To think that 5/6 year old little girls don’t need to wear shorts under dresses to “protect their modesty”

[Darthwazette]

Just what the subject like says really. I’d be interested to know other parents thoughts. I’m not a weirdo, this request has been made of my daughters from school and it makes me feel a bit icky.

@DataNotLore
Oh I see your agenda. You're one of them.

Oh dear. Never mind. Well all the best to you and your children.

I just think it’s a question of good taste ! My daughter doesn’t wear shorts under her school dress because I don’t want boys to see her pants , she wears them because I don’t think anyone should be showing their pants.

Also - who on earth is the poster who says they wear cycling shorts under a dress as an adult? Has the world gone properly mad?

I thought a lot of people did. Certainly my adult daughter and some of her peers do. For some it avoids the soreness you get in hot weather from sweaty thighs when walking. Or in the odd gust of wind I've noticed people wearing little shorts under dresses. I don't think it's that unusual.

I think this mostly proves that dresses and skirts are a silly idea for active little children.

Going to school, park, play centre, basically any wear where she would be showing her underwear during an activity then yes, my DD has shorts underneath her dress/skirt. If we’re out for a meal or regular day out then no. But her underwear underneath would be boy short type anyway.
Never been a request from school though, but a few years back when I was at the park with my friend and my Goddaughter who was only 3 at the time. An older man came over and told my friend that she should put trousers or shorts on her DD as his Grandson (about 4) could see her knickers and it was making him uncomfortable. To this day we’re still not sure if he meant it made him uncomfortable or his grandson but either way he gave us the creeps 😳

Why shorts OVER knickers? Why not just adequate underwear for girls? My dd chose to wear underpants from before reception and they covered her adequately cartwheels, crossed legs, whatever activity! Admittedly some mean girls in about y3 did try to tease her about wearing ‘boys’ underpants but she stood firm and even now prefers ‘girls’ shorts underwear. No need to wear two layers of underwear, particularly in the heat!

The boys influence needs monitoring? Monitoring for what? Do you want a full investigation and ongoing monitoring because a 5 year old boy said "I can see your knickers and it isn't appropriate" 🤪 well if they've done the pants rules lessons they will have been taught their pants are private etc so yes the 5 year old is correct, he doesn't need monitoring ffs!

As a teacher, I can tell you that girls who sit cross legged without shorts on can quite often show more than they intend to.

I am often asking children to pull their dresses down so they are not accidentally exposing their vulvas, vaginas and bottoms.

children wriggle around a lot and knickers move about too.

before anyone says anything, I can assure you that I am not looking up girls skirts but it’s very distracting when there are 20 children sitting on the floor with their knickers on display. I would MUCH prefer that their all wore either shorts, skorts or something under their dresses to cover their pants.

Even Rachel in Friends wore shorts under her skirt 😂 in the 90s.

For all the "I'm a woman and I've never seen a woman wear them"

Boys are already covered up though. It's not 2 layers because a skirt is open plus it doesn't have to be tight cycling shorts.

Are you honestly telling me that at school you never saw any boys having their trousers pulled down as a 'prank' and everyone laughing? Underwear is private for everyone.

The school could have worded it better but I don't think it's wrong to expect ALL children to be covered up because there are some nasty kids out there.

Anyway, 5 or 6 year olds might not think about it but children a couple of years older do and as I say, I am betting something has happened for the school to adopt this policy, I've never heard of it before and they can't just say 'this doesn't apply to anyone under the age of 7'.

Ps - I don’t tell the children that they are exposing themselves when I ask them to pull their dresses down!

You clearly haven’t read the responses to your op. Some little girls think it’s fine to show their knickers and sitting cross legged on a floor with them wriggling around means getting an eyeful of something that should be kept hidden. Why do you have a problem with this?

Flashing knickers is not flashing and imo is completely fine. The knickers are the covering of the private parts, and the covering does not need to be covered! If the knickers are not doing their job, get better knickers?

YANBU

My DDs are older (oldest is 22) but they never wore shorts under their summer dresses.

Knickers cover girls’ private areas, that’s the point of them. No knickers at all would be ‘immodest’. One layer is enough or where does it end? Why aren’t the shorts themselves deemed inappropriate?

As for showing knickers at school, don’t young children get changed for PE in their classroom?

My girls both choose to wear shorts under their summer dresses, they just prefer it, and tbh I'm glad they do. They all play around on the green after school, doing handstands etc, and it's much more fun for them if they don't feel like they constantly be having to "put their bum away". Even as young as 4/5, kids (especially boys!) will giggle and joke about seeing someone's pants, and as innocent as it is, it's nice for the girls to have the same freedom of running around, rolling in the grass, without worrying that someone's going to tell them their privates are on show. Yes they're young children, but as parents we rightly so, drill it into them from an early age that their private parts are private, and the flip side to that is that they don't want to be flashing other people. I don't think it's anything to do with "shame", it's more to do with knowing that their bodies are theirs to cover up as they choose, and most of the girls at our school tend to wear shorts under their dresses, and that's a choice they've made themselves. My eldest DD has always liked having something in under summer dresses, says it's more comfortable.

I think it's nice for girls to be able to do gymnastics without having to show their underwear. Same as the boys.

@ZiriForEver you are obviously completely right about the ruler thing, that was a bad example. I was trying to say that some will not be innocently playing while the girls are doing cartwheels and will be looking, similar to children who did use a ruler to do these things although clearly upskirting someone is a premeditated action.

Well said.

Literally everyone I know does this. I have small children, there’s always the wind etc., I don’t want the world inadvertently seeing up my dress anymore than my daughters do.

Also wearing jersey shorts in this weather is bonkers! Hot, sweaty and a breeding ground for infections.

I don’t. It’s bonkers.

I think it's awful. A child's underwear should not be something they should be ashamed of.

Little girls' knickers often don't fit very well and expose their vulvas as anyone who has worked in a primary school can tell you. They sit on the carpet with their legs open and hang upside down from monkey bars. It's not about modesty but safeguarding. Shorts stop this being an issue, as do short-like knickers with little legs.

@DiaNaranja yes private parts are private but any silliness or giggling from children about underwear designed to cover their private parts needs correcting.

@dreamingperfect you wear cycling shorts under your own dresses bloody hell have you considered the convent.