To think pre-school uniform is a bit sad?

[CulturalBear]

It's that time of year, the FB full of cute pics of kids off to school for the first time.

This year though I noticed a huge number of those heading to pre-school are in full-on actual primary school uniform.

They're barely 3 years old some of them! AIBU to think this is a bit OTT and frankly, sad, trying to force kids into conforming and growing up at earlier and earlier ages?

I could understand taster days in the last few weeks before summer (possibly) but for a whole year? Seems a bit much...

My DCs went to day nursery so there was no uniform which I do prefer. I was a bit worried about them starting school but at our infants' school they get to wear shorts / skirt / pinafore, polo shirt and sweater / cardigan. It's actually fairly practical and now I have two in the same uniform I think it will make washing easier too. The only thing I don't like is no option to wear trousers at all for neither boys nor girls.

I don't care about dresses getting paint on them- DD doesn't have 'best' clothes in that sense.

Uniform is not a great 'leveller' at 2/3 or the absence of it as how can they possibly have a concept of social equality at that age? Besides, at my DS's school wealth exudes itself in other ways like girls wearing pinafore dresses bought from John Lewis rather than Asda - you can tell the difference in quality. School shoes that were from the local trendy independent shoe shop for children not Clarkes or supermarkets. Stylish and considered hair styles and warm expensive looking coats. It is not hard for wealth/differences to be apparent and as they get older (year 2) children can be very aware of this. I therefore don't think uniform on its own is a great 'leveller'.

Your children's clothes are obviously very important to you Goldenbear, but for most people (including the children) comfortable and practical is fine for a 3 year old and doesn't prevent any kind of playing, creativity or expression. My 4 year old just isn't fashion conscious at all, so clothes choice really isn't an expression of his independence or creativity.

I think it's sensible if they ever go offsite for walks. (I saw a few groups of pre-schoolers on trips before hi-vis vests were standard. They wore logo shirts/jumpers, so we could tell where they were supposed to be from.) In ordinary running I think it's OK, but it doesn't need to be more than a logo top for identification / ease of replacement. That way if the little ones want to feel grown up, or parents want to familiarise them with school uniform, they have the option to wear full kit from outside suppliers in place of their home clothes. Choice is key here. At Rainbows we wore coloured tabards over our home clothes, and we were above school starting age. In Year R I remember being expected to wear home clothes on trips! I don't think it really matters whether there is a uniform at that age as long as there's a dress code for all the obvious reasons.

No Hollie, I'm saying exactly the opposite - they are not important to me so I don't care if they get stuff on them. My example above was to illustrate how at school they are not a great 'leveller' they are other things but not that. It is very basic to assign those 3 year olds that are explorative through dressing up as being 'fashion conscious'. She has no idea of that at all. Equally, she can be taken by a top with an animal motif on because it makes her laugh and she wants to wear it. She suddenly wants to wear some dungarees - unsure 'why' but she does have a preference for a reason only known to her. My son who is 7 liked dressing up but he was not curious about casual clothes- they way she is. She hadn't a load of D&G dresses or designer stuff. Clothes can be practical, comfortable without having to be a school uniform you know?

Equally, in her mind she is playing- playing with clothes and satisfying that playful curiosity. How can she do that if she has to wear the same thing every day at 3??

All school uniforms are sad, useles and extre expense+headache for parents

I don't understand why wearing uniform will impact ability to play in any way.

I suppose the fabrics are stiffer than "normal" clothing. But what I don't like is the lack of identity...in such small children too! I think uniform is pointless and removes a child's self expression. Schools could easily ban name branded clothes.

It limits the intuitive playful side which is arguably not age apprpropriate. It is sending a message to a 2/3 year old that it when you put your uniform on it is time to get down to the 'business' of school which in effect is institutionalising play and them. The limit in this sense is to explorative play which is 'all' a child of that age should be doing. Even if the curriculum is heavily focused on 'play', there is still a formality that aligns itself with having a 'uniform'.

Sorry but I couldn't disagree with that more! Wearing a uniform certainly hasn't limited DS in his play

Golden very well put. Exactly.

My dc had uniform since age 3. Practical hard wearing uniform that allowed them the freedom to climb trees, paint and do whatever they wanted. Far more sensible than silly clothes such as tutus and wellie boots. How the heck do you climb trees in that silly get up. And they still managed to develop their own personalities despite the uniform too.

DS starts school nursery tomorrow. He is desperate to be like his older DSis and will be wearing a school polo shirt and jumper, jogging bottoms (for ease when going to the toilet) and sensible, hardwearing shoes. Judging by the mucky/messy state DD often comes home in, I very much doubt that wearing uniform has limited her play.

