Growing up

In the interests of research I looked at the legs of the secondary school pupils on their way home as I went on the primary school run. All the girls bar one were wearing opaque black tights and it was a very hot day. The exception was wearing short black socks which looked surprisingly good. Could not make out how smooth her legs were at a distance
Could it be that the GD actually wants tights (NOT woolly ]rather than short socks? At the age of 14 I " persuaded" my mother to allow me to wear make up by going out with talcum powder on my face. I must have looked like a banshee and she relented.

Purpledaffodil thanks for doing some research I hope you were discreet , GD actually asked for short socks rather than long ones/tights we live very near to her High school and all the kids walk past our house so I have also discreetly checked out the fashion of the girls making their way to school and by far the majority wear short black socks so she is definitely in the gang as it were.

Isn't that interesting Tanith ?There are obviously local variations on Year 7 fashion . I couldn't believe those girls in their thick tights when the temperatures were in the high70s. The rest of the population were wearing shorts and strappy tops, or cropped trousers and short sleeves if they were a granny on a school run.. Good luck with the shaved legs, it is a prickly issue.

personally I would let her shave her legs . Why put her through the possible agony of being teased for having hairy legs? Children can be cruel and young girls can be particularly bitchy ( even at such a young age) . If it were my DGD(she's 10 so could easily be her ) I would buy her some good safety lady razors and some gentle foam snd show her how to do it properly . I was bullied at school for all sorts of silly things ( because my parents insisted that their way was right and everyone else was wrong) and I would never put my child or grandchild through that .

My 12-year-old granddaughter shaves her legs. (I think she also plucks her eyebrows, although not much and not very well.). I'm not sure how old absentdaughter was when she started shaving her legs, but I am pretty sure that I was about 12 myself. It's not like demanding plastic surgery, a tattoo, or piercings. Sometimes it's easier to go with the flow until there is something important.

At the same time, absentdaughter lived with the mantra, "You don't have to do what everyone else does and you don't have to do things they way everyone else does them." She didn't and, in some ways, made life very difficult for herself, but she has turned out okay.

I don't think it's a big deal. There will certainly be bigger issues than this as she gets older. My eldest granddaughter shaved her legs from early on,she is quite dark and was indeed very hairy.Allowing her to feel ok about herself over this may mean she will have less problems when the answer has to be no.

I can remember the humiliation as clear as day when all my friends walked round with clean legs whilst I had to wear short socks with tarantula legs. In the end, despite the fact it meant incurring my very strict mother's wrath, I bought a razor and took the plunge. It was such a relief.
If your GD has light fine hair you can get an abrasive glove which would take the worst off.

When "everyone else" was wearing American tan stockings, DM bought me a pair of sturdy beige ones with SEAMS down the back because they would last longer. Oh yes they did last forever because I was too embarrassed to wear them. Going with the flow over non life threatening issues is the best way I agree.

Woah!!!
I used to have jet black hair on my head,which is now grey, but I still have more hair on my legs than my husband has on his chin.....
Shaved hair on legs grows back stubbly and ugly. An exfoliating mitt or epilator is definitely the way forward, unless tights will fill the need.

Please, please go with the advice to let her be like the others, but also buy her an epilator, particularly as her hair is fine. The cheapest are only £20 or so by Phillips or Boots like this one and she will love you for ever, especially because her legs won't itch when she goes into tights. My daughter still thanks me for buying her one at the same age, nearly 20 years ago!

We on the east coast are the same as you Tanith all the girls wear short black socks with Doc Martins and DMs make sandal style for the summer Ours only wear black tights in the dead of winter Oh and its not cool to wear a coat even in winter unless its absolutely pouring then it used to be a superdry but superdry are 'naff' now so I m told.

Oh BlueBelle don't tell me about the 'no coats' rule, where the heck did that come from? I see kids on frosty/snowy/wet Winter mornings walking along in shirt sleeves, how they don't get hypothermia I don't know, and sitting at school in wet clothes all day? They probably have sweaters and coats rolled up in their bags as soon as they leave home as I can't imagine any Mother letting her child leave for school in shirt sleeves in the dead of Winter.
I never knew they made DM sandals but I can't see those being allowed.