“No onesies please as it makes the children in school jealous”

[Lemons1571]

A message from the head of our primary. Please could all parents at home please ensure their primary children are fully dressed in day clothes ready for their class 9am zoom. No onesies. Apparently the children actually allowed to go to school are annoyed seeing their classmates lounging at home in onesies / pj’s / loungewear.

Ummm, I’m sorry, I thought I heard you issuing instructions on what I must / must not do in my own house. What possible authority does a school have to do this? Kids forced out of face to face education. Being shown some lovely examples of the artwork done by the kids at school over zoom with the caveat “oh don’t worry I know you can’t do this at home”.

Read the room ffs. Just another request to put other people’s children before my own. As it happens my primary child gets dressed of his own accord, but if he wanted to wear a onesie then quite frankly anyone else’s opinion can fuck off.

Physically going to school = uniform worn as per school rules.
Physically barred from school = my house my rules.

No doubt I’m overreacting but it annoyed me!

@Blessex because you sound like a twat tbh! Who says stuff like what you’re saying? I can’t work out if you’re trying to be funny

The question of whether you’d be happy if the teacher wore a dressing gown/onesie is a good one. I would find it a bit odd and would expect just normal casual dress so I feel kids should be doing the same.

@mummyinbeccles does what they wear for 2 months really bother you that much ?

@Lemons1571

A message from the head of our primary. Please could all parents at home please ensure their primary children are fully dressed in day clothes ready for their class 9am zoom. No onesies. Apparently the children actually allowed to go to school are annoyed seeing their classmates lounging at home in onesies / pj’s / loungewear.

Ummm, I’m sorry, I thought I heard you issuing instructions on what I must / must not do in my own house. What possible authority does a school have to do this? Kids forced out of face to face education. Being shown some lovely examples of the artwork done by the kids at school over zoom with the caveat “oh don’t worry I know you can’t do this at home”.

Read the room ffs. Just another request to put other people’s children before my own. As it happens my primary child gets dressed of his own accord, but if he wanted to wear a onesie then quite frankly anyone else’s opinion can fuck off.

Physically going to school = uniform worn as per school rules.
Physically barred from school = my house my rules.

No doubt I’m overreacting but it annoyed me!

A secondary school near me insists on uniform.

The children comply with the top half and pj bottoms on the bottom!

I think I'm not alone in missing this but the word 'jealous' was never mentioned.

It’s in the thread title

So your child gets dressed anyway? So what are you moaning about?
YABU anyway. It's not like they're asking for something really difficult.

I didn’t school in the UK, so uniforms (especially in primary) seems really strange, but because that’s the rule for school, my DCs wear it (when they went to school) but since lockdown, they have worn whatever they wanted, and this might surprise some of you, but the quality of their school work hasn’t gone down just because of what they’re wearing! I’ve never agreed with the “look smart, work smart” motto that seems to be one of the reasons behind uniforms. And yes, we try and make sure they are out of their PJs for video lessons, but actually most of the time, they hardly see the other kids during the lessons as the teacher does a spotlight on themselves so they fill most of the screen.

@Hotelhelp you think I sound like a twat? Why exactly. We are all trying to get though this as best we can. Why exactly do you think I sound like a twat?

If you can put a insie on for warmth, you can stick a jumper or extra jumper on, and a blanket over your legs if your really that cold . Unless your all buying electric blanket style onsies?

If your child is that unhappy in Primary, maybe it's not the best school for them. It should be a fun time, with learning and experience. If they haven't got any friend and get nothing from the teacher, I honestly would change mine.

My primary DD has a weekly zoom class assembly.
Last week, every child physically in school got an award for doing maths/english online. None of the children working from home got an award, even though they spent f*ing hours working, completing bollocks-loads of work, whilst families tried to work from home, juggle their own work, and kept everyone safe and fed.
So no, YANBU because some schools seem to want it both ways. It doesn't work like that.

[quote Blessex]@mummyinbeccles does what they wear for 2 months really bother you that much ?[/quote]
Not in the slightest bit the attitude that ‘key worker kids are lucky’ and ‘teachers are being unreasonable’ does. Please read my responses properly and don’t try to put me as some kind of Daily Fail teacher.

And my DCs are definitely upset they can’t go to school, it’s not just us parents finding the whole homeschooling hard.

I’m teaching primary over zoom.

I’d quite like them in school uniform, actually. It would definitely help set the right tone. I’d definitely appreciate the head sending an email with a few basic requirements (although it doesn’t need to make any reference to upsetting the kids in school). Some of my class are eating toast/ biscuits, hoodies up, or lounging around on the floor, all of which you obviously would not allow in the classroom.

