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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Bikinis for little girls are a bit yuck

174 replies

Rosieeo · 20/06/2010 12:10

I just don't like them. It implies that they have something that needs to be covered and they don't. Why can't they all, boys and girls, just run around in pants on the beach? Or am I being a bit OTT?

OP posts:
pranma · 20/06/2010 14:45

Naked bottoms on beach can get sand in all the sensitive bits and can be very scratchy indeed.
Re bikinis as long as we arent talking thongs or padded tops I dont mind them at all,or pants,or one-piece-just like to see happy children having fun.

TheFallenMadonna · 20/06/2010 14:51

Doesn't bother me really. More confused by the second post which says no to bikinis but a swimming costume rather than just pants. Because that seems somewhat inconsistent.

hettyhoover · 20/06/2010 15:40

FallenMadonna, I guess what I was trying to say was, I don't really think being naked on the beach is right, both because as someone else said sand can get in all the wrong places, be scratchy etc, and because I don't think it's appropriate with total strangers around, no matter how young the child is. I don't think bra-type, string bikinis are right either, because they look like they are sexualising children. Have no problem with some of the larger crop top type bikinis though and can understand the sense about being easier to go to the toilet in. Sorry, should have explained in my first post .

LeoniPoni · 20/06/2010 15:45

I've just reread my earlier post and I wasn't very good at putting across what I meant. Obv I don't think all triangle shape bikinis are inappropriate I just think ones like this are. I'm loath to post a link to The Sun website, but when I googled it was all I could find with a picture.

I haven't read the article, so if The Sun is spouting its usual drivel I don't condone!

jamaisjedors · 20/06/2010 15:56

Do no children run around with no clothes on at the beach anymore then Foosa?

On holiday in the north of France there were plenty last year and loads last Easter when it was unexpectedly hot.

TheFallenMadonna · 20/06/2010 16:00

I still don't get it really. Because sand isn't going to get into unfortunate places if you're wearing pants. I used to take DD to swimming lessons in jut a swim nappy. It was assumed she was a boy (blue swim nappy) and when I corrected this, I was told by another parent that it was completely inappropriate for her not to be wearing anything over her nipples. Aged 12 months. As far as complete strangers went, presumably it would be OK because she looked like a boy? Or is about the child themselves?

TheFallenMadonna · 20/06/2010 16:01

Actually, IME sand does get into unfortunate places even if you are wearing a swimming costume. But again, not really the point...

Xenia · 20/06/2010 16:09

Loads of children run around naked. The more the better from my point of view. I think a mumsnet campaign to ensure we continue to have that right in the face of those suggesting wrongly (a) there are more people wanting sex with children now than ever or (b) that for Muslim or other religious reasons people should be modestly dressed... mumsnet campagin for nakedness... yes i can see good headlines. Let children be wild and naked and free. The naked body is a wonderful thing. It was only sexist bible stories like the Garden of Eden which led to some silly cultures covering it up.

fifitot · 20/06/2010 16:11

Surely they should be covered and wearing UV suits? We had to see a dermatologist and he reckoned anything less was madness, even in the UK.

Xenia · 20/06/2010 16:40

There are differing views on that. Some have rickets as too covered and we don't get enough vit D which you get best from some direct sunlight but not for long periods.

LisaD1 · 20/06/2010 16:47

I don't like them and wouldn't buy them for my own DD's but weirdly I'm not even sure WHY I don't like them! Am too fat to wear one myself, maybe that's why.

My girls always wear a one piece costume and have never asked for any different which I guess is because that's what they see me in. DD1 is 10, if she really wanted one, enough to ask, then I would probably let her wear one.

MrsWobbleTheWaitress · 20/06/2010 17:01

Oh my good god! A baby girl with bare nipples being wrong!? What is the world coming to!?

And do none of you get sand in unfortunate places when you swim in the sea, or sit on the sand even when wearing a swimsuit? If so, can you tell me how not to, because it's very annoying!

fifitot - superstrength suncream after 10 minutes without is fine, surely!? Besides, specialists spend their lives dealing with worst cases, so they're bound to be more strict about things. I bet your dermatologist wasn't as obsessed with the right bra being worn as the breast care surgeon I worked with once...who probably also wouldn't be that obsessed with full UV suits!

If they have to wear full UV suits on the beach, why not all day every day?

kikiwoods · 20/06/2010 17:10

Just like high heels / make-up / etc. before girls are old enough to ware, it looks totally ridiculous.
Those girls are probably going to become young mums and then do the same with their own daughters. Don't we see that all the time? sad really...

jabberwocky · 20/06/2010 17:19

Another 1970's bikini-wearing girl here. Definitely cooler.

iCooed · 20/06/2010 17:19

LOVE EM
another message to women
"cover up your bodies"
no we fucking wont
FUCK OFF

jabberwocky · 20/06/2010 17:19

As in "not as warm" not the other connotation

porcamiseria · 20/06/2010 17:24

i think people need to take a huge chill pill. there are lots of things that worn on a woman look sexy, and on a little girl, not. short shorts, spagetti strap dresses etc.

i had my toddler nude on the beach and then my SIL spotted some old geezer taking photos on his mobile, gross!

have no issue with them

ivykaty44 · 20/06/2010 18:04

I have no problem with little boys and girls in swimming pants on the beach or naked - can't see why you would put a bra type top on a little girl as they are no different from a little boy until later in life.

Why put girls in a top and not just bottoms like boys?

deju4 · 20/06/2010 19:13

I have a 2yr old daughter & there is NO way i would buy one for her. A one piece cossies is what they should wear. Children are children so parents need to STOP dressing them up as adults.........

ticktockclock · 20/06/2010 19:41

Dressing them up as adults??? My child is a child and wears bikinis amongst other things. She is a stylish little girl there is nothing about her bikini's that make her look like an adult. It is not a padded mesh top with a thong ffs!

MayorNaze · 20/06/2010 19:43

bikinis are fine

depending on the style

none of this string business with padded tops, feck that

little girl 'kinis are cute if appropriate

my dds are 4 & 8 and they both have them

funkychunkymunky · 20/06/2010 19:47

My MIL bought my DD a bikini when she was first born in a size 3-6 months. it was one of those with the tiny triangles. I hated it. My DD never wore it. We didn't actually have a need for it anyway as she wears the happy nappy thingy to go swimming in.

I don't have any problem with the bikinis that are like crop tops. It's the triangular ones that are just wrong wrong wrong.

lucky1979 · 20/06/2010 20:08

I was going to buy one of these for DD (aged 7mos): Daisy duck tankini

Simply because I put her in her swim nappy and costume under her clothes before we go to out to the gym to save time, and half the time it backfires on me as, with her innate sense of timing, she fills her nappy before we even get there. I figured the bottom bit would be easier to get on and off while doing a quick change than doing the whole shebang. If we go anywhere beachy I will definitely get her one for the same quick change reason. Nothing to do with dressing them as adults.

shockers · 20/06/2010 20:20

I didn't look properly and read that as Daisy Duke tankini

mommmmyof2 · 20/06/2010 20:20

I bought one recently for my daughter and its cute, not trying to be sexy or older than she is but just cute