Modesty shorts recommended for 4 year olds.....

[Mumdiva99]

I know these exist. I get it. And if a girl chooses them - then her choice. But recommending them? How have we got to this point....

(Apologies if this isn't the right board for this.)

metro.co.uk/2021/06/07/school-introduces-modesty-shorts-under-skirts-for-four-year-olds-14729680/?ito=facebook%7Csocial%7Cmetroukfacebook&fbclid=IwAR28Scyyvkd8FGKXAirwgyCZLZr8sUcwYfxWAqcxVyzMQnOex2BqAc0uGUY

My dd is a teen but when she was in primary she chose skirts and dresses. I don't know if it was a coincidence but in year 4 ish she started wanting to wear girl boxers rather than standard knickers. She was often happily upside down a lot of the time and this meant she was properly covered unlike many knickers for girls that gape.

Cartwheel shorts is a much better time and if these young girls are choosing to wear them then good.

I teach at a high school and most of our girls wear shorts under their skirts for their own benefit as the want to be comfortable (sitting cross legged on the grass, playing football at lunch etc). They can wear trousers but most prefer skirts with shorts

This isn’t a male-enforced ‘modesty’, this is about young girls wanting to protect their own dignity.

Well no - the angry reaction was to schools asking girls to wear them - supported by the leading police officer for child protection.

And who are these predators looking at them while they play at school - are they leering through the railings? Surely that's the main problem.

My 9yr old hates wearing dresses, she doesn’t mind the playsuits but they are a hassle when going to the toilet. She does like the Sainsburys shorts and shirt in the gingham dress material. Asda also sell the gingham shorts but not the shirts.

Most girls pants are cut so skimpily that they are unhygienic for sitting on the classroom carpets. All too often bare bits are on the floor.
Also cringily indecent if sitting cross-legged in skirts.
I wish something more approaching bloomers/cycling shorts was the norm. I think they are more comfortable and more hygienic.
I hate the term modesty though.

@marcipex surely you jist sit on your skirt on the floor. If it's too tight or too short to cover your knickers and legs the it probably isn't a good school skirt. Or just wear shorts to school.....

Does anyone have a free token to share this article? www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/let-daughter-wear-modesty-shorts-school-realised-damage-do/amp/

I was planning to get my 4 year old some shorts to go under dresses, but not for modesty reasons. She loves going on slides but in a dress her legs/bum stick to the slide and stop her going down and its uncomfortable.
Now I feel like I shouldn't get her any shorts in case people think I'm trying to force modesty on a 4yo.

I also love the look of these playsuits, I think they would get in the way less when trying to climb on the playground equipment

@chocorange1 you could either just buy her the shorts/trousers option of the school uniform. Or show her how to sit on the skirt.

I also wear dresses a lot and it wouldn’t occur to me to wear shorts with them

Do you do handstands and cartwheels during your lunch break at work??

No. But I'm not a child. A child of primary school age should be free to do cartwheels without concern about her knickers - as I did at that age. It's a shame that 8 is now the new 12. At secondary school I can understand wanting more coverage (although again, it's the boys that are the problem, not the girls). But for an 8 year old it's just sad that they can't play unencumbered.

@ChocOrange1 buy what you think she would like to wear most and would be most comfortable wearing.

I couldn't give a toss if anyone thinks I've bought DD shorts for 'modesty'. None of their business anyway.

And as we are getting onto the issue of uniform, almost all schools allow girls to wear trousers or shorts so they have the choice. To my mind they should also be allowing boys to wear skirts but many don't. Playsuits are the work of the devil! Such a nuisance when you need the loo.

Girl boxers sounds much the best idea. So a decent amount of coverage, like the boys get, in a looser fitting breathable fabric.

I don't agree with modesty anything for children.
I remember P.E. knickers and even they were appealing to the perverts.
However girls underwear seems to be unfit for purpose by the accounts on mnet, gapey and flimsy.
Not having girls, my question is why not stop buying the flimsy shite and buy short style knickers instead of knickers and shorts?
Surely underwear that serves its purpose is preferable to adding a fix in the form of implied immodesty?

@Mumdiva99 yes, many school dresses and skirts are too narrow for sitting cross legged on the floor, especially the cheaper brands.

I like the name 'cartwheel shorts'! There is nothing wrong with these shorts being available, or with girls wanting to wear them, or with parents suggesting them to their daughters if there is a practical reason for wanting them. There is a lot wrong with a school or any official or public body suggesting that girls should wear them.

The problem is the skimpiness of girl's underwear. My 7yo DD (who wears a combination of trousers, shorts and summer dresses to school, depending on how she feels and the weather) recently asked me why girl's pants don't cover your whole bum like boy's pants do. So now I'm on the hunt for some boxer shorts she finds acceptable!

She's started to become very aware of how girl's clothes are generally smaller and more revealing than boy's clothes and making her own choices accordingly. And don't get her started on the lack of pockets when it comes to girl's clothes

Anyway, my point is, if girl's underwear did a decent job of covering them up, 'modesty shorts' wouldn't need to be a thing.

Yeah and girls boxers are more expensive than the cheapest packs of little knickers you can buy. Id prefer to buy boxers for my DD although she's only 3 so I thought knickers might be easier for her in terms of independent toileting. But we arent well off by any means so I buy the cheapest big packs I can find whereas the cheapest girls boxers work out a lot more expensive everywhere I've looked. She still has accidents sometimes too so she needs loads of undies.

Underwear is precisely that - underwear. It’s bizarre to want kids to have the right to have their underwear visible. Clothes should be suitable for the activities of the day. I expect I’m going to be told I’m some sort of paedo for saying this.

Mandating is a problem (including in any situation where girls have the choice of “trousers, shorts, or dress/skirt with shorts” - it’s the implication that dress/skirt without shorts isn’t ok that’s problematic).

Girls choosing for themselves seems fine, although it doesn’t happen in a vacuum does it, and I’d be saddened if my DD felt her knickers showing when cartwheeling was a problem at 4 (she’s 3 now so this is a bit in the future here).

I think some of the reasons adult women might choose shorts under dresses don’t really apply to pre-pubescent girls. I sometimes do, because I’m quite active and accidentally flashing my knickers is socially a different thing to a child doing the same. When I’m a bit heavier it feels nicer because chub rub, but likewise that’s not generally an issue on a leaner younger frame.

The flimsiness of girls’ knickers has been a revelation to me - after a couple of packs I’ve now switched DD into boys’ pants. The fit looks so much more comfortable! Obviously I knew about flimsy girls’ shoes and so on, but I naively thought knickers would be reasonable FFS.

It seems odd to me that you buy underwear to cover the vulva and bottom and then more underwear to cover the underwear. Presumably then another layer of underwear to cover that second layer of underwear? How about a number of layered petticoats and crinolines?
I don’t have girls but if I did I think I would just buy underwear that did its job of covering the private parts in a substantial manner, or have them wear shorts instead of a skirt.
Why are small girl’s knickers skimpy enough to arouse men and boys to the extent that they need to wear larger pants to cover the small pants?

I'm not sure about this, my DSD comes over in what I consider very short little dresses, she is almost 7. My DP often carries her fireman style over one shoulder when in town and only last week I told him to stop flashing her knickers.

I only have boys so haven't had to navigate this myself but I don't think it's appropriate for anyone to be flashing their underwear by school age, and given at this age they are mostly spending their lunch breaks cartwheeling and doing handstands I think it's a good solution.