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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

With my attitude to school uniform

44 replies

cadburyegg · 09/09/2022 21:35

DS1 in Y3, DS2 just about to start YR.

Mostly, DC1 needs a new set of uniform every day because he comes home with marks on his clothes from the school lunch, paint or from whatever else he's been doing at school. He's still quite a messy eater, although has got a bit better over the last 6 months or so and sometimes a pair of trousers or jumper can go a second day. Is this unusual? My friend's child of the same age apparently can wear the same clothes for 3 days.

I don't make them change into home clothes when they get home, although sometimes DS1 wants to. Another friend commented that I should because it saves the uniform getting dirtier, but I don't see the point in having to potentially wash 2 outfits instead of just 1.

I wash all whites together in one wash at the end of the week. If something doesn't wash out of a polo shirt, if it's a particularly bad/big stain I would replace but smaller stains like a tiny bit of pen or suncream I'd keep until outgrown or looking very shabby. I don't spend a lot of money on products to get the shirts staying pearly white. I also don't replace things every September "just because".

is my attitude unusual? I have never sent my children to school in dirty clothes but at the same time I don't think it matters if they have small marks on? Should DC1 be "cleaner" by age 7?

I've never really doubted myself until this week where I'm seeing a lot of stuff about keeping uniform pristine on social media.

OP posts:
Beamur · 09/09/2022 21:38

Same.
DD wore clean uniform daily.
It was replaced when it was outgrown. I wasn't bothered by stains if the clothes were clean. Pinafores are fantastic for this reason!
I try slightly harder with high school and will replace blouses that have gone a bit grey.

DelurkingAJ · 09/09/2022 21:41

Same. And DS2 has all DS1’s old uniform (apart from the white polos which were trashed). So he never had a pristine jumper even in Reception. And anything without holes is passed on to friends with younger siblings.

voxnihili · 09/09/2022 21:41

My DD has a clean set of uniform for every day as she’s so messy (both of us work full time and just don’t have time to do laundry in the week). I don’t make her change into home clothes as I’ve then got twice as much washing.

Most stains wash out, and if not I leave them in the sun to fade. Pen makes don’t seem to wash but I send her in with those on. I think there’s a difference between ‘clean’ stains and general grubbiness.

LittleBearPad · 09/09/2022 21:42

I think you’re being unreasonable not to change their clothes when they’re home. It saves the uniform a bit possibly and can be more comfy.

SpacePotato · 09/09/2022 21:46

I can get a few days out of uniform but my DD isn't particularly messy and I also use pinafores rather than skirts to cover most of the white polo shirt which helps.

Also don't bother changing after school unless into Pjs. Why create more washing than necessary?

FrankTheThunderbird · 09/09/2022 21:46

DC had a clean shirt every day but jumpers and trousers lasted 2-3 days. Obviously they'd get a clean jumper if they spilt food down it.
They didn't change when they got home. Their choice. And I didn't make them because why would I double my laundry load?
Small stains were fine. Especially as 99% of stains were from them using white board pens at school. And I replaced things when they were outgrown.

Mumspair1 · 09/09/2022 21:47

My ds is in Y2 and he comes home with really clean uniform. I'm always amazed at how clean all the kids clothing looks at school. He has a new set for every day. I think its a bit grim not to. They are earing, sitting on the carpets, playing and building up a sweat. For us it's clean uniforms every day. He wears a cardigan over shirts, but that gets taken off most days so I wash them every second day, but everything else is new daily.

NuffSaidSam · 09/09/2022 21:47

The only thing that normally gets dirty everyday is either t-shirt or jumper (depending on the weather). We can usually get a few days wear out of trousers/shorts and either the t-shirt or jumper.

If the uniform comes home clean then we change before dinner to keep it that way. If it's dirty when they come home then we keep it on as no point on making two sets of clothes dirty.

I think small marks of pen/paint etc are fine on uniform and I wouldn't replace them until the end of the year/they get really stained.

Oysterbabe · 09/09/2022 21:49

Sounds normal to me.

DappledThings · 09/09/2022 21:50

Exactly the same as me. Once in a blue moon I get a second wear out of a jumper or pair of trousers but they are usually covered in lunch. DD has now started and she however could probably wear one pinnafore and one cardigan a week, she is somewhat less messy.

