To ask why people have clothes “for nursery”?

[Enthusiasticcarrotgrower]

Both in local social media groups and with friends, people try to give away clothes “for nursery” that in my opinion are really only suitable as dish rags. Holes, stretched completely out of shape, faded to colourless.

Now, I’m all for preloved clothes and reusing things but there has to be a limit? And I don’t see why it’s ok if these things are “for nursery”?

Surely your child is doing the same things at nursery as they do at home: playing outside getting muddy, painting, climbing, learning to eat nicely, learning to wipe their nose, learning to dress themselves etc. If the clothes aren’t good enough for home, why are they good enough for nursery?

I understand setting aside a few nice, maybe new items for “smart” eg special occasions, but surely either clothes are good enough as day to day play clothes or they’re not? Does everyone send their kids to nursery looking like orphan Annie?!

I can vouch for the £7 sport t-shirt and matching short sets from Primark, even my eldest will happily wear them. Wash well, don't look scruffy but you won't cry when they come back after a kick around at the park 🤣

i think the closest I got was the water pens that the kids used on a matt and it changed colour! 😂

There are so many children to care for that the staff don't have the same amount of time to worry about keep the clothes as clean as you would if it at home. If they take their apron off to get up from painting and run off to something else then go back up to paints and start going for it, they aren't going to be jumping to put it back on again to keep them clean. Depends on the style of nursery but my DD2 goes to one where it is free flow of the play so they can come and go to and from activities and from inside to outside freely (they do ensure they are wearing appropriate clothes for the weather etc).
Her clothes come back very dirty every day. I do send her back in lightly stained clothes but not with holes in or really heavily stained stuff.

If you don't want to put on an apron you don't get to paint or Cook will almost instantly get rid of this bollocks!

No, I have nursery clothes, garden/everyday home clothes, and nice clothes. The everyday clothes for home are still clothes I like, but they're maybe a bit old or faded and are fine to get muddy. I wouldn't send them to nursery because I still like them and I'd be sad if they got lost, stuck in a spares bag for months on end until they didn't fit any more, or totally ruined.

We had nursery clothes for DC1. We are less strict about it with DC2 now, he seems to just get a lot less mucky clothes than DC1 did. I think DC1 was more into artsy activities than DC2 so would have more clothes ruined by paint. Also had better physical skills as DC2 has joint hypermobility, so doesn't get as muddy and things too presumably as he's doing less physical play of that type. Also at home until they both were turning 3, they used to wear a bib at meal times, whereas their nursery doesn't use bibs for meals. So their clothes would get much dirtier from food at nursery than at home.

My kids of course often got muddy or food down their clothes but they did more muddy play, more painting, more messy play at nursery than at home with me. So their clothes did/do get more wrecked there than at home. Particularly until about the age of 3 with the eating.

You'd think, but given they spent the first two years trying to persuade him to try painting, it'd be a bit counter-productive. Also, this is the child who claimed he 'didn't want to play outside' so he wouldn't have to put suncream on...

There's a difference between:

Nice clothes - for events, restaurants, family get togethersnetc,

Messy clothes - that are wearable but stained and suitable for messy play

Everyday clothes - for the inbetween. If I take my child to a play date - I don't take them wearing stained clothes but nor do I take them in something fancy. I take them in a non stained pair of jeans and a jumper. I have some weekend wear that they go to their activities in, the supermarket, to a friends house, to the doctors, to the library, to go shopping, to the cinema - stuff I don't send them into nursery in - so that they are presentable - but they aren't special occasion clothes.

Does this really need explaining?