School uniform - equal choice

[pixel01]

I see comments in various places to the effect that uniforms allow girls to wear trousers and don't actually say boys can't wear skirts but none do wear them. This may be hard to believe, but a handful of boys at my DS's primary school actually have been wearing skirts and it is quite accepted among staff and pupils. My DS was one of the first (not very first though), starting in an absolute heatwave in the Summer when even dark shorts were warm, and other boys joined in when it became "accepted". Suggests more boys like to wear skirts than you may realise, whether for comfort or having a girly side to them. They are stricter with boys skirts eg. must be within 2 inches of knee (so should girls but not enforced as rigidly) and fewer styles are accepted.

With the cold weather coming most are going back to trousers, and boys are reluctant to wear tights as they feel that IS crossing the line, though a few are wearing kneesocks with skirts. DS just likes the fact they have the option of trousers or skirts just like the girls.

Has this happened anywhere else or is this unusual?

I have never in my life come across such a thing. To be perfectly honest I find it hard to believe that anything other than a tiny, tiny minority of boys would ever express a desire to wear a skirt in a school setting, much less actually go ahead and do so. So, extremely unusual I'd say.

Er....is this your first post by any chance?

biscuit]

Must try harder!

"This may be hard to believe". Well yes, it is! So are you a boy who likes to wear skirts, or a man who wants to hear us tell you about boys who wear skirts?

Don't be silly.

Why is it silly? Culturally different, yes, probably very unlikely in England, but not silly.

Are Maori warriors silly? Fijian police? Scottish men in kilts?

Look I just thought people would be interested. It's not unique, and boys have been in the papers elsewhere. Also when Jo Hale won the right to wear trousers the school said boys could wear skirts (whether any did we don't know). Some boys wear lightweight kilts as well (like girls at private school, fastening to boys side).

Doubtless it will die out by Winter time and who knows what will happen next Summer.

I'll stick to "common issues" from now on. Very dissapointed by comments.

And we are actually in Scotland. Did you honestly mean "England" not the UK???

[oh dear]

Do you mean me?

Yes, I did mean England. As in, it is more probably unlikely in England to see boys in skirts but possibly more likely elsewhere where there is a kilt heritage.

I was disappointed by the comments too. And would dare anyone who says boys in skirts are silly to say that to a large (and very often handsome!!) Fijian policeman.

www.hmssirius.info/images/05_Fijian_policemen__Suva_July_67.jpg

At my kids' school's last international day quite a few boys turned up in piu pius and kilts.

pixel01 if you are in Scotland why did you

a) start this
b) not refer to them as kilts.

Sorry if my post was misunderstood.

I'm a bit about threads like this as I've seen them before and if I remember correctly they've been pulled as the OP has expressed an unhealthy interest in what children wear to school.

If you are genuine, pixel01 and you're in Scotland, when did you have a heatwave?

Heatwave in Scotland? nah I'm not having that

Our heatwave was 31 May 2008. The mercury hit the high teens.

I don't think anyone was saying that Fijian policemen are silly. Or hairy-arsed Scotsmen for that matter. Just the premise that little boys may, in some small corner of England, be choosing to wear skirts to school.

Expecting us to believe that, is silly.

This is a wind up, pure and simple. Nobody in Scotland would refer to kilts as skirts for a start off.

And as for a heat wave....don't make me laugh! I last experienced one in the summer of 1976!!

I think I'll write one more post to clarify everything and then leave MN if people just like to catch folk out, but

a) "heatwave" depends on your definition, and for Scotland this is much lower than hotter parts of the world where people are used to high temps. Into the 30s or even high 20s for prolonged periods can count to those used to wind, rain, chill, and this did happen for period last June and part of August.

b) definition of a 'kilt' is also subjective, as some consider anything not the full weight, size, and wool is a skirt. Boys have got kilts from the private school shop which are for girls but happen to fasten the male side. Some boys did actually wear navy/grey skirts chosen carefulluy to not look ridiculous on boys. It was just a bit of fun, but now it's cheapo kilts or trousers.

I'm sorry to have offended anyone but it was so unusual it was worth sharing. Most important to my DCs is what they learn at school, not how they dress. I may come back under a different name and discuss those issues, and hope people are not so hostile again.

pixel01 you're blethering!

Here in Sweden we don't have school uniform of any sort, but it's certainly not unusual to see small children wearing clothes which would be considered untraditional for their gender, and that includes small boys wearing dresses and skirts. You will see that at any "dagis" (day care nursery) and it's just not an issue.

My DS(10) does wear a skirt to school but that is because he is transgendered (confirmed). The school suggested he compormised by wearing girls trousers (which many 'real' girls do there anyway), but he insisted on wearing a skirt, very rarely goes in trousers now. I was terrified he would get bullied beyond belief, and there is some of that but credit to the school for keeping this to a minimum.

I don't know how seriously to take the OP here, but finding this thread shows me how sensitive this issue is and disheartened how some people feel about it. Life as a transgendered pupil can be h* because of how society views it.

tiredmum7. Indeed, and kudos to you and your partner for accepting that difference at such a young age and supporting your child. Her life (I assume from post your DC identifies as such) will be so much better for your parenting and that of the school.

I don't really care if the post is genuine (why doubt it rather than anything else, there's nothing pervy about it and its plausible) but also find the comments disheartening. Why shouldn't boys wear skirts, why should they have to reclassify them as 'kilts' or non-British dress to be acceptable? Nice to see some children allowed to express themselves without this being seen as hinting at future sexualities or being a 'worry'. My 3 year old knows better than this, when someone commented that his brother was dressed as a 'princess' he said 'no, he dress like king who wear dresses'.

Mind you, having been a man who worn skirts at secondary school to protest about his female friends not being allowed to wear trousers, I find it odd. The basic lesson I drew was that skirts were cold, movement constricting (especially on stairs) and impractical. But younger kids might think differently.

Maybe because the question is a genuine attempt to see why something that might be seen as an issue wasn't-by asking is it really unusual (or, more conspiratorially, by trying to see how people react and hence explain why it is unusual)?

But I can't speak for the OP, just commented because I found not just disbelief but hostility to the idea, and both are worries in terms of protecting my DSs' confidence in themselves should they ever wish to wear skirts to school.

Which they probably won't.