DS came home on day 2 of this year with yoghurt on his new shoes FFS.

Don't change them after school either. I never did when I was at school. Didn't know it was a thing till I was on MN!

AtomicBlondeRose · 09/09/2022 21:50

DS went all through primary school and rarely
could wear the same thing two days running. Occasionally he could get another day from a jumper or trousers but hardly ever even up to y6.

DD is in Y4 and had had two t-shirts, two skirts and the same cardigan all week and looked as neat and clean on Friday afternoon as she did on Monday morning. No restrictions, she has
a drawer full of uniform, she just didn’t need clean stuff. She does change when she gets home though, out of choice.

RIPWalter · 09/09/2022 21:50

DD was in uniform in preschool last year, now in reception. I haven't bought any new uniform for this year. Most of it is second hand and a few bits I bought for her last year. Even got handed down some leggings without holes in the knees! Most parents use hand me down uniforms at DDs very middle class primary school, class whatsapp group has been almost exclusively uniforms changing hand for the last month.

The "whites" issue that you unfortunately have is not a probem for us as shirts are blue, so all goes in the wash together.

I'm definetly not precious about school uniform and I don't think many other parents are either.

Darbs76 · 09/09/2022 21:50

Yeah I did the same. Small marks I kept using, big marks they’d be binned. As kids get so many stains on clothes you can’t bin everything that won’t come off

HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend · 09/09/2022 21:51

My dc have always had 5 sets of clean uniform, I then wash them, iron ready for the next week.

NiceCupOfTea2 · 09/09/2022 21:51

Mine have clean uniform everyday y2 and yr. I buy new uniform every Sept and sometimes in the year, I'd never send them in stained uniform personally. They also get changed as soon as they get home so they can relax/go to a hobby. Kind of lazy sending them in dirty/stained uniform. I probably keep vanish in business!

weevil5 · 09/09/2022 21:54

Your attitude to uniform sounds perfectly normal. What is social media saying??

chocolateoranges33 · 09/09/2022 22:03

All 3 DC of mine have had 5 t shirts, 5 trousers/pinafore & 5 jumpers so can wear a fresh one every day.

All 3 have favour being outside come rain or shine, playing football (the madder the better!), like painting their clothes more than the paper etc and onewas a particularly messy eater.

Completely normal to only get 1 day out of a uniform.

Also, if stains didn't come out (I always use vanish), then I still get them to wear it - I wouldn't replace it unless something was ripped or broken

DappledThings · 09/09/2022 22:07

Kind of lazy sending them in dirty/stained uniform
DS wears white polo shirts and they let them use black board markers that do not wash out regardless of the application of Oxi-action/Glo-White/Vanish or anything else. If I didn't send him in wearing stained clothes he would need around 150 new shirts a year (no exaggeration).

Stained is very different to dirty in my book.

RIPWalter · 09/09/2022 22:09

Why any primary school has white shirts amazes me when there are so many other colours to choose from.

DappledThings · 09/09/2022 22:12

RIPWalter · 09/09/2022 22:09

Why any primary school has white shirts amazes me when there are so many other colours to choose from.

Absolutely. We live in a small village with choice of only one school so white it is. If I were ever in the position if choosing between schools.with not much in it then either of them wearing coloured shirts would totally swing it for me.

Libertyqueen · 09/09/2022 22:17

Totally normal!

steppon · 09/09/2022 22:20

I have about 6/7 sets of everything so it's all changed everyday. The youngest is very messy though and I can't remove some stains but if it's clean I don't see the problem. He will grow out of tear it soon enough!

onlythreenow · 09/09/2022 22:49

I always changed out of my school uniform when I got home - and at the age of 63 still change from work clothes to home clothes when I get home. Surely as well as keeping a school uniform cleaner for longer it is more comfortable?

onlythreenow · 09/09/2022 22:50

Forgot to say OP, stains are fine as long as the clothes are clean. Some things just won't come out, and it's wasteful to keep replacing clothes for a small stain.

Needmorelego · 09/09/2022 23:32

My opinion is if schools are stupid enough to insist on white shirts then they will have to put up with seeing stained shirts.

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