Please make sure children are wearing appropriate clothing

[Damnthatdog]

No mini skirts or crop tops, yr 6 leavers party.

So not children, but girls. Please make sure girls aren’t wearing anything which could be deemed provocative. Which is how it reads to me.

AIBU or not?

It doesn't say provocative, it says "appropriate".

Some girls in DD's yr5 class would turn up for anything, including bowling, in teeny weeny skirts, crop tops and heeled sparkly sandals. It isn't suitable.
Boys will wear shorts or jeans, t-shirts and trainers, to anything!

Considering they are ten and eleven year old girls going bowling, I think this advice is entirely sensible tbh.

There is nothing inappropriate about children wearing children's clothing, only the mind of people who think there is.

Inappropriate for the activity.
I've had children on school camping trips starting off wearing flimsy slip on shoes & mini skirts. They soon got fed up and put on leggings/tshirts (like everyone else).

They must be very good bowlers, I've never mastered the lunge and let go at top speed - I'm more of a drop and thunk girl, I could bowl all night in a mini-skirt without flashing my knickers Not that I would.

I think schools need to cover everything these days. I suspect that because it is the year 6 leavers party a lot of the girls will want to get dressed up into their 'party gear', this may well entail short skirts and crop tops - nothing wrong with that - unless of course you are bowling. Crop top and jeans would be fine though I would have thought.

We had a letter home this week about children wearing 'appropriate clothing' for a trip to a place with a lake. It said no shorts, strappy tops or open toe shoes. Should I have been offended because my dd wanted to wear shorts and strappy top and why the hell shouldn't she if thats what she wants to wear?

Or should I just know the school know what they are doing and roll with it. (no shorts because of long grass and stinging nettles, no open toe shoes because of tripping up and stinging nettles/thistles and no strappy tops because of it being a hot sunny day and risk of burning.)

Is it me or was the word "provocative" (to which several people have referred) not actually used?

An issue for me, as a former teacher, would be taking children dressed skimpily on a school trip - I just wouldn't want to do so.

So if a 16 year old went bowling in a basque and suspenders then it wouldn't be sexualised clothing? Only in the eyes of people who thought it so?

You don't get boys wearing revealing clothing to go bowling in- why should girls? You're not telling me that girls who dress in very short skirts and crop tops aren't doing so in order appear attractive to boys? Of course they are- therefore it's sexualised clothing!

The school could at least have tried to come up with something gender neutral to ban like earrings.
A flared mini skirt would be fine for bowling- they aren't going hiking ffs.

If the school hadn’t mentioned this, and then pics of girls wearing mini skirts and showing their knickers ended up on social media, there would be someone blaming the school for allowing this to happen.

Mini skirts and crop tops are not appropriate for anyone to wear. Presumably the school just doesn't want the students to look bad, it would be a bad reflection on the school.

I guess they are only examples. Also they do need clothing they can bowl in and there aren't any other examples I can think of that would be unsuitable.

Our school often says "no belly tops, football.colours or flip flops" on non uniform day.

"You're not telling me that girls who dress in very short skirts and crop tops aren't doing so in order appear attractive to boys? Of course they are- therefore it's sexualised clothing!"
I'm telling you that if my 11 year old wears these it's because she wants to. She thinks boys are revolting little worms.
I don't wear anything like this at all. I rarely wear makeup.

Moons In that case I can see why that would be inappropriate attire for a camping trip, same as pp's example of a swimsuit for a trip to Tesco.
I fail to see how a top or a skirt could in any way be physically restrictive to an indoor game of bowling though. I don't like the message.

I have never understood why crop tops or 'belly tops' are considered 'inappropriate' for little girls.

They don't impede movement and I don't consider the stomach of a 10 year old to be provocative.

@TheFirstMrsDV
But they dont make them for boys. So what does that say?

TheFirstMrsDV

Clothing can be provocative and therefore inappropriate because of the age of the person wearing it.

Clothing can be sexual and therefore it's inappropriate when the person (child) wearing it can't or shouldn't be sexual.

Tangled, depending on the torso of the top or cut of the jeans, if it revealed a hint of male stomach, would that be viewed as inappropriate? No. Only on girls.

No the school didn’t say provocative I did. I don’t see how a crop top is inappropriate for a 10/11 year old girl. Skin tight mini skirt, yeah fair enough, skater skirt/kilt type skirt - no problem

@Tangled59

Yes, they do

www.google.co.uk/search?q=mens+cropped+t+shirt&rlz=1C1AVNG_enGB674GB730&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj565mQh-DbAhUrDcAKHYXYD3kQsAQIwQI&biw=1024&bih=700

It was quite a trend a few years back but died out quickly.

The men on queer eye qere wearing crop tops and looked fab. Ridiculous to get het up about them on either sex.

I know of one private school for girls who had to issue a similar request before one Christmas dance for younger students. There had been concerns the previous year due to so many of them turning up in very inappropriate clothing.

I can't see the problem with crop tops either personally... I mean, I'm a baggy, saggy old cloth cat these days, but I have tops that only just meet the waistband of my trousers, so I'm sure I've shown belly sometimes, and it's no biggy.

As to mini skirts, I don't see how they're any worse than the standard girls length shorts I see kids wearing all the time.

Or hell, the netball skirt and gym knickers I was required to wear for sport, so I can't see how it wouldn't be suitable for bowling (which is just about a sport)

It was quite a trend a few years back but died out quickly.

let us never forget Alex Winter in Bill and Ted's excellent adventure.

Crop tops and miniskirts are inappropriate for 10 year olds, as they are intended to be sexualised, provocative clothing for adults to wear to show off their bodies.

The reason children are wanting to wear them is that they are constantly exposed to hypersexualised images from an early age, and so this becomes normal.

A 10 year old girl is obviously never being ‘provocative’. But parents who allow their prepubescent children to wear these sorts of clothes are out of order in my opinion.

If you wouldn’t let your child wear a t shirt on saying ‘porn star’, why would you let them wear a crop top that ‘shows off’ their midriff?

It wouldn't bother me tbh. They're doing an activity requiring a lot of movement so appropriate clothing is required. Crop tops and mini skirts - fine for a sunny day, not fine for bowling.