Too cold for shorts ?

Oh yes, the stockings, the awful Lisle stockings!Which went with the awful gymslip.How lucky are today's girls with uniform.

In Summer it was white ankle socks with the awful serge dress.Ankle socks at 16!

Do you remember the liberty bodice, the suspenders and the wool stockings?

It would appear they would thatbags by eldest DGD (9) refuses to wear tights (or trousers) to school preferring to wear rolled down socks all year round. Her sister is the opposite and wears thick wooly tights. My DGD brought a note home telling her parents that the school did not think rolled down socks were appropriate for the winter. My DDiL wrote back to say;

A) DD is a very intelligent child and is in the top group for every subject therefore I am confident that if she was feeling cold she would be sensible enough to wear the tights that are provided for her at home.

B) The socks that she chooses to wear do not start their day rolled down!

No reply from school and no further notes.

My husbands( who admits to being 69) generation, can remember not wearing long trousers until he was 9 or 10. Where is the problem? We are talking about the days though when children had only just stopped being stuffed up chimneys!!

Seriously though, staff in schools are so afraid of being accused of lack of child care these days that they are super sensitive to any criticisms. Therefore any child who is not conforming to the norm has to be reigned in.

The boy sounds as if he is an individual, hurrah!!, these are the guys who will run our country and look after us in years to come and we need people who can think "out of the box" And if that means wearing shorts in winter, well..........

How absurd - in the 50s my primary school uniform for boys was short trousers; it wasn't till they went to secondary that they were allowed proper trousers. And all our posties here, both male and female, wear shorts all year round. The other day in the snow I asked the postwoman whether they were given a choice, and her answer was that since it always rains here, the long trousers take so long to dry that shorts are practical and comfortable. If the child is happy, well-nourished and likes his shorts, unless there is a specific uniform requirement for long trousers, the school should stop interfering!

It's the men still wearing shorts that really bother me - Why? It is undoubtedly very cold. I still find builders wearing tee shirts when it is far too cold and film crews never wear anything other than tee shirts and shorts all year round, outside or inside - madness!

I am reminded of an outing with 1 year old granddaughter constantly removing her coat on a freezing winter day. It gets you in the end though. My brother in law still goes round in shorts at 54. When he was standing supporting his daughter at lacrosse last weekend though, and the match was postponed for an hour because one field was too icy......he may just have wondered if that was the best attire.

How short are these shorts? And does he wear long socks? [worried]

I don't think we should always give in to their 'wants'. Sooner or later he will have to conform, or run into trouble.

My 28 year old son had to wear shorts at his first primary school throughout the 1990s. Long trousers were forbidden.

When I was at primary school in the 1960s boys were laughed at for wearing long trousers, by the male teacher! This was in the last year so they were 11 years old.

Gillybob Good for that mum.
The schools are all geared up to recognise possible child neglect.
The problem is they don't always get it right either way.

vis Daniel Pelka
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-24106823

Where there was a lack of enough good professional nosiness .

Damned if you do damned if you don't get "nosy."

As a retired reception/infant teacher I spent many hours putting on coats doing up zips and buttons, hats,gloves and scarfs. Now I am wondering should I have just let them out to play? However, schools can be cold places! In reception the children are expected (even in coldest weather) to do some learning outside. This means the outside door is often open and the classroom ( well my classroom was cold) is cold. Once a child is cold they take a long time to warm up and are usually very upset. It is not just 15 minutes of playtime it is the hour outside at lunchtime play that is a worry. The children do not run round all the time! Yes some children never feel the cold while others do, if they are not feeling well they will also feel the cold.

The receptionist needs to be spoken to about her attitude and response to parents. She is not the person that should be passing on judgements that she has no knowledge of child/parent/circumstances etc.

When we saw the postman in his shorts we went into dress codes of childhood,remembering chapped knees and thighs.
I was moaning to my husband about the parents that send their young boys to school in the hottest days in long trousers. But perhaps it their choice.
X

Unacceptable comment from anyone, let alone the receptionist. My 7-year-old GS doesn't feel the cold and it's impossible to force him into warm clothing. He's healthy so have given up worrying.

He should dress as he pleases, within the school's dress code. If he's getting teased by the other children and asks for trousers then he should have them.

Maybe the school has a policy to stop individuality, in which case it's time for a change of school!

Or maybe they just asked him if he was OK, and the receptionist was a bit out of line.

I read the original headline as 'too OLD for shorts'! Well I definitely am!

Lovely word 'nesh'. I think it's Mancunian?

As an alternative view back in the mid 70s I was driving to work, it was already a very hot day and therer were some girls in a very posh private school uniform still wearing their blazers and hats on their way to school.
Not acceptable either really.

Thank you to all for your reassuring responses.

Just to add there is no school dress policy except for it to be in the school colours and that shorts /long trousers for boys, skirts, trousers or dresses for girls. So he's well within policy ( especially as he wore similar shorts all summer .

To answer Jingl they are knee length shorts ( I would call them Bermuda length) and sorry no long socks but pulled up ordinary socks( which makes me think Brit abroad ) So Im guessing theres about a 6 inch gap between sock and short.

I agree they shouldn't always get their own way but my advice to my DDs has always been pick your battles because you cant win them all, so does she really want to make the wearing of shorts the battleground?

He's definitely not getting teased , he has a group of little friends who seem to spend their playground time jumping in puddles and doing superhero type activities ! Shorts obviously assist this

My DD has arranged an appointment with the HT , to reassure them that he is not abused or neglected and to mention the receptionists comments as that was most distressing to her. It'll be interesting to know the schools point of view first hand .

Definitely stick to his "guns". All boys wore shorts until they started secondary school years ago, never did them any harm!

If it is his choice I see no reason why the school should think they know better. I assume this secretary only really intimated that his mother was bad rather than saying that outright, if she did, I would be making a formal complaint.

With outside classrooms these days children should have the choice of free flow play, i.e., they may stay outside virtually the whole time if that is their choice, staff need to set up activities outside every day and be ready for that and dressed appropriately themselves.

So long as his leggies legs aren't getting chapped.

I agree with everyone who says the receptionist was a bit out of line.
And I can remember the shorts, skirts and kneesocks, but also the grazed knees - I've still got some of the scars.

My husband's knees and the craters thereon are a joy to behold (not).

Took DGD to school today and hooray she was wearing hat, furry gilet and tights -

Isn't it odd the way old-fashioned rules on dress have now had a 100% sea change? Shorts used to be mandatory and now forbidden - surely all we need is a hefty dose of common sense?

Grazes heal; torn trousers don't. When DS1's trousers caught on a nail sticking out from the school building, the wound on his leg healed quickly - though a tetanus shot was needed. The trousers were impossible to mend but I did get compensation from the County Council who admitted liability! I he'd been wearing shorts, they would have been intact.

Obviously the manufacturers of children's clothes want them to be in trousers because shorts are not outgrown or ripped to pieces as quickly. We've all been brainwashed!

There is still a school round here that insists on shorts, they are allowed long trousers to go in but must remove these in the cloakroom. How many of them put these on at break time isn't known. Not many I bet. As long as he is happy and his legs are Ok (I have seen some awful chapped knees and legs rubbed sore by welly boots) I think it's fine. The receptionist should be made to apologise, she's there to do admin not to criticise parents.

Our postman wears shorts in all weathers perhaps he just wants to show off his lovely legs and he's looking fit on it.

Good for your GS. One of my GDs prefers socks to tights so she's bare-legged too and manages all right.

Boo to Bossy Britches receptionists