But they are not in their classrooms. They are doing their best (for the most part) and the work they are submitting is really good (again, for the most part).

So I settle for having them not eating, sitting up and being dressed in clothes (preferably not onesies). I pull them up on it if I see them eating or rolling about on the floor (or, in one child’s case, having a nap 😂). Seems a reasonable compromise.

@Hotelhelp I haven’t made any reference to trailer wearing a onesie so maybe you are mixing me up with another poster

[quote Blessex]@Hotelhelp you think I sound like a twat? Why exactly. We are all trying to get though this as best we can. Why exactly do you think I sound like a twat?[/quote]
You don’t sound like a twat at all

@kowari

A jumper is not always warm enough. There are threads on here all the where posters say they are wearing dressing gowns, Oodies, heated blankets, slippers, gloves etc etc when WFH and that’s adults so if children are now at home in these houses then surely they’ll be just as cold? Kids in school manage. Our school has windows open, DS wears tshirt, jeans, coat. At 14 to 17 degrees at home he is often sitting in shorts and tshirt, so school must be cold.

So would it be OK for a child to sit in a coat at home then? Children might “manage” in school but why leave children at home to be cold when there’s a perfectly simple solution?

My DS does wear day time clothes by the way but it’s not that much of a stretch to understand why some children don’t. Although he did wear his Oodie the other day when he wasn’t feeling well but didn’t want to fall behind. Perhaps I should have rung him in sick instead and made him catch up over the weekend?

*teacher

@TheKeatingFive

I think I'm not alone in missing this but the word 'jealous' was never mentioned.

It’s in the thread title

It was never mentioned in the school's message, which I quoted in my post.

The OP then went on to say apparently the children actually allowed to go to school are annoyed seeing their classmates lounging at home in onesies / pj’s / loungewear.

@Lemons1571

We’re not being asked to do this so our primary children are ready to learn. We’re being asked to do this specifically for the benefit of the kids that are getting a classroom education.

No, you aren’t. You’re being asked to do it to cut down on a source of friction that makes life harder for the teachers, many of whom are struggling with current demands that are not what they trained for. Cutting down on that friction benefits all the children in the class.

I don’t think it’s something the school should enforce. Nevertheless, if you can abide by it (without it causing damaging friction in your home) your kids will benefit.

Getting irate about it as a request seems very OTT.

YABU for saying they are "physically barred from school" . It's hardly the school's "fault" is it? Stick a jumper / hoodie over the onesie?

@ComDummings thank you. I am in tears as a full time working mum trying to manage with two kids with posters calling me a twat

[quote Blessex]@mummyinbeccles does what they wear for 2 months really bother you that much ?[/quote]
I have every empathy for any parent trying to home school. I spend my unpaid days and weekends trying to support them and make life easier. Your total lack of empathy in return angers me and makes me question why I’m bothering.

[quote Ramblingwords]@mummyinbeccles

"Have you got any idea what it’s like to have to send your child into school? It is risky and they are scared. You have to refrain from onesies. Poor you. Get a grip."

Do we really need to compete with the stress we are under? It's stressful having to send kids in...it's also stressful not being able to and having to do stressful jobs at home while caring for kids. This whole thing is affecting us all in different ways. Playing top trumps with it doesn't help.

Just to put this in perspective, perhaps we can all remember that there is children suffering abuse, neglect and hunger in the midst of all of this. At least one child has died (drowned) while their mum was trying to continue to work from home.

I think schools could do with remembering that this is a hideous unprecedented event, something that has not happened for over 100 years...and a good time to offer support without demands and trivial conditions attached to it.[/quote]
If anyone is interested the article about the child drowning is available here...

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/12/01/baby-drowned-hot-tub-mother-working-home-inquest-hears/

The Florida mum dying...

www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53758746

I totally get it, especially since so many kids are still in school.

I'd shove a hoody over my kids onesie, to comply outwardly, whilst allowing myself to be smug.

@LongCOVID

My primary DD has a weekly zoom class assembly. Last week, every child physically in school got an award for doing maths/english online. None of the children working from home got an award, even though they spent f*ing hours working, completing bollocks-loads of work, whilst families tried to work from home, juggle their own work, and kept everyone safe and fed. So no, YANBU because some schools seem to want it both ways. It doesn't work like that.

That's disgusting. I have heard of similar or just as bad examples from various schools.

It really wouldn't take much to help the ones at home feel a little bit more included.

We are in a middle of a pandemic, there should be the very minimum of kids at school. Encouraging parents to play the system by putting their kids at school is also wrong on so many levels. The list of keyworkers is very wide, if everyone starts playing the game, you might as well reopen the schools.

Then critical workers have no childcare when the class goes into isolation, but who cares about that