What a fab idea. No more paint ruined clothes.

DancingDinosaur, why does it matter if a 3 year old climbs a tree with a tu tu or dress on above the knees? In your adult eyes it is deemed as 'silly' attire to do that activity in but in my DD's it might be exactly the right thing that day! If to be 'silly' is lacking in seriousness than what better time to do this than 3?

My DD's favourite top at the moment is a long sleeve t-shirt with two baby deer appliqués facing each other. She likes wearing her spotty purple leggings with most tops at the moment. I think she likes the top because we saw some deer recently. Both items are very practical for playing in but they're not school uniform and in being able to wear these items to nursery she is expressing her identity in her own small way.

Why does paint ruin the clothes- just fades doesn't it? Why does it matter?

My DS is 7 and often came home mucky from infants school. I know for a fact that didn't necessarily mean that he had played much. More likely, it was the result of instructed art activities (formal learning) and writing with a pen and pad resting on his crossed legs on the floor. My DS is a late June born and so was young we he started school but the change in approach to learning was noticeable compared to his nursery. Despite there being a requirement to learn through play and this school prided itself on being 'creative', it had a lot more structure to the 'play' than it cared to admit. The school uniform represented that transition to the beginning of formality and seriousness in my mind.

I heartily agree with GoldenBear.

3 is a great time to experiment with clothes, to be able to wear your favourite colours, or a top with your favourite animal on, to wear clashing colours and prints so you look like an explosion in a sweet factory. It's fun, and there's no reason to take away that choice.

I've never had arguments over what to wear - none that would be solved by a uniform anyway! My dd doesn't have "best" clothes, because, well, she's three. She needs comfortable, practical clothes when she's at home just as much as she does at nursery - why wouldn't she? She's just as likely to get muddy or inky or spill food, or need the toilet at home. So she can wear any of her clothes at home or at nursery, they're all practical for playing in (and easy for me to wash), because she is 3 and that's what she does. None of them are uniform though.

As long as it is right for the weather, she can choose what she wants to put on, and she really, genuinely enjoys choosing.

My DD last year wore uniform to her nursery class which is part of the primary school. She loved being the same as her siblings. Also it meant I only had to name a limited selection of clothes. I had passed down uniform from the older ones too so it was great.

When my older DCs went to preschool I always had a set of preschool clothes for them that were named anyway so I never gave them a choice as I didn't want to have to name their whole wardrobe.

Like WafflesandWhippedCream my 3 year old DD very much 'enjoys' choosing the clothes to wear- it is a game to her but she is not 'fashion conscious' and enjoys 'playing' in other ways. She has only be interested in doing this in the last 9 months or so and it will come to an end when she starts school next year. It is such a brief part of their childhood that I don't want this indulgence to be whisked away from even earlier!

Because tutu skirts and wellie boots aren't the safest attire for tree climbing Golden.

I have to say that GolodenBear has hit the nail on the head for me.

I wasn't saying that children's personalities and identities are focussed around clothes at all, more that the principle of uniform - the restrictions, the 'you are not special, you are the same as everyone else' message is the problem.

Yes they need to follow rules, but I see one-year-olds following rules in DS's nursery every day. They don't need uniform to conform.

It's a lot deeper than 'what someone looks like' in my point of view.

I'd be really interested to find out what Sir Ken Robinson (a global leader on the impact of fun-less education on adult attitudes) thinks about uniform - I'm sure he'd have some interesting views on it.

I dont like uniform on preschoolers. There is enough time to conform when they are in school.
None of my ds wore a uniform, dd wore a jumper because she asked for it.
She wore it over whatever she was wearing though, a lot of the time it was disney princess outfits - I bought a job lot for 50p each .
When they started school they had underwear of their choice.
Ds2 now chooses to wear odd socks every day.

Dd1 went to a very nice preschool that was at an independent school for up until 11 yr olds . Full of the very very well heeled , but also open to those whose children would be going on to state education rather than carrying on in private school . We used to go there with the free sessions per week . All lovely so far , the staff were great , a really excellent preschool .

BUT . If your child was going to carry on in the private school, they got to wear the very individual and expensive school uniform . If they were going on to state schooling , they wore a blue sweatshirt with the school logo on instead . So what happened was that the well off parents used to clock whose child was wearing what , and tailor their behaviour accordingly , being friendly to those whose kids were in stripy jumpers , and polite but distant to those who weren't . Of course the kids didn't notice any difference at all , and all played together oblivious , but it was noticeable who the parents talked to .