9yo dd does swimming with the school for half a term each year. She has a hello kitty blue and red striped tankini. After swimming on Monday she told me that she had been told to wear a swimming costume, and she asked me why. I honestly couldn't answer her, and the more I think about this the crosser I get. What kind of message is the school giving? Am I really missing something here?

Would I be aibu to phone the school?

I understand that you may not agree with a primary school having a uniform policy that includes swimwear. However, if you don't want your children to have to wear a uniform, you should have sent them to a school that didn't have uniforms.

TBH I have mixed feelings about school uniforms. But I hate it when parents choose a school for their children, then complain about something that they knew was in place when they chose the school.

It may not be the school. When my children did school swimming the pool,specified what they had to wear. No exceptions. They had several schools in at once. Boys had to wear speedos not surf shorts and girls swimsuits not bikinis.

The only message the school is giving is that they want all the girls to wear a one piece swimsuit - end of. If you ring the school to complain over something as trivial as this you will just be regarded as an annoying parent.

I don't get why you think you have no options other than robbing her of her innocence or lying to her. It seems obvious you need do neither - you can be honest and yet hold back from saying stuff that would make her self-conscious.

Just because a child asks 'why', you don't need to give them a warts-and-all reply that might upset them. You tailor your response to their age and the situation. That isn't lying.

I'm not going to phone the school. I'm not complaining either. Thanks for all your comments they have been helpful. I think I had a knee-jerk reaction to the tankini situation, but I take all your points and I'm glad I posted - even if it is a pretty trivial matter in the great scheme of things

Thanks for coming back. Sometimes it needs something like this to realise that some things that seem important you at first are pretty trivial. I need a reality check now and then.