To think boys in school uniform shorts at -3c is neglect.

[DragonMumE]

Just returned from rural primary school in Lakes. Young lads in school uniform shorts - it's minus 3 here. I class this as neglect. Discuss.

Are people struggling to afford winter school uniform? Aldi sells school trousers for less than a coffee (1.75 gbp?) Or worse are they indifferent?

I also know many grown ass adults who wear shorts year round too! or live in dresses
I personally hardly ever put s coat on or jumper maybe direct result of my hardened skin from that time in primary wearing skirts and socks in November 🤣

I love to be snuggly and warm. My son however wears shorts all year round and no coat most of the time. I would have judged me before I got this kid. He just takes his coat off and if I put him in trousers he rolls them up. He's never sick or anything so... pick my battles. He's always running around so never cold.

My DS has a lot of sensory issues related to ASD diagnosis. He will not wear trousers, it's shorts and short sleeve shirt all year round. I send him in with a jumper and coat but he usually comes out without them. When he was little I would dress him warmly and he would just take it all off!

I know two (unrelated) boys who all through primary school chose to be in shorts no matter the weather.

Are the children you're seeing huddled up, shivering and trying to keep warm - or are they running round with rosy cheeks happily oblivious?

I work in a school. These kids come in with hats, gloves, coats, jumpers etc...and then try to go out for play/lunch break in nothing but their shorts/skirts and t -shirts. They'll try to convince you that they didn't wear a coat in. Many kids don't feel the cold like we do, others find the shorts more comfortable. On the coldest day so far, the adults were wearing multiple layers, meanwhile kids were out playing ball games without coats or jumpers...despite repeatedly being checked on to make sure they weren't cold. Coats and jumpers end up hanging on fences or in piles on a bench. It's certainly not a case of neglect... its rather judgemental that that is the conclusion you would jump to.

Are you from the south OP?

Lots of kids and adult men wear shorts all year round in the north east too so I'm thinking there maybe a bit of a north/south divide.

There are memes full of Geordies and no coats.

Dd wore shorts for the entirety of her primary school years - because she wanted to. We live in eastern Scotland minus 3 and colder is a regular occurrence. She was far from alone. Many of the boys also chose to wear shorts. Definitely not neglect and we'd have laughed at you if you'd suggested a clothes bank for our children. Now she's in high school and wears 30/40 denier tights which imo is worse. I always ask her are her feet not freezing as at least with shorts she was in cozy socks but she says not and she knows better than me 🤷🏼‍♀️

Postmen seem to prefer shorts all year round! I see lots of guys of all ages around who wear shorts in winter. And girls/women wearing skirts. If the child is happy, then great.

I’m in the North West. My son wore shorts every day of the year at school. He was gutted when he had to wear long trousers at secondary school.

It’s not neglect for goodness sake. They aren’t in -3 during the day. They are indoors most of that time.

This sounds like a case of you projecting your sensory needs onto other people.

My 6 yr old hates the school trousers so he chooses to wear shorts all year round. No neglect happening here. Lots of boys at his school do the same. Also some may have sensory issues/ sen etc so don’t be so judgemental, what’s it got to do with you?!

I know men and boys who never wear long trousers. Find them uncomfortable. Good socks are the important bit.

My son is 10 and will point blank refuse to wear school trousers. He has some but will not wear them. I don’t think he has worn school trousers since he was about 5 (his choice). He doesn’t really wear trousers at all. No sensory issues just prefers shorts.

I could insist he wear them but then that’s causing an argument between us. He’s not outside for long during the school day.

My DS will only wear shorts, he has a drawer full of brand new trousers but refuses to wear them. Most of the boys in his class only wear shorts as well. His reasoning is that he doesn’t like sitting in wet trousers after playing football at lunch!

My oldest would wear shorts all year if given the option, wears them all the time at home and wore them every single day of year 6. Youngest won't wear shorts and will even wear trousers in 30 degree heat in summer. They both have plenty of alternative options, they just choose not to wear them. I do think it's a sensory thing, with a possible dash of contrariness for the youngest as doing the opposite thing to his brother.

This thread is reminding me that until I moved to Britain, I struggled to wear long sleeves. I just hated them. I lived in a warm place before.

Several of the boys in my class wear shorts in all weathers. They choose to.
Why are you assuming it means that people can't afford uniform?

DS’s prep uniform was short trousers all year round, with knee length socks in winter, and a lovely lined duffle coat. No complaints.
Round here the posties wear shorts all the time; ours was sporting a deer hunter hat and a substantial fleece jacket in the very cold snap, but still shorts.

The cascade of sheer numbers of kids described in this topic as choosing year round shorts is a remarkable culture shift. Always seen mentions of the occasional kid, but never this popular scale of it before.

It's also a great emotional pain, because it's devastatingly not the case that all kids who want to make this choice can know that it's okay and not harmful and make it. Folks are clearly on a roll of thinking it is, now, on several sites. They much more can now than they could before the web existed, with access to the info that year round shorts is safe and not harmful and other folks do it. But their web access could be limited or oversupervised or absent because of poverty, or interfering social services could come and tell them that year round shorts are harmful ?

I am a year rounder, but as an adult, and lifelong deeply heartbroken that this choice was robbed from me as a child by living in a place with a nasally irritating catarrhal climate that felt like persistent colds, South Wales, combined with lack of access to information in the era before the web. But particularly, why did I never know or meet any other kid who did it, to learn it from? nor hear of them from family friends outside South Wales? The descriptions in this topic, of how many there are, like knowing one in every school, cries out that I should have met one, but it just never happened. Can there be that much difference between having and not having the web, so that folks have information, everywhere and even outside the regions with nasal climates ?

@cardiffcatarrhalchoices You're heartbroken that you had to wear trousers in the winter?

I do not understand it. At all. I live in the south of England, in a reasonably modern, reasonably warm house. We are lucky that we can afford to put the heating on when we want to.

I wear long johns under trousers 9 months of the year, indoors and out. IMHO a typical decent UK summer day is jeans and hoodie weather, and whilst I would consider shorts and t-shirt on a really hot summer day there are very few if any days where it is necessary.

My dad wore shorts at school till he was 18. Had cold baths/swims in the river every day. 🥶 But he’s in his 80s and going strong.

DS 17 wears shorts a lot. He’s out playing sport a lot, but during a recent holiday in the Alps when he was snowing he also wore shorts.

mad possibly. But not abuse.

My son chooses to wear shorts pretty much all year round. He has trousers he just doesn’t want to wear them. He’s very active and gets hot easily.
discuss.

Oh and both my children sometimes refuse to wear coats when it’s cold. They’ll live!

My sons friend never wore trousers till he went to high school. Many of the boys wore and wear shorts here, it’s Scotland, north ish and pretty cold but I know my eldest doesn’t feel the cold much.

Some of my kids have gone to school in shorts today (PE day). They all have longs available to them. They're all happy with their choices and able to pop more clothes on if they choose.