To ask if boys can wear coloured gingham school shorts?

[Makingitupaswegoalong]

DS starting school in September. I’ve never liked the grey boys’ school shorts. I think they’re horrible.

Could a boy wear the shorts version of the summer dresses in the warmer months? The ones like this:
https://direct.asda.com/george/school/shorts/light-blue-girls-gingham-longer-length-school-shorts/G008057152,default,pd.html?redirectFromInt=1&cmpid=ppc--geor-------_-dskwid-_dm&utm_campaign=pla:Fashion-School-_Performance_Max&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17501196607&gbraid=0AAAAADt8Wcm1oMWVYoBrMZRAaJmY4OxHM&gclid=Cj0KCQjwgIXCBhDBARIsAELC9ZgYG9pdeZibdgD76_xniRBLDqnyyvZArL9DdLA7VsYiWE5zGC1CWE0aAkIFEALw_wcB

The little boys round here wear a lot of brightly coloured patterned leggings.

Why couldn’t they were these shorts? Are they obviously girly? Would people bully him or think we were weird? I just think they’re nicer.

Or just have him turn up in shorts like these:

I dint think children get bullied about their clothes in Reception. (Early Years teacher for 30 years)

4 and 5 year olds don’t care about any of this stuff. We have several ‘non- traditional’ family set ups and ‘non-conforming’ people in my daughter’s reception class and the kids don’t bat an eyelid.

Kids might be taught gender stereotypes by parents but that’s even more reason to embrace people doing whatever the hell they want.

Afraid I have to concede I think those are adorable.

What a ridiculous, old-fashioned outlook.

My kids are taught that there is no such thing as a ‘girls’ thing or a ‘boys’ thing because it starts with colours and ends with a gender pay gap.

Honestly, I can’t believe people still subscribe to this nonsense.

True, but older children do.

And what better way to deal with this sexist nonsense than by normalising the dismantling of gender stereotypes from reception?

Gingham is no more for girls than being paid less and working in non-technical roles.

And what better way to deal with this sexist nonsense than by normalising the dismantling of gender stereotypes from reception?

By using a four year old to prove a point?

No - by not allowing the possibility of some other shitty person being horrible to restrict what you want to do.

4 year olds don’t know that some old-fashioned and/or sexist grown ups have decided only some clothes are compatible with a penis.

I’m not going to let my children be dictated to by stupid people, nor am I going to let them grow up absorbing bigoted world views.

I agree @Dumbdog I’m very surprised by the number of mums (I presume) here horrified that a young boy should wear those perfectly normal shorts because - OMG, clutch your pearls tight - they’re for girls. It’s very weird.

And, more depressing, the number of people who think we should let the bullies make the rules. Ignoring the fact, Reception children likely won’t give a shiny shit about him wearing those shorts, we should let older bullies dictate how our children behave and what they wear. Next up, we’ll be being advised to let our children sit in class struggling to see because the bullies might tease them for wearing glasses 🙄

don’t let girls do science - it’s too taxing on their ovaries.

Go for it OP. From the minute your DS walks into the school on his first days his poor benighted form teacher will be thinking 'Oh god, this is the kid with the mother who is going to be a massive pain in the arse! As if I didn't have enough to deal with .'

I was at a grammar school in the 1970s, the fashion was for ridiculous platform shoes, so of course we were limited to 2 inch heels. Do you know who the coolest girl in the school was? The girl who came in flat as a pancake Doc Martens! How to follow the rules and stand out at the same time. The whole school went, 'Why didn't I think of that?'

As for people saying 5 year olds don't care, some of them will have older siblings in the school and they will share a playground.

Do let us know how your little darling gets on in his girls shorts btw.

You are missing the point. Gender stereotypes are harmful. No one is suggesting everyone needs to wear beige sacks.

The point is that anyone who wants to wear a pink tutu should be free to do so, regardless of what’s between their legs.

There should be no sense that certain things are ‘for girls’ and other things are ‘for boys’.

Things / colours / jobs / roles / sensibilities are just that - not indicators of maleness or femaleness.

Those attitudes belong in the 70s. Let us young people make the world better, there’s a dear.

You underestimate teachers hugely. We spend a lot of time fighting stereotypes. Some of those stereotypes are picked up from society but an awful lot are picked up from their parents.

Case in point.

To answer your questions
In theory yes he could wear them
Yes they are obviously girly
Yes he’d probably get bullied
Yes people would probably think you are weird
They are not nicer for a school boy

Just because you don’t like grey school shorts is not a good enough reason to make your son a laughing stock

Dismantling gender stereotypes and teaching your son that there are no such things as girl stuff or boy stuff is a damn good reason, though. HTH.

Funny how people were falling over themselves to insist that trousers were more comfortable for girls to wear as school uniform on another thread recently, yet here they are insisting that a pair of blue shorts are only for girls because they’re gingham! WTAF! My brother actually has a gingham shirt. Is he a girl? Is he being bullied? No and no.

Some people have major hang-ups about boys being or doing anything at all that might have the slightest chance of being perceived as feminine - ie not ‘manly’. This isn’t just sexism, there’s an unpleasant whiff of homophobia about it.

@Dumbdog HTH who?

🤣 HTH = hope that helps.

sorry, shouldn’t have used young people speak..

I can tell from your post you’re advancing in years.

@Dumbdog i know what HTH means, my question was HTH who?
If you are going to try and be a smart arse you’d be better understanding the question asked, I clearly asked HTH who not what HTH means.
Not only have you been rude in your reply you’ve also made yourself look a bit of a tit and also quite ageist.

Aaaah so you’re terribly anti sexism but you are ageist. Makes a lot of sense.

The point you are missing is that parents don’t necessarily want to sacrifice their children on the altar of other people’s preoccupations.

Nah, you’re missing the point that everyone should do their best to teach the next generation to ignore the nonsense peddled by the bigots who came before them. No children need sacrificing.

@Dumbdog so do you teach your child to be ageist?

ok, glad you understood.

Sorry you feel I’m being rude - I thought your post was nasty to the OP so I probably got a little more defensive than I should.