To let 5yo wear whatever socks he wants?

[Umph]

DS (5, in reception) told me this morning that he’s ’not allowed to wear colourful socks’ after I’d laid out some green and white striped socks for him. I’m aware that the school (normal village primary) uniform states black or white socks but tbh I didn’t think it was anything they would bother enforcing or commenting on! He’s wearing trousers so it’s not particularly obvious.

AIBU for thinking that enforcing plain socks for small children sucks the joy out of the littlest thing? The idea of making them all dress exactly the same down to their socks is just so depressing to me.

What reason is that then?

Thanks. That's it exactly. She didn't want DD to be happy. She wanted to mark her on how well she could pretend to be happy.

I worked hard with DD to make sure she participated and did it properly, even though she didn't want to. But I won't teach my girl that smiling is compulsory. Enough men will police that in her teens and twenties.

You are the problem here, not your son. At the age of 5, he understands the school uniform rules, so why don’t you? He doesn’t want to wear colourful socks to school, so why are you trying to make him feel uncomfortable by suggesting it?

YABU. It's the rules, if you don't like it pick a different school. Honestly don't waste teachers time with crap like this, they have enough to feel with (and yes it seems like a silly rule, but equally is it really such a big deal and that hard to follow)

Enough to *deal with

I agree it's quite normal, black or grey. If your son starts wearing colourful, lively socks all the other kids will want to do the same. The idea of a school uniform of some type is to avoid competitiveness in dress.

He can wear what he likes out of school, there are plenty of hours in which he can be an individual.

And I hate to be "that" poster but there will be kids whose parents simply don't have the spare cash for extra socks, and will have to say no if their kid wants "socks like Umpsson's got".....

I hate uniform too. But it has a purpose. Not a hill worth dying on.

If your son starts wearing colourful, lively socks all the other kids will want to do the same.

Yeah it'll be complete and total anarchy. Could well be that civilisation will collapse. Literally couldn't think of anything worse.

Why dress him wrong on purpose?

He knows the rules and to get on in his world he doesn’t want problems.
He has time after school, at the weekends and during the holidays to wear what he wants.

Of course it is relevant it is preparation for what is to come

Why go out of your way to put him in coloured socks, when you are well aware of the policy? Clearly they have mentioned it to your son, so give him the socks he should be wearing

I am saying that overall it is possible for schools to function well without stupid rules about socks.

Children can learn to follow rules, work together in a constructive way without wearing the same coloured socks.

In my earlier post I did say the OP should comply, but to my mind your experience is exactly an example as to why rigid sock rules are ridiculous.

That's crazy. My son attends an all boys Catholic school with a strict uniform policy but there is no rules on socks. My son has a pair of purple socks with different colour spots that he always wears on a Friday. We call them his disco socks 😂 It actually cheers me up when I drop him to school and feel like the weekend has started.

how else would a small child get dressed? That's how it works.

Plenty of 5 year olds pick out their clothes and plenty care about what they wear. Doesn’t sound like this kid had any vested interest in the “interesting” socks.

Leave the stripes for non school days.
Your son wants to obey the rules.

It's fun to follow rules. It's not a grey day nor a sad day when wearing a school uniform and feeling happy amongst friends.

Purchase many pairs of school uniform socks.
You will always have a matching pair.

@user1492757084 haha what!? It's fun to follow the rules 😂 I don't say it in a mean way, it's genuinely funny. I've never heard anyone say that.

My five year old gets put her uniform. She needs some cajoling to actually stop playing and get dressed but she picks out the grey tights not the pink ones because she knows what she wears on a school day. Children generally do like to follow the rules.

@Ocani "Yeah it'll be complete and total anarchy. Could well be that civilisation will collapse. Literally couldn't think of anything worse"

Pretty grim for the kids whose parents can't buy them fun socks.....

My five year old gets put her uniform. She needs some cajoling to actually stop playing and get dressed but she picks out the grey tights not the pink ones because she knows what she wears on a school day. Children generally do like to follow the rules.
That's my experience too.

On the uniform issue, I sometimes think too many parents are busy fighting their own child or adolescent battles through their children, which is why there's a minority of parents who'll create issues by sending their children to school in non-uniform, or in secondary will buy non-uniform items and then get their sad face on for the local paper when it turns out the school has rules.
What makes me laugh is how often these parents will get on their high horse that the school doesn't care about learning/a pair of socks doesn't affect learning etc, but can't see that if it's as trivial as the parent says, surely the obvious solution is to send your child to school in uniform instead of creating a stupid situation.