Preschool wants DD to wear shorts under her skirts/dresses. Normal?

[Anonymous]

OP your teacher is probably requiring this because not every 3 year old is modest or perfectly potty trained and neither are the boys. Sanitary issue.

[Anonymous]

What a long post- all I want to ask is why all of the posters (although I skipped pages 5-8) are so fanatical about putting skirts OVER the shorts. Is it so weird for active girls to just WEAR SHORTS? I really don't get this whole discussion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG I can't imagine DD NOT wearing shorts under skirts.

She would get rashes, mulch, dirt, sand, god-knows-what in her vulva!!!

Doesn't your daughter sit on the ground? Doesn't she go down the slide? How do you protect the area with just that pretend underwear they have in 2T, 3T sizes?

Dear God - what a weird thing to write!

What is WRONG with you? You'd think the kids are grinding their privates into the dirt! WTF is your issue?

And yes, I agree with the school's rule. However, at three, I had my daughter in shorts, skorts, stretch pants and jeans - NOT a dress or skirt.

WTF is wrong with YOU? My daughter sits in the sand, on the ground, she pours mulch/sand in the bucket placed between her legs she carries it using her skirt/shirt/dress, she gets it between her fingers, under her nails, in her scalp. What's wrong with a child having fun and getting dirty?

Maybe your child is a blob and just sits there watching others and doesn't know how to play that's why you think getting dirty while playing is so "weird".

I was much happier having more of a barrier than those little panties on my little girl. No boy is sitting down right on his underpants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I was shocked to see this old post at the top of the page today! As an update: we started buying monkey bar buddies shorts to wear under dresses and I realized (first time mom) that it is much more comfortable and appropriate for DD to wear shorts under dresses. I was just turned off by the way the preschool framed it as a sexual issue. I was even more turned off when the preschool had a "parade day" and they did my DD's hair with hairspray and put bright blush and hot pink lipstick on her (a 3 yo) and instructed the kids to sashay around the playground in the parade. We moved her to a montessori shortly thereafter and she's been happy (with underwear covered) ever since.

WHAAAT? Do you live in pageant country? In any case I would be livid!

Well, yes. We moved to Texas. I think the hairspray thing and kiddie make-up may also be cultural, as I see that look on a lot of little girls here in the Mexican national community.

I knew it! (NP here.) Frankly, I'm not surprised that the teacher connected the underpants of a 3yo to sexuality and then painted her and instructed her to sashay in a parade. Wow. On a different note, I remember wearing skirts and dresses everywhere, because I loved them, and playing kickball and doing cartwheels. I didn't wear shorts and didn't care who saw my underpants. I'm not sure at what age that changed, but I'm glad no one shamed me about my underwear. They just ignored it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I was much happier having more of a barrier than those little panties on my little girl. No boy is sitting down right on his underpants.

No, the boy is wearing shorts. Why is your little girl wearing dresses to the playground?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I was much happier having more of a barrier than those little panties on my little girl. No boy is sitting down right on his underpants.

No, the boy is wearing shorts. Why is your little girl wearing dresses to the playground?

NP. Because... she likes dresses, and I believe that if an outfit can be made appropriate (e.g. by the addition of shorts, or a jacket, or something like that) then allowing my child to choose her own clothes is a developmentally appropriate means of encouraging making decisions and fostering a sense of independence.

Why do preschoolers and young elementary students wear any of the often crazy not matching outfits they wear? Because picking one's own clothes is normal at around that age, and understanding practical considerations or having fashion sense is not yet.

I don't allow formal clothes on days where she'll be doing anything messy, or superhero costumes anywhere they'd be rude and distracting, or old gross stained clothes away from home, but within reason she picks what she will wear and I make it work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Why do preschoolers and young elementary students wear any of the often crazy not matching outfits they wear? Because picking one's own clothes is normal at around that age, and understanding practical considerations or having fashion sense is not yet.

The same can be said for wearing dresses and not worrying about if your underwear is showing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Why do preschoolers and young elementary students wear any of the often crazy not matching outfits they wear? Because picking one's own clothes is normal at around that age, and understanding practical considerations or having fashion sense is not yet.

The same can be said for wearing dresses and not worrying about if your underwear is showing.

Possibly true, depending on how you look at it. This is a very individual sort of issue and just because one way of approaching the question of appropriate dress for young kids works for my family that doesn't mean it's the right approach for another family. In our family, we consider underwear and parts of the body covered by underwear to be very private and not something we need to show or see in public. I think this stance makes the whole boundaries/appropriateness thing very black & white and clear to my young girls; obviously we will probably need to get more nuanced with these types of rules as they get older.

[Anonymous]

Make your DD dress in shorts and capris if you do not want her to wear shorts under her dress.

I do not find this an odd request. It protects your daughter.

[Anonymous]

OP, I only perused some of the pages of responses. Personally, my 6 yr old DD has always worn bike shorts under her skirts and dresses. At younger ages she would sit with her legs spread out and her underwear would show--so if she sits on the grass or dirt there is little barrier (and can you imagine getting wood chips from the playground in YOUR underwear. Just put her in bike shorts under her dresses/skirts and move on. OR, if you like, use the bike shorts and swing tops. It's really such a small issue that you have made into a HUGE thing.

[Anonymous]

I also want kids to wear shorts under their dresses. Boys don't just wear a shirt and their underpants do they? Of course not, they wear shorts. What's the difference with little girls wearing a pair of shorts under their dresses. I thin the preschool is being perfectly normal.

Not so old fashioned grandma

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I also want kids to wear shorts under their dresses. Boys don't just wear a shirt and their underpants do they? Of course not, they wear shorts. What's the difference with little girls wearing a pair of shorts under their dresses. I thin the preschool is being perfectly normal.

Not so old fashioned grandma

Grandma, you're still a bit old fashion if you'd resurrect a thread from 2012.

[Anonymous]

Uhhh. I can still see Johnny’s underwear up his shorts. Shouldn’t blue also need to wear bike shorts under his shorts to cover his under wear

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always put my girls in shorts under their dresses or skirts. I have two girls ages 4 and 6, so I don't think their request is unreasonable. I just explain to my dds that if they want to climb up ladders, do the monkey bars, play in the sand, it is better for them to have shorts on. I don't think it's that hard for your dd to pull undies and shorts back up. My dd was in preschool last year, and we did the same then when she was 3.

+1

I don't think this is odd at all. After my DD outgrew dresses with bloomers we switched to bike shorts. Call it what you like. I find it gross myself to see 3,4,5,6 yr old girls sitting in dresses legs spread with their underwear showing.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Make your DD dress in shorts and capris if you do not want her to wear shorts under her dress.

I do not find this an odd request. It protects your daughter.

+1