9 year old daughter told to wear sports bra/crop top

[movinonup]

DD came to me last night saying that she needed a sports bra or crop top for P.E in the future as the teacher had told this to a group of girls who had been doing gymnastics and their tshirts had fallen down when doing handstands .

I can only assume this is to cover up their 9 year old nipples for fear of...........what exactly?

Are the boys to cover their nipples also?

AIBU to be cross about this?

I'd feel exactly the same as you op.

nobody needs a bra

have you ever tried running with an F cup??

Crop tops arent like bras they are like vests cut in half and are loose. They arent uncomfortable to wear.

Sorry littlepeas but you are wrong: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4053451

What I should have said is that being fit and skinny does not mean you won’t be early developer and I’m guessing the other way round too. I typed in haste on my way out the door. It just annoyed me to see the OP saying that her dd and her friends couldn’t possibly need a crop top because they are skinny and muscular, the implication being that any girl that does must be a bit on the podgy side.

I can't get my head around why she only said it to the 5 girls with the flattest chests. Are there no other girls in the class?

Have read up until page 3 and am wondering why it couldn’t just be the teacher putting a blanket statement out there rather than singling one or two girls out?

Surely it’s better to say “Girls, maybe you would like to wear a crop top under your T-shirt for PE” than just pulling one or two over for it? Eventually they are all going to be in the same place puberty wise.

It’s being made to be about sexualisation and hiding nipples away when I think the statement is a lot simpler than that.

Isn’t it normally part of the general school uniform once they hit year 5/6 the age of which they are taught sex education and breasts/nipples become sexualised. I’ve overheard many a giggly story about the penis and breasts in the text books they are using.

Ours don’t change together once in year 5,
They only have one San bin for students to use in the disabled toilets though annoyingly.

@RiverTam.
I have L cup breasts on a 34 back. I stopped wearing a bra donkeys years ago. I just wear a silk cami top under my tops. I don't give a shiny one what anyone thinks of it.
You can go braless, why care what anyone else thinks?
My now adult daughter is a HH cup on a tiny frame, as I said upthread, she binned her bra on the day she left school, she hated it.
Women have the freedom to free their breasts as they wish. Why conform to what society expects? Who has a right to say it's indecent to be braless?

The sooner that message hits home, the better as far as I'm concerned.
Forcing a young girl to wear a bra or a crop top is wrong on so many levels because it gives her the message that they are embarrassing if they are not either concealed or constrained because society says so.
It should be about personal choice, that fits in with you.

why should there be a blanket statement? Not all girls want or need to wear a crop top. Some may never develop breasts that need a bra.

I'd be bloody furious if a teacher put the idea into my (completely flatchested) 9 year old's mind that she should wear a crop top, because that's exactly the kind of thing that would make her self conscious and anxious.

It reinforces the idea that all girls' bodies should fit into a single 'ideal' instead of accepting that all our bodies are unique. Some girls might be wearing a bra at 9, and some might not at 19.

School uniforms and pe kits should be suitable for wearing without anything underneath. If it requires stuff to cover what it doesn't cover then it's not fit for purpose

Ifangyow because I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't, from the point of view of my own comfort, and my own comfort only. Hate wearing a bra, but some of us don't have perky bosoms and the 'drag', for what of a better word, and the sweatiness underbosom are awful.

Some girls might want to and that's fine.

But they shouldn't be made too

but I agree with your main point.

@MerryMarigold There were only 5 girls in the gymnastics group that particular day. I really don't know if anything has been said to other groups.
@littlepeas I suppose it did come across that way, I'm sorry if that offended you, Wasn't my intention.

Gerry then someone would moan they where unaffordable. Parents aren’t exactly known for buying only from the stockist rather than the cheap Tesco/Asda/Aldi stuff.

Our schools if brought from the uniform shop would be completely fit for purpose but the cheap Tesco pe shirts not so much.

I would be quite cross if my skinny, very undeveloped late-bloomer 9 year old was told she should be covering up under her clothes because she's a girl. Which is what this sounds like.

I'll be interested to hear what was actually said ... because last time I checked, girls are not mandated to wear bras anywhere, because you can't do that.

Are you sure this isn't just her way a saying she'd like to wear a crop top?

@RiverTam. I don't have a perky bust with a pair of L cups. They spend half their time trying to mate with my knees 😂

leave it up to her!! honestly

just make sure shes got one and leave it in her drawer, if she wants to wear it then fine!!

It can't be any cheaper to have to buy multiple items to accompany the cheap impractical stuff though?

Uniform.shop stuff is no better really. I question the idea of white shirts generally tbh

I didn't even have perky books when I was a younger teen, I distinctly remember 'failing' the pencil test, something that actually scarred me for a very long time. Why do teen magazines (Just Seventeen, I'm looking at you) publish shit to make girls feel crap about their bodies?

This is a pet peeve of mine. My girls have to wear shorts under their skirts if they want to use the climbing frame at playtime!!!! Its beyond ridiculous but my girls don't seem to care so I try not to let it stress me. They were 7 and 8 when their school started this No shorts, no climbing frame rule.

@RiverTam. I didn't have perky books either. Must look for those in the library😂

Like it or not, the societal norm for girls is to have their chest covered. if you send them swimming in a swimsuit (and not bottoms only), also get them a crop top for PE. shirts never stay tucked in.
Male PE teachers need to protect themselves.