8yo girls must wear shorts under skirts...

[MyFirstMyLastMyEverythingBagel]

... In order to play on the bars in the school playground?!
My 8yo DD came home from school yesterday upset as she wasn't allowed to play on them - the teacher had said she needed to have shorts on as the boys would see her knickers.
I'm really upset by this, she is 8 years old and has a life time ahead of her to be worrying about modesty/body image without the school instilling it in her at 8. We've had a lovely summer, much of it spent splashing in the river / sea, DD totally in self aware in her knickers and a t shirt.
I'm actually pretty cross and plan to speak to the head about it, but want to know if iabu? How would you feel about it? My child is a child and I don't feel she should be made to feel self conscious about a brief knicker flash when she is playing.

Ridiculous, I know my daughter and her peers often sat cross legged at that aged in assembly (with parents in attendance) flashing cotton knickers, but they cover everything there is, so what the problem? If black and called gym knickers is that okay?

Time for a return to the navy blue school knickers of the 50s & 60s.

It is ridiculous.

Whilst I don't think it should be a rule and up to the little girls and parents to decide, my daughter does wear little shorts under her school skirt, she is more comfortable in it and I really don't see the need for flashing knickers at any age. I wouldn't like to see little boys flashing it either so it works both ways!!

People on this thread are saying it as if modesty is a bad thing, why? I just don't get how it's become a world where covering yourself has become wrong and exposing everything is the norm!! X

Ha ha i remember tucking my summer dress in my knickers at primary school when we used to do handstands! Never crossed my mind, nor should it at that age, that I was not covering myself enough from the boys who were more interested in playing football!

Having worked in primary schools for many years, the issue is not so much that you can see their knickers, but that some girls' knickers do not fit very well so that you can see their vulvas when they do gymnastics or even when sitting on the carpet in the classroom. It is not a good idea from a child protection point of view to not address this when the playground is next to a road and random strangers can see. Knickers with a bit of a leg, like a lot of women wear, solves the problem. It is entirely normal for junior girls, at least, to wear cycling shorts or short leggings under their skirts or dresses. Or they can just wear trousers if it's not hot.

I'm another that did pe in vest and knickers.
No rules for girls in our primary school. The girls can wear skirts or grey shorts like the boys.
I have seen someone selling checked cotton shorts in a colour to match the uniform. This was a Facebook page. If anyone wants to try to look it up.
Our local secondary school has banned girls wearing skirts.

My 8 year old has a skort for school but otherwise first pop her PE shorts on if playing on equipment. She looks a few years older and I have spoke to her about how to sit appropriately in a dress etc. I am.not body shaming in any way I have told her underwear is private as is under you underwear, as the NSPCC guidelines recommended so whether in a public park or at school there is no need for her underwear to be on show.

Why reinforce gender roles with the school uniform? Why send the message that girls and boys are different?

GladAllOver:
Because they are?

Right, so what makes an 8 year old girl different from a boy that she has to wear skirts and boys shorts?
Or why is it ok for girls to dress in something that can show their underwear if they choose to play in certain ways, but not boys?

I agree it's better to have all in either shorts or trousers.

Summer 776,
my daughter is 6, year 2 primary and she wears grey cullottes , sorry if ive spelt it wrong, but they look like a skirt, but arn't.
She loves them as she is always doing hand stands and Cartwheels in the playground.
Her school also allows the girls to wear grey school trousers like the boys which i think is great, so she has a pair of them as well .
However i don't think OP,s school should make the rule that all girls have to wear shorts under their skirts, they should have a choice.

I see boys pants all the time at school, especially when they don't bother doing their trousers up! I think this teacher is being a bit prissy. Girls knickers are constantly on show when they sit cross legged on the floor anyway! I don't think it's worthy of note until Year 5. However, I think it's about Year 4 when it becomes 'rude' to show your knickers so if yours is 8, it could be that the teacher is trying to teach about privacy and also prevent teasing/name calling. My dd asked today why boys could go topless and not girls...

Yorkieheaven - I totally agree!!

I just don't get how it's become a world where covering yourself has become wrong and exposing everything is the norm!!

An 8-year-old playing on a climbing frame or doing cartwheels and someone else seeing a flash of their knickers (which are there to hide their "privates"!) is hardly "exposing herself".

The main problem here for me is that the girls have to wear skirts, they're not allowed shorts, except under their nice girl skirts. Skirts that do restrict their movements and do expose underwear when the boys uniform doesn't.

What is shocking is that in 2016, girls are still being forced into skirts and then also further restricted in what they can do or must wear further layers of clothes under others.

I don't see a problem with boys and girls all wearing shorts. It would help with gender stereotyping at those ages too.
Instead, it's being reinforced.

I think it's dreadful as girls of 8 need to exercise and play freely.
The bit that outraged me is that the OPs school said no shorts for girls as regular uniform. That made my blood boil.
So the girls can't be up side down without shorts under a skirt but they can't just wear shorts!??!?!?!!
Our school let girls wear shirts, trousers, culottes, skirts, pinafores etc. some girls do wear cycling shorts under thin summer dresses, by their choice, but never seen it under a normal skirt.
I'd be phoning the head

No, I'd definitely speak to someone at the school about this. To make girls aware of their bodies in this way, at this age is completely inappropriate and will feed the sort of body consciousness that leads to anorexia etc. I do not want my daughter to feel her body is something to be covered. Leave them to their innocence. If they're happy, then don't ruin it.

I had the same issue at my children's old school. My girls, 8, 7 and 5 were told they had to wear shorts under their skirts to use the play equipment and one dinner lady went so far as to stop my daughter from doing cartwheels on the school field because, "it's not fair on the boys". I was frigging livid. Assumed at first that it was some sort of misunderstanding with the lunchtime controllers which could easily be rectified. When I spoke to the headteacher, she confirmed that their policy (not stated anywhere in school literature ( was shorts under skirts/dresses or trousers. In Summer. Because apparently "girls have to be responsible for their own modesty". This from a woman who allowed some members of her staff to wear tops cut so low I've seen more of their breasts than my own! I bought them all "modesty shorts" (ridiculous!) as by this point, they were self-conscious and they inly had a few weeks until the end of term. Gritted my teeth every morning when they put them on.
I've now moved them out of the school and into one which treats them as children - they are not expected to "protect their modesty" at the new school and happily hang upside down from the monkey bars alongside boys who don't bat an eyelid.

Haven't RTFT but maybe the key is choice.

Choice

• to do handstands if you want to if in recommended school uniform
• to wear shorts or trousers if you want to (boy or girl)
• to wear a skirt if you want to (though boys probably wouldn't want to do that)
• to wear shorts under your skirt if you want to

And also freedom from bullying or shaming

People on this thread are saying it as if modesty is a bad thing, why? I just don't get how it's become a world where covering yourself has become wrong and exposing everything is the norm!! X

She has her knickers on - they are covering her modesty, no need for shorts as well.

I remember tucking my skirt in my knickers too, exposing my knickers shock, horror and that was in the 70's/80's so it is not a modern thing to 'expose everything', ha

Wasn't tucking your skirt into your knickers to get the skirt out of the way, not to cover your pants?

Wasn't tucking your skirt into your knickers to get the skirt out of the way, not to cover your pants?

Yes it was, but whilst doing so everyone could see your knickers