Reception PE in vest and pants?

[philbee]

Is this normal? We've had very little info about anything from the school, but info about uniform / PE kit says shorts etc. for older kids and reception will do PE in vest and pants. I feel like it's a bit undignified and am thinking of giving DD a little pair of shorts to wear. She can dress / undress herself. But I don't know if I'm just being daft. Friends (including primary teachers) seem a bit puzzles by it and think it's a bit outdated.

I wish ours did PE in vest and pants, it would be so much easier, ds always ends up putting his clothes back on on top his PE kit and comes out of school boiling.

I have taught in both- it hasn't been an issue- PE kit is the more usual.

Would you think it creepy to take children to a public swimming pool?

I was at primary school in the 90's and would have been mortified if we had done this as I was a bizarrely shy, nothing to do with how my mum was

My ds would probably not care if he had to do PE naked tbh!

having worked with pre-school children for years I would agree that not all children would be happy about this and its not fair to pressure them into it.

My dd's school doesn't expect reception aged children to get changed for PE. They just do it in their school clothes. DD did mention about 'people seeing her knickers' when she did forward rolls at the end of the year, and I'm glad that they'll get changed in Y1, but it was helpful to not have the added stress of changing clothes during her reception year.

I am interested in what you do about the swimming pool? They are wearing far less if they swim.

Well, I think underwear is exactly what is says, worn UNDER clothing. I wouldn't let DD run around just in tights either.

DD wears PE kit and as far as I know they all mastered getting dressed. a couple of mums actually said getting changed for PE helped their child learning how to dress/undress in time.

I am not prude, I actually found it strange that my friend ordered her DD to get dressed during a playmate when the girls run around naked after they felt cold in their wet swim suits.

But school is school.

I wouldn't allow it especially as ds at that age (and still does) had constipation & continence problems so his underpants were often marked.

Dd wears skimpy leotards but I wouldn't let her dance in her knickers.

Swimming costumes / trunks are appropriate for the swimming pool.

Underwear is not appropriate for running around at school.

Would you run around the gym in your underwear?

DC's don't wear vests.

It's probably because they take hours to get changed at that age, and sadly some of them can't actually do it themselves without help at all. They're all 4/5, what's the problem?

Would you run around the gym in your underwear? If I was four quite happily

Well I'm glad you'd have been happy with that but what about the children who were not?

Would you force them?

Doing PE in vest and pants was how we were 'punished' for forgetting our PE kit, in junior school.

(obv it wasn't a punishment, just viewed as one) I can't see it'd be a problem if everyone else was dressed the same though.

It's not creepy to wear a swimming suit to swim, in the water, as a swimming suit is NOT underwear.

Doesn't matter how long it takes for them to get changed, that's part of the learning process. Just because it makes life easier for the adults does not mean it's best for the children.

I did PE in my vest and knickers when I was 4/5; when I was 5/6 too I think. It was the 1960s though. I only embarrasing part was the fact that my mother made me wear an old fashioned liberty bodice over the top in the winter.

I really can't see a problem with it for the the under 7s. OTH I never had a problem with the children playing in their vests and knickers or going in the paddling pool in their knickers/pants and putting their leggings/skirts/shorts on and coming home with no knickers either.

To be perfectly honest I have far more problems with teenagers in bum cheek high shorts and cropped spaghetti tops in the middle of town or spray on flesh coloured leggings with an off the shoulder t shirt almost revealing a breast than I do with infants in vests and pants.

Don't see the problem at that age tbh.

I did this when I was in reception (admittedly around 1979!) and we all had to wear 'regulation' navy blue underwear. Guess this also made it easier for teachers to have spares in if anyone did have an accident.

Thanks all for your opinions. It is only for reception, they have PE kit from year one onwards. I do feel a bit odd about it, not the vest so much as the pants. Usually if DD wears a short skirt she'll have shorts underneath (ok, maybe this is my weird thing!) and I just don't want her to feel inhibited. She also doesn't wear a vest, she'd get too hot. I will talk to her teacher about what they do if no vest, maybe she can just wear her polo shirt, and maybe send the shorts and she can choose to wear them or not.

I did ask her her this evening, whether she'd be happy to do exercises in her pants and vest with her friends. 'yeah.' So maybe it is my problem. Just doesn't really seem appropriate. I visited a school last year where there was a class doing PE in their vests and pants and I felt like I'd be unhappy to think that visitors were seeing DD in her underwear.

I've taught reception for years and think its a bit odd,yes they take ages to get ready and it's frustrating sometimes but they need to learn how to do it. What do they do when they go outside for PE ?

We had PE clothes in P1 and i vividly remember one girl having to wear her underwear and being upset about it. I also remember the rest of us thinking it was unfair - and this was in the early 80's.

We used to do this when I was at school in reception, but we all had special big bottle green knickers for school (though no other uniform, strangely).

I remember being mortified though when I got to school and realised that I'd forgotten to put my knicks on when getting dressed . . .