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.

Nowadays girls are generally allowed to wear shorts and trousers.

I had them for my daughter. Hugely stained on the bum in 1 wear.
Never again.

It's a uniform, not a fashion parade 🙄
It's not about what you like!

They draw attention to him I wouldn’t risk it

please don’t

The KS1 boys round here still wear Fred and Noah type leggings.

When you say it like that it does sound quite fascist.

I’d read the school uniform policy. i find the little kids are most conformist then as they get older it seems to slacken off. For example our school jumper is royal blue and my older children wear royal blue polo shirts as much more practical than white. Also have navy blue chino type stretch cotton shorts for summer. I don’t think primary is allowed to hsve mandatory school uniform in Scotland so a nod seems enough. Lots of dc don’t seem to wear any school uniform atall so we are probably in the middle somewhere.

I think it might look like he’s wearing his dad’s boxers.

So do those girls you see queuing outside nightclubs late in the evening and the ones walking round town with bare middles on a cold day!

Oh come on, don't be so disingenuous.

Have you seen the film "About a Boy"? When the mum sends her 11 yo to school in home knitted clothes and clumpy brown shoes?

I haven't seen the film, but I was that child in home knitted clothes and clumpy brown shoes and hated being "different"

Imposing your "hey, I'm different" values on a child is all kinds of wrong. They need to be old enough to know what they want and be able to make their own decisions, and not care what others think.

Don’t use your 5 year old to present a Political/gender argument

I agree with this ^^

This is what Mumsnet is for.

Outside school have all his clothes bright and colourful.

If you dress the boy in schoolgirl shorts then it is inevitable that older kids and some peers will constantly tease him and make him miserable. They won't forget either, for years after he's refused to wear them. Have another baby if you want a girl, but let this one be a boy.

You’re exactly right. Boys wear very little colour these days.

And clothing has become increasingly gendered. When I was a kid, young girls and boys pretty much wore the same clothes: e.g. brown cords and red polo necks. Sisters clothes were passed down to brothers and vice versa. Teenage boys and girls wore blue jeans and t-shirts, all had similar hair: long, short, dyed or spiked. In the 80s, the fella who did my hair wore skirts and big hair, just like his wife who ran the salon with him (New Romantics).

Now, so depressingly gendered.

And school uniform makes no sense on so many levels.

But I'd get him the grey shorts. Unless it’s a hill you both really want to die on.

Why?
Is there a school uniform or not? If the school uniform is grey shorts he should wear them, if not put him in whatever you like.
Why is that fascist? It's a fact of life.

I suppose if you take it to a logical extreme it’s all a bit North Korea matching haircuts.

Going to the shorts/ trousers debate.
One my boys wears shorts all year round and one all except the most Baltic months. I find it far more practical than trousers. Leg dry far more easily than fabric. Nothing worse than sitting in soggy trouser all day.

And as for practicality of girls uniform. I tend to keep the skirt on my daughter dresses short with cycle shorts under them. This gives her the most physical freedom. She is permanently upside down so long skirts are a hindrance.

Generally, kids just want to fit in. Particularly when starting a new school and meeting a whole load of new kids for the first time.

This isn’t about what you think looks nice. It’s about following the uniform policy and giving your kid the best chance at settling in quickly with as little fuss as possible.

Just buy the standard uniform that all the other little boys will be wearing for goodness sake. He’s not your little doll to dress up however you fancy.

To be fair I stood in the supermarket behind a teenage boy in a ladies butterfly print blouse yesterday, yet none of my friend’s dads wore skirts in the 80’s.

I think it depends which pockets of society you look at.,

because he would look like he was dressed like a toddler rather than a school boy.

To be honest if I was the school and you contacted me about this, you’d mentally go on the list of quite possibly going to be a difficult parent and one to watch for!

There are much bigger hills to die on, negotiating a different uniform for your son because you don’t like it isn’t one.

It's a fucking school uniform, not North bloody Korea 😒

Not sure you're familiar with actual facism.

Our school wouldnt allow those on boys or girls. If girls wear shorts they wear grey. The exception is the romper suit version of gingham dresses, but i wouldn't recommend those for a reception child, they take longer in the loo so accidents are likely.

School uniform is not about your preferences for what looks nice/attractive. Its about having smart, sensible clothes that are practical, wash & dry easily, are widely available etc. Its about all the children having similar clothes.

The only countries that have school uniform are Britain (and its former colonies) and totalitarian states. Apart from in some private schools.

Most European countries and US: no school uniform.

There’s always one that doesn’t want to conform to school uniform. Please don’t be that parent your child will suffer for it.

It's not.
Also, North Korea isn't a facist regime.