About 4 year olds and tights 😬

[Usernamqwerty]

My daughter turned 4 over the summer and is now in Reception. She's umm, chubby with normal length legs. What to wear on her bottom half to school has been stressful... Leggings fitted ok but she was too little to understand she has to pull them up properly and kept having her bum on display 🤦.

Her teacher emailed me to suggest a change and we tried joggers which is fine for PE days but the other girls wear skirts / dresses. We found pinafore dresses which fit and she has knee length socks, but she's been telling us her legs are cold...

Any ideas? I know she would struggle with tights. Would shorts under a dress be pointless or too fiddly?

Be interested to hear what others do with very young ones. Thank you 😊

Thank you so much for your suggestions 😊

Another vote for leggings under skirts or dresses. They look fine. Tights go kind of twisty after a couple of washes and the toes go through and the crutch hangs round their knees at the end of the day , especially if they have a big Tummy. Leggings all the way!

Another vote for leggings under pinafores. My DD wore black ones from primark and had black ankle socks underneath and the usual grey pinafore for all of Reception and Y1. By year 2 she had got the hang of pulling tights up properly or just had maybe changed shape enough that tights didn’t constantly fall down!

I put cycling shorts under my DDs pinafores, she has bad eczema and scratches her legs and bum all the time so this helps stop it. I’ve always done it in winter with my older 2 too when they have insisted on wearing skirts. Then again I do it in summer also for when they are climbing all over the play equipment.

Oh and sainsburys and Asda both do generous size in some school wear and John Lewis too, if that helps. Your son sounds like mine - I get M&S trousers a size or two down in the extra long and that seems to be working at the moment for trousers - after trying every kind. School uniform is hard to find the right shape and size of, I hope you can get the right combination for your daughter too, tights are really hard at 4 for them to not have them hanging down, I still hate tights myself!

Next used to do a "sturdy" fit uniform?

My just turned 3 year old has just started nursery at school and still needs help getting dressed but can go to the toilet herself at nursery (still needs assistance with wiping after a poo) and surprisingly she's managing with tights under her pinafore (skirts kind of fall down).
Why don't you try her with tights and have back up socks?

I do over the knee socks (rather than just below the knee) with cycling shorts under school skirts /dresses, or just leggings alone. I don't like the look of leggings under school skirts and neither does my daughter but lots do it.

cycling shorts usually very stretchy so not too fiddly, or if you get a cheap multi pack they're usually a different type of thin cotton material so she just wears those alone like underwear and it's slightly less fiddly.