to be ? that a teacher told my dd (6yrs) to wear cycling shorts under her summer dress if she was going to be doing cartwheels?

[mulranno]

?

[CrowsLanding]

I'm going against the grain here but I completely agree that yes if girls are going to be doing handstands cartwheels etc they should either be wearing shorts under their dress/skirt or should be wearing trousers.
I also agree with what worra said. This is no longer the 1970s.

[Wishiwasanheiress]

Your dd isn't in ankle length bloomers!

Seriously. This is odd. Whose staring in the school?

[Scruffey]

My dd wears shorts under her summer dress. I don't have any feelings either way about the modesty issue but I think that when little girls sit on the carpet or go down a slide, they don't smooth the skirt under their bum and legs like women do when they sit down. Given pants are pretty skimpy I think sitting with their bums directly on the carpet is uncomfortable and unhygienic. So shorts here!

[Startail]

I'd have told her not to be ridiculous.

[youmeatsix]

can the place where they play be seen from the road? maybe its because of anyone passing by (dont make me say it )

[squoosh]

Who is staring in the playground??

[ifancyashandy]

As other have said, I'd rather change attitudes than put shorts on a child under her uniform.

Way to teaching the female child it's her fault people may look at her.

[Startail]

Seriously little girls don't need to be worrying about being modest and little boys need to learn it's not nice to stare or tease.

Anyhow, if we didn't have stupid school uniform the problem wouldn't arise. Most of the girls would wear cool summer trousers, leggings or shorts anyway.

[WorraLiberty]

youme it's probably a general teaching of modesty...not necessarily just for school.

[squoosh]

I do so hate the word 'modest' in this context.

[WorraLiberty]

I don't know any schools here in London that doesn't allow trousers for girls as well as boys? Some girls have to keep their legs covered for religious reasons.

[GladbagsGold]

Let kids be kids I say. My 6yo spent hours in her pants at the weekend playing in the garden with friends. No one was hurt.

[MsHighwater]

There is nothing rude about a 6 year old's pants. It is very very wrong to teach a girl that she is responsible for ensuring her "modesty" to this extent. If she's wearing pants, her clothing is adequate. Imposing a rule is beyond ridiculous, imo.

[Startail]

In any case anyone looking at a prepubescent child like that ought to be ashamed, not the child.

The same goes for secondary teachers obsessed with the girls skirt lengths, sooner or later one of the girls is going to make a formal complaint of harassment.

[Machli]

They all wear leggings under dresses at dd's school and I think it's fine. Don't see a problem with it.

[WorraLiberty]

The same goes for secondary teachers obsessed with the girls skirt lengths, sooner or later one of the girls is going to make a formal complaint of harassment.

Really? 'Harassed' for being made to stick to school rules regarding skirt length?

[WilsonFrickett]

Boys and girls still get changed together for PE at my son's school, up to Primary 4 I think. Thus knickers are generally seen.

[Nehru]

I do think the skirt length thing is odd. What is the problem with it.. Exactly?

[sarahtigh]

the difference is when we did PE in vest and knickers we were wearing navy possibly bottle green big pants more like boy shorts or hot pants no legs but they came up to waist so almost like shorts

I do not think a 6 year old should worry about knickers on show it is a shame if girls can;t wear skirts or dresses without shorts/leggings trousers underneath it is just hot etc

ok by 10, 11 its a bit different, they can be told how to move without flashing knickers

[whois]

Totally stupid. A flash of nickers or a 6 year old shouldn't be a big deal. Shorts under dress would be horrible in hot weather (and no 6 year old should need to wear them for 'chafing' reasons!).

[Chavvytastic]

Hmmm nice lots of sweaty crotches on hot days!!! Very unpleasant and not healthy either.

Proper pants is what you need. FULL briefs is what you want - not cycling shorts.

FULL briefs are not the mainstream briefs found in most supermarkets etc these days though. There is a difference.

Buy proper pants for girls and let them play. My girls skipped with their dresses and skirts tucked into their knickers and did handstands. You can if you shop around still buy decent FULL briefs at a cheap price for your girls and infact if more mums stopped buying the skimpy shite that has become mainstream from the supermarkets etc then they would be forced to provide what the shopper demanded - but no lets buy some shite skimpy pants and then buy some nice nylony/plasticy non breathable cycling shorts as well that will give my daughter a sweaty crotch.

The last lot of FULL briefs I bought came from a cheapo shop - somewhere like Store 21 or similar.

Roll on a few years and will we be discussing who lets their daughter take canesten at school???

[Sokmonsta]

What about the old thick gym knickers we used to wear under netball skirts . Or skorts? Dd has a skort for pe as I couldn't find unisex proper shorts at the time and she didn't want to wear cycling shorts.

[frogwatcher42]

The first time I heard of primary aged children wearing shorts under dresses was last year on here!

I just asked my 11 year old if she would like to wear shorts to protect her modesty as she spends most of break time upside down in handstands. She said a definate NO and that people would laugh at her. I asked if any of the girls wear them at her school and apparently they don't. Its not a large school - about 250-300 pupils.

I wonder if once somebody wears them the 'trend' would move through the school. I remember that happening with crop tops where girls with nothing to hide wearing them to make them feel as though they were developing along with those in bras.

M&S do pretty substantial girls pants - my 11 year old has moved into those from some pathetic flimsy things - maybe that is why she is so comfortable flashing her knickers.

[olgaga]

All the parents I know do this out of choice, so many schools now specify that cycling/pe shorts may be worn under summer uniform dresses as long as the hem isn't lower than the skirt.

DD (12) still can't do handstands successfully, let alone cartwheels, but she was smart enough to realise that dresses were (a) bloody uncomfortable when they all had to sit on the floor and (b) useless for playing in, especially on the "bars" (c) had a tendency to lift up unexpectedly in the wind, sending the boys into fits of giggles about knickers.

I did buy her a couple of summer dresses in year R but she didn't like them and has always worn trousers ever since - for her they're more comfortable and practical.

It sounds to me as if the teacher was being kind. Your DD was probably the only one not wearing shorts under her dress.

[CabbageLeaves]

These threads always go the same way
Protection from passing paedophiles
Protecting the rights of a child to flash their underwear (even though the child is oblivious of this 'right')
Ignoring the fact that clothes are worn for a variety of reasons and when doing cartwheels in a skirt...sitting cross legged etc. ...a skirt fails at most of them


If it was about boys taking off their trousers because they were hot people would answer differently. Skirts are just a ridiculous item for small children. The only part of the body they guarantee to cover is the waist band. Why wear clothes at all?