No turning upside down in the playground if you are wearing a dress unless you put your PE shorts on underneath

[DarthVader]

My primary school has created a new rule that girls may not be upside down in the playground as their knickers will be on display. It is OK if they wear trousers or put on shorts under their skirts/ dresses.

I am v unhappy about the message this gives out to the girls & it reminds me of the Victorians covering up piano legs...

What should I do?

Ah. It seems to be an epidemic. Several other threads on this.

I would go MAD if this happened to me! There is no way I want my dd to think that there is something 'wrong' about somebody seeing her knickers in this situation.

I would not let her walk down the street holding up her skirt but I think that it is utter madness.

FGS - this is ridiculous.

what is supposed to happen if people see little girls' knickers?

Oh good. Let's teach all our little girls that there is something wrong or bad about showing their knickers in the course of normal play.

What exactly is their logic behind this?

Message withdrawn

oh fgs how ridiculous, who are the school worried about, surely all staff have had crb checks and the other children all have knickers or pants on - this is where i thank god my 2 go to a private school and do not get caught up in pc gone mad, it makes it worht every penny

I am livid about the messages this sends out to girls, glad to see I am not on my own on thinking this is devoid of commonsense. I am composing an email to the head to ask for full details of the rule, whether it is an LEA thing or what is behind it exactly.

I would be very grateful for any suggestions on what I can do to get the rule chucked out...it could be your school next!

Mental
Take it up with the governors.

NOt AGAIN!

if dd's school bring this in i wil lbe encouraging to do a mass cartwheel session on the field.

I find it inconsistent in that bikinis are allowed for school swimming lessons in a public pool - shorts do not yet need to be worn on top.

In my day, we had to wear navy gym-knickers under clothes for any sort of outdoor hi-jinkery. I'm only 34. I think it's a bit more seemly than Mickey Mouse thong tbh

dd1 came home from school telling me this as well - it's rude to show my knickers when I do cartwheels. Not sure what I'm going to do though - have told her it's a very silly rule and it's not rude at all

Well even I would find it inappropriate to turn upside down wearing no knickers, and I would be suprised if any of the primary schoolers are wearing thongs! Most wear knickers in the style of boy shorts which have similar coverage to shorts anyhow.

Any child or parent who has concerns has always been free to wear trousers or avoid upside -down- ness so it all seems prudish in the extreme to me.

hana my dd will be punished if she breaks the rule

The style du jour when I was at primary school was boaksome pee-stained nylon disney-promoting hi-legs (admittedly not thongs), so the censorship was a mercy.

yes hopefully nylon kids pants have been consigned to history

Blimey, Darth, seems to be an epidemic of this atm. DO challenge it and ask how making girls think cartwheeling is somehow dirty is consistent with encouraging children to be fit and active? Let alone the very unhealthy attitudes to girls.

edam I agree with the points you make
I find this rule disturbing on many levels

have emailed the head for full details

OK..... here goes. If you went to a class assembly (upper KS2, for instance) and all the girls in the front row were sitting on a bench with their legs wide apart, would you expect the teacher to have suggested they put their knees together?

I do remember a classic moment when our whole class was sitting outside having a history lesson with a male teacher. Our (rather bonkers) biology teacher walked past and asked him if he would let her have a word with us. She turned to us and boomed "GIRLS you are showing your FANNIES". You have never seen 25 pairs of knees snap shut so quickly.
Admittedly this was not in this country and things were stricter there but even so....
So my answer to clam is...sometimes yes!!

Yes clam I would say that it's better to keep knees togther - because of you sit or stand opposite for the duration of an assembly/class then you'll get an eyeful, BUT if they are turning cartwheels on the field, surely that's something different? Legs aren't wide apart for any length time... or am I missing something? It's ridiculous

I still remember my mother telling me rather harshly to "shut your legs you are showing everything" when I was sitting watching tv in my nightie

I felt rather as if I had been slapped, I had just been sitting there relaxing

it's not ok to make young girls feel their pants or private parts are not ok to be viewed

I mean sure explain about provacy but this is entirely different

btw - I do think that it is ridiculous to make this rule about cartwheels etc - that MAKES it an issue when it shouldn't be

Really ridiculous
Dd 7 got so worried about showing her knickers she now won't wear skirts or dresses. That was sinple down to playground teasing.
So since she had a hole in the knee of her school trousers I cut them and made shorts. She happy and no complains from the school. In fact I now have parents asking where I got her shorts from. Such a trend setter my dd wink.