To be pissed off with school about football boots and complain?

[PyongyangKipperbang]

Got an email on Tuesday telling parents that DD's PE class is doing football until half term and please make sure that they have shin pads and football boots by.....today!

Several issues with it.
Firstly financial. We all know that things are tight for a lot of people, and boots are not cheap. I know for a fact that there are a lot of kids at that school who's parents wont be able to simply drop the money on them. I would have to put them on the credit card as I dont have the spare money right now. Its so fucking tone deaf to expect this just after new uniform has been bought by a lot of parents. DD rather selfishly allowed her arms to grow so she needed a new blazer that she will wear for about 6 months before she doesnt need it anymore!

Secondly, the short notice. Basically one day to get them, err.....I have a job and deliveries around here are not at all reliable!

DD has no interest at all in football so these will go to waste afterwards, I can't imagine I would get much for them if I put on marketplace. I am not prepared to lose that money, especially when......

DD has a medical condition that means she can't actually play most (and especially team) sports. She can do the training but not participate in the sport. So why the hell would I pay out for basically no reason?!

I will be emailing the teacher back tomorrow (already replied once and got no acknowledgement) but am thinking about pointing to out to year head/HOD how this lack of notice especially is not on. WIBU to do that?

Does dd actually want to play? I did anything to get out of pe when I was in school. I'd just refuse to buy them and send her in with a letter saying so, either they'll let her play in normal trainers or she'll sit the lesson out or they'll be told to do something else. It sounds like she wont be the only one without boots so wont be singled out.

" So why the hell would I pay out for basically no reason?!"

You answered your own question really, dont! They cant make you.

I completely agree. My son hates football and I resent having to buy kit for him that he will use about 6 times. PE at school seems so antiquated to how we now understand how to keep healthy and fit. Let the kids who want to play football play and offer a kit-free alternative to those who don't.

Presumably secondary.

Vinted?

Sorry yes, Y11

That takes time and I am not paying money for something she can't really use due to her medical condition.

Funnily enough, today I asked how it went and she said "We didnt do much as no one had boots or shin pads" so clearly I am not the only one who said "Fuck that!" and no, she doesnt want to play.

Isn't the ground too hard for football boots at the moment?

You tell me! I am to football what the King is to cheerleading!

I agree this is tone death
just email them and say you won’t be buying them and your daughter won’t be partaking!

everyone else also needs to say it’s too short notice and refuse! Especially in year 11 when a lot of them leave in May, what a massive waste of money!

This is my argument, it will be 6 weeks out of the shortest school year of her life! Cost per wear will be about tenner a pop!

I'm repeating something I've been told. No actual clue about football.

But I am sick of being asked to buy things for short term or one-off use. We've got things like walking trousers that were vital for a trip and never worn. Indoor trainers never worn. Astro trainers, never worn.

So glad I don't have to deal with this nonsense anymore. My son decided to go to college instead of 6th form but his school required SG & FG football boots plus Astro/trainers! Luckily he did play for a team too so they did get some use.

You'll probably find some for a fiver on Marketplace if you have to get them.

Guessing it wasnt on the pe kit list?

Can we be friends?! I have had this for SIX kids!

Was a good girl for the eldest and did as I was told. The rest I tended to wing it!

ETA she will probably do VIth form but her school doesnt have them in uniform.

It was in Y7, but this the first time her group has actually done footie so I never bothered getting any (wouldnt fit now anyway), and waited to see what happened.

They dont issue kit lists beyond Y7 unless there is a uniform change.

Decathlon have a big sale on football boots at the moment and their shin pads are £3.99 so you definitely don't need to spend £60!

I agree that you shouldn't have to buy them though. Normal trainers are surely fine if it's just for a PE lesson.

So if you'd followed the list, you'd have bought them every year without them being used? That's crazy.

Hats off to you for dealing with this stuff for 6 kids. We couldn't have more than 2 because I couldn't bear reading any more Biff, Chip and Kipper books.

Yes I would have been buying them every year, that has never occurred to me!

As it is with eldest, he never got boots as he is disabled (went mainstream, physical disability) as his orthotics meant we couldnt get them. But yes, if I have followed the list, I would have spent loads over the years even with reusing. Found that with pumps, had fucking loads of those and there was never a sodding pair in the right fucking size for whichever bloody kid needed them! We often ended up with more than one pair in the same size....make that make sense when there was an average of four years between each child!

I agree football boot. But I just got them off Vinted for £6 - boots, socks, shin pads plus a Nike bag for them

It's the perfect storm of schools believing that parents have unlimited money to pay for whatever they spring on you, and also the time to drop everything else and instantly dedicate your life to buying it; coupled with the conviction that most PE teachers seem to have, that everybody loves and spends loads of time participating in sport, and so they assume that every child will already have or need all of the gear for their own leisure time anyway.

Ours tried to tell us that they needed both football boots and rugby boots (but we refused and just got one of them - I think they qualified as football boots, but unsure), as well as all the other stuff like the right kind of socks, shin pads and gum shields. In reality, our DS hates sport and, for his ability and minimal participation, a standard pair of trainers and ordinary socks would do him just fine.

It's heartbreaking when money is really tight and school are casually wasting large amounts of your money on stuff that will be complete overkill for a grand total of two hours a week... in fact, considering they do lots of different sports during PE and not just football, rugby or whatever, they will use them for maybe a dozen hours at most.

We were at least lucky, as we have a charity near us that was started in honour of a much-loved local young football-mad lad who tragically died, which asks for donations of outgrown boots and then sells them on for a fiver a pair.

I was still annoyed even at that, though - if they'd asked for a fiver donation to help sporty kids from poorer backgrounds be able to participate, I'd have happily donated; but the principle of having to pay purely to buy something unwanted by and unneeded for our DS really rankled. As soon as he's outgrown them (he may have already, actually), they'll be going straight back to the charity, as good as they were when we bought them.

People who are saying to 'just' get them from Vinted... apart from the time taken to look for suitable boots and wait for them to be delivered, how on earth can you be sure that they'll fit properly? Surely that's one of the permanent pitfalls of buying any kind of footwear online?

The thing is, I am not averse to paying for things that are needed. Two of my older DD's played Rugby, eldest DD played regional and wanted to try out for national youth (and had a good chance) until we found out she had to give up as she (we all) has the same medical condition as DD4. Her boots were the best we could afford. But imo boots are just not justifiable for DD4.

There are lots of boots on Facebook Market place at the moment as lots of parents have discovered their children's boots dont fit any more. Most of them either unworn or only worn a few times. I'd definitely look there first .

No need, I am not buying them.

ETA sorry, that was rude. Thank you for the suggestion.

Like hell I'd be paying out for bloody football boots for a DC not even interested in football, especially to only be used in the very short term. I'd give her a note to get out of PE until the football is over.

I would look for hand-me -downs or on FB Marketplace or local forums. At least then they can be tried on and you can get them asap.