I'm the mom of an only boy, and I must admit I'm startled when I see little girls playing and there is a lot of underwear going on. Not grossed out, not upset, nothing bad...I just feel like I should avert my eyes, which is a weird feeling when it comes to happy little girls playing. I teach my son he can't have his undies hanging out, and he has internalized that and won't even play under the sprinkler in his undies anymore - I wish he were less uptight about it. But now it feels weird to be anti-public undies for boys, but let those same boys see girls undies. Its just...weird.

My dd always wear bike shorts under her dress and skirts. She is 4.

No time to read all the replies, but, when I attended Catholic school growing up, all of us wore shorts (when we were older, usually men's boxer shorts, which became some sort of bizarre fashion statement) under our uniform skirts. It was just practical to keep our underwear covered and still allow us to be active in our skirts.

I have a 3yo DD, and I buy a bunch of bike shorts in various colors from Children's Place for her to wear under her skirts.

I rarely if ever send DDs to class with just a dress or skirt because if the ease of skinned knees. I hated skinning my knees at recess in school. We had uniform dresses.

I think this is a bizarre request myself, in light of the fact that your daughter is THREE, but seems like one of those things to just follow along with.

FWIW, my daughter's preschool has not mentioned this (she is 2), but from a practical standpoint, I tend to put on shorts/bloomers/leggings under all her skirts/dresses anyways. They play outside a lot and with the cooler weather, I think it is just more comfortable for her.

For those saying you do it b/c you are scared of all the old male perverts...wow...you guys need a hobby or something. Your paranoia is just plain unhealthy.

Op, as for your potty training concern, she can manage pulling down / up underwear and shorts/pants. What do you think all the boys have to do ?

Some girls skirts come with built-in shorts. So do some women's skirts (see Athleta, for example.). I often suggest to my 3.5-year-old that she wear shorts under her dress. I don't want her flashing her undies (for the same reasons you, OP, don't want your DD lifting her skirt) and I want her to focus on being active and learning, not worrying about whether her undies are showing during "circle time" or when hanging from the monkey bars. I don't see this as being overly conservative and it's not a big deal. In our culture, people don't show their underwear, and I see wearing shorts under a dress or skirt as helping my daughter meet that social norm without having to pay a lot of attention to it at her young age.

Seems perfectly normal to me. Modesty? Sure. Little girls sometimes get their panties pulled up crooked or whatever. Also practical. At my niece's preschool skirts weren't allowed without shorts or leggings under them. Although their preschool teachers also insisted kids sit properly.. boys and girls. If they were on a chair, feet on the floor. If they were on the floor they sat cross legged with their skirts smoothed across their knees. If the skirt was too short/tight to do that it wasn't appropriate for school.

Good practice for later on when your dd's school may very well have a dress code you will need to comply with, and teach her to comply with as well.

seems fine as a request just so kids can play easily on the playground. our school doesn't want kids to wear crocs so that they can run around safely. for modesty does seem kind of odd.

Here's just one cute company out of a zillion that make things like this:

http://www.monkeybarbuddies.com/

Seems like an absolutely normal request to me too, OP. I'm the mom of a 4.5yo girl. I thought every mom put their DD in bloomers, bike shorts, or leggings under skirts/dresses. I know we do and it appears as if every little girl in DD's classes so far have also. It just makes life that much easier. She can run around and play and be as athletic as she wants. Get with the program, OP.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Normal and required at our K-8.
DD has normalized it and now wears shorts under all dresses.

Yes, but again - you're talking about older kids. The OP is asking about what is normal for a 3 year old class. Our private 2-5 preschool has never requested something like this.

Oh, sorry, I didn't realize only parents of 3 year olds were allowed to respond.

I think some of you are reading too much into this. It has nothing to do with sexuality, imho. I put capri leggings under dd's dresses not for modesty but because her legs stick to the slide and she's had some bad falls in the playground and leggings have kept her knees from getting badly bruised. It never entered my mind that someone might care if they see her underpants.

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.

This is what I do as well. If you dont want to double up you can just use "boyshorts". I get mine at H&M. That said, if you see no need for it - then ignore the request, its not like they will kick you out if you dont comply.

Seems normal to me. It's part of the dress code at my daughter's DCPCS.

She loves dresses, and she's too tall and skinny to wear most pants with anything approaching a decent fit. But, she also loves to play and tumble and climb. At age 5, she knows We Don't Show Our Underwear, so it she weren't wearing shorts, she would sit out all the fun kid stuff she wants to do.

I saw something at Target a while back called "playground pants". Thin and short and somewhat fitted; seemed pretty practical. For now, I'm still able to find skirts with shorts built in a lot of the time.