Girls not allowed to wear trousers

[mummybear701]

My children are going to a new primary as we are relocating (work reasons). I was aghast the uniform said girls can't wear trousers and have queried this, but the response was yes that is the rule. Daughter is not happy as thinks skirts are too girly, not just cold and impractical. She wears a skirt or dress about 3/4 times a year on average for special events only. Leggings aren't allowed either even under skirts. Who would think this still happens in 2014?

I am going to discuss it again with the HT and would like some advice. Our dilemma is the school by all accounts is very good academically and allowing children to develop, so the uniform may be a small price for the 2 years she will have.

Please don't say primaries cant enforce uniform. They can and will one way or the other.

Frikadellen- I am the same, I hate wearing trousers, I find them very restrictive, unless we were talking about something like tracksuit bottoms which I would only wear for exercise. Luckily I work in an office now and am free to choose what I wear as long as its smart. I used to wear a dress when I worked as a midwife, except in theatre when I wore scrubs, as I was most comfortable and unrestricted, even if all of my colleagues chose the tunic and trousers option.

I'd much rather my DD wore trousers than had to cover herself in sun cream every day. DD1 has no choice though - has to wear shortsleeved mini dress with gym shorts underneath so the boys can't look up her dress and see her pants, while said boys wear long trousers and long shirts, preserving whatever modesty they may have and protecting themselves from the mid-summer scorching weather.
DD2 wears the same as the boys every day of the year. She looks very smart in it too.

Well you can think tey look awful all you like. Your kids can wear whatever they like too.

But surely your fashion opinion is irrelevant and there should be the choice!

I loath skirts and tights, it was my biggest bug bear at school.

I can't believe it still happens. Only girls private schools were stupid uniforms here.

And seriously, who looks at a primary school child and thinks "you look awful"

All the boys wear shorts & short sleeve shirts in summer, I've never seen one in long trousers & long sleeved shirt, so boys need sun creaming also!! Would boil in our school if all covered up in summer.

Swannery, are their arms not exposed in summer wearing a short sleeved shirt with the trousers? You are suggesting a girl shouldn't wear a dress as its a skin cancer risk. Don't the boys wear shorts and short sleeve shirt in summer? A child needs a certain degree of sunshine for vitamin d.

Apart from the fact that I agree that this is wrong in principle I can't be the only parent whose DD's tights fall down uncomfortably all day and cause her to trip up can I?

To all the mums of boys looking up girls skirts tell them to pack it in! Why should a girl feel pressured into wearing a pair of trousers in case your boy decides he's going to lift her skirt or look up it??? It would be wildly inappropriate for him to do that as an adult or ten, as it is as a 5/6/7/8 yr old. That's your responsibility to make sure that he knows it is wrong, not my daughters to wear a skirt so that's he's not tempted to look!

Tights do often fall down and wearing tights everyday can increase a girl's chances of getting thrush.

Short sleeves and shorts/skirts that bare legs are fine but there should be choice, if it's fine for boys to wear shorts and trousers then it's fien for girls as well.

And yes boys shouldn't be looking up skirts/dresses but girls should be able yo wear shorts or trousers if they want to.

I hate tights!!! We were never allowed trousers at secondary school til sixth form.

Then they told you off for long skirts.

Frickin freezing in winter!

Oh and it's not just about kids looking up skirts. When they are swinging from climbing frames or doing hand stands you see them without looking

Actually, the boys at DD1's school wear long trousers and long sleeved white shirts. The same uniform summer and winter. She is in secondary. At DD2's primary school she wears long trousers and a long shirt all year. Cotton shirts and trousers are cool and protect kids from the sun. You only need about 10 mins of sunshine a day for Vitamin D, and you get it in food too. Both my DDs wear a sun hat in the summer.

It shouldn't matter though if they are swinging upside down and showing off their knickers hey are still covered. A boy of the same age isn't going to have sexual thoughts just because a fellow 8yr old showed off her hello kitty pants at him, in the same way an 8yr old girl isn't going to think twice about an 8yr old boy in his boxers/pants. Its the adults making an issue out of it.

Yes I wouldn't allow dd to walk down the street lifting her skirt to show off her pants, but if she was in a park/field/garden doing cartwheels or swinging upside down on the climbing frame, so what? She's not flashing, she's playing.

I realise they are covered. But you were saying about boys looking up skirts. And I was just pointing out that they don't necessarily have to be looking in order to have seen them. That through play the pants are in show and the bits haven't been necessary seeking to look at them.

But it's irrelevant anyway because girls should be able to wear trousers should they wish

Bits? Ffs boys

Whether or not some people think girls don't look 'nice' in school uniform trousers is completely irrelevant. Why is it a primary aged girl's job to look 'nice'? Her job is to learn, to play, to grow up to be an intelligent, caring human being. Does wearing trousers interfere with any of those things? Erm, no.

Utterly ridiculous that this is still a discussion point.

Trousers are now considered an everyday part of a female wardrobe, even if she chooses not to wear any.

I hated having to wear a skirt at school. Too cold in winter and mother fucking chub rub in the summer.

The main reasons for Spring and Autumn being my preferred time of year.

I hated wearing a skirt at school and am still in trousers or shorts most days now.

If I had daughters I'd be shouting for their right to choose trousers if they wish. In fact, if our school were 'skirts only', I'd shout about it too.

Just a thought but surely you'd learn better if you're comfortable, wouldn't you?

It's ridiculous girls not being allowed to wear trousers as part of their school uniform. I'm sure the the female teachers would take issue with being told they couldn't wear trousers for work. Even the most conservative professions, medicine and the law, allow women professionals to wear trousers these days. What sort of message are schools sending to young girls when they persist in insisting on outmoded and sexist codes of conduct re. Uniform ?

Even the most conservative professions, medicine and the law, allow women professionals to wear trousers these days. What sort of message are schools sending to young girls when they persist in insisting on outmoded and sexist codes of conduct re. Uniform?

^^ This. A thousand times this. How can any mother of girls not see this?

I agree that all schools should give girls the option of wearing trousers. There's no reason on earth not to allow it.

That said, I don't agree that skirts/dresses are necessarily uncomfortable or restrictive. When DD1 started school, I was all set to buy trousers for her- but she refused. Both in and out of school she will almost always choose skirts/dresses, and has no problem running/climbing/jumping etc. She's only Y1 though, so I don't think she's ever even thought about whether her knickers might be seen.

I have a DD who much prefers skirts and dresses to trousers, but she sometimes does prefer trousers in the winter, and this week she's wearing her older brother's outgrown shorts for school as they're better for playing in the adventure playground.

There are two girls in her class who will not wear anything girly, at all. And why should they if they're not comfortable in them.

I left seniors in 1984 and girls weren't allowed to wear trousers at any of my schools, which I hated as I often preferred to wear trousers. I thought those days of sexism at school were well and truly over, but it seems I was wrong.

Interestingly, the senior school my children will be going to has changed their uniform and now all pupils must wear trousers, skirts aren't allowed at all. (Probably because most looked more like belts! )

Girls should be allowed trousers and boys should be allowed shorts. DS's school don't allow shorts which I think is totally impractical on hot days like today.