to think people should dress their children in the correct uniform?

[pigsinmud]

The uniform is blue shirts or polo shirts, grey trousers for boys and navy skirt/pinafore for girls. There is a boy who always wears a white shirt and now his sister has started she is wearing a white polo shirt with a grey skirt?!

I mean does the mother not notice that her children are the only ones in white shirts? All other girls are in navy pinafores apart from her dd. Her dd looks like she goes to a different school as she looks so different to the other girls.

It's getting on my nerves. AIBU?

I hardly think failing to meet a regulation equates automatically to not valuing education. As others have said on here, some children have sensory issues which make clothes a major issue. If the parent has managed to get their child adequately dressed for the weather and into school on time, with any necessary equipment, then they are able to make use of the education on offer.

alypaly - yes agree with all those good things you listed. I am also not keen that my DSs school has changed the uniform every year for the past 3 years at great expense.

shineoncrazydiamond - I am utterly ed at you not being an avid strong supporter of uniform given your current employment.

does this mean that no Scandinavian parents value education? so how do Finnish schools manage to get the best results in the world?

Emily, is that you?!

@cory - aren't pretty much all finnish kids BF? no wonder they're so clever ;)

or maybe because its so much colder their little brains work better.

OP - YABU.

none of your business - let the school be miffed.

I was quite amused yesterday to pick up my daughter and her best mate, both in perfectly acceptable school uniform, wearing not one item in common...

DD:
long white shirt
navy trousers
red jumper
grubby white socks
black sandals

DD's BF:
red checked blouse
grey pinafore
grey cardigan
grey tights
red shoes!

I agree with the OP that people should dress their children in the correct uniform, unless there is a very good reason not to. It seems disrespectful to me, to deliberately flout the uniform rules- not only to the school but also to the other parents/children who are toeing the line. If you don't want your child to wear a uniform to school, choose a school with no uniform.

I'd perhaps feel more leniently if the school in question's uniform was a difficult to obtain colour and hence particularly expensive- but navy is very easy to obtain just about anywhere.

Total rubbish about uniform being an equaliser, I still have painful memories of having cheapy Woolies skirts rather than the cool but expensive ones from the uniform shop. At least on non-uniform days I could be odd in my own personal way and claim that it was stylish.
Still happens today, too, a friend was saying that her dd was hankering after the 10 quid polo shirts with a logo from the school, rather than the cheap plain ones. Luckily dd doesn't give a toss - yet - so long as it is comfy. Also luckily we are blessed with a school who say, very explicitly, that uniform is optional.

I don't actually mind my dcs having to wear uniform, fayrazzled, but if I did mind there wouldn't be another school round here I could send them too. Not everybody lives surrounded by choice.

I can't see the point in not buying the right colour either, all costs the same (special uniforms aside of course) To me it's almost as if they think themselves above anyone else, that they are special and don't have to adhere - a two fingers up at the school and disrespectful.

YANBU.

I don't agree with uniforms. The primary we've used doesn't have one and never once have my daughters been upset aboiut anything to do with their clothing or other peoples. Thsi whole having the right trainers thing is a myth - if they always see each other out of uniform then they have no interest in what people are wearing, it's just clothes. Now dd1 has gone to secondary and they have a strict uniform. She looks smart but I hate it. I loved seeing her in 'her' look every day. I also royally pissed off about having to spend so much cash on crap clothes. The school jumer is falling apart already - after three weeks! However it is the unifrom so I've complied. She's come home and said they had a uniform check today and one child was wearing black not grey trousers. Now I loathe the uniform but wilful con-compliance like that just seems dim to me.

Absolute rubbish about uniform being an equaliser and not valuing education.

My kids are at school here in the US.

I bought a load of skorts and t-shirts from a shop called The Children's Place. The skorts were $4 and the t-shirts $5. And loads of other kids go in very similar, cheap clothes despite them being at a private Montessori school and previously being a 'posh' private school in a good area.
They look great, they're comfy and I've seen absolutely zero evidence of snobbery or comparing clothes negatively.

And the point about not valuing education is so silly it's not even worth arguing with.

I didn't know about uniform being optional at primary school and I work in one.
However, my parents used to send me to school dressed in civvies and I was really jealous of the girls with smart uniforms.

I also don't agree with uniforms being an equaliser, and I don't agree with 'deliberately flouting the rules'.

However are they? My dd's school has a dress code. They cannot enforce uniform only encourage it and most parents comply. Some do not, big deal.

I see myself as complying but I admit I put my own spin on it. Dd's school colours are incredibly dull grey and navy and I love children in colour. Therefore I put her in her white school polo shirt, navy paisley patterned skirt and lovely green cardie. This complies with dress code although I'm sure school would prefer grey skirt, white polo and grey cardie.

'I didn't know about uniform being optional at primary school and I work in one.'

Ha, yes they don't like to admit this!

Abetadad: if you have a uniform fetish I can provide you with some lovely links.
My DS' primary has that nicely laid back attitude of allowing a choice of shirts, polo shirts or t-shirts in white or pale blue, grey shorts or trousers or skirts or pinafores, blue jumpers/sweatshirts/cardigans, school jumpers etc optional. I wouldn't have sent him to a primary that was anal about uniform because it would suggest to me that it was run by officious, petty fuckwits and the education on offer would be lousy because it would be a matter of box-ticking and enforced conformity rather than proper education which is about opening DS's minds.

I think he'd like the car wash girls

lol

Heartily agree with Solid!

Also concur that uniform at primary is optional.

Uniform is not optional at my DC's primary

I agree with the OP. Sends a message ...