Cinnamon Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 If anyone else out there is the parent of teenage girls,or boys for that matter,do you all find it a constant battle to get them to wear things that are functional,when they prefer fashionable? My eldest,who is 14 isn't too bad. She favours a sort of geeky rock chick look anyhow, & wears trousers & lace up shoes to school,& jeans,music T's & cute little waistcoats out of school. My youngest however is a nightmare She wears shortish skirts to school with no tights,whatever the weather. She won't entertain wearing her school sweatshirt unless its below 0oc, & now insists on wearing these silly ballet flats to school too Not very practical for the walk up the hill to the school bus in the rain........ Apparantly only the worst sort of geek (ie,her sister) wears Clarkes shoes to school. I have to shoehorn her into a coat,although she will wear a scarf & gloves. She has also dyed her gorgeous coppery brown hair black I know she is just expressing herself but I do worry about her skinny little bare legs in this weather! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 It'll pass Cinnamon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 My two sons both refuse to wear school sweatshirsts, despite the fact it's still in the minuses when they leave for school in the morning, and have been seen outside playing football at night this week in football strips (short sleeves and SHORTS) when the temperature was -5. I've given up trying to get them to wear anything warmer - if they catch their death of cold, then it's their fault. Duncan especially should know better, given that he's prone to bouts of pnuemonia, but all the girlies come and watch them play football, and it wouldn't be the done thing to be seen playing football without the appropriate gear on. Caitlin, on the other hand, is far more practical still, and as long as it's pink, she'd wear bin bag if i told her to. she turns five soon, so i doubt this attitude will last much longer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen&Lee Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 Aaahh those were the days! Quite a few years ago... my mum used to insist on sensible Clarks shoes for school, I had one particular pair that I hated, so I used to change into my nice shoes on the corner of our street I'd put them on to walk a cross the fields home so I could get them muddy - got away with it for quite a while - until the day I lost the carrier bag with them in at school Helen. Sorry Cinnamon no help whatsoever Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 My eldest is 10 and wouldn't be seen dead in her school coat... Most afternoons when she comes out, she'll be carrying the coat, no matter what the weather is, come rain or subzero temperatures, she strides out with a determined expression on her face, straight to the teacher at the gate, who invariably stops her and demands that she puts the coat on, which said daughter then does in a deliberately slow manner, sighing at every stage, then walks out of the school gate towards me, stops the moment she is out of the school, two steps from the teacher at the most, and then puts her bag down and, again deliberately slowly, takes the coat off... If any teacher asks me, I just tell them 'if she gets cold enough she'll put it on'... I like to pick my battles, and this one just doesn't seem worth fighting about... She has the coat, can be warm if she wants, so if she really needs it on she will put it on... I remember a very painful experience the other way though, when I was roughly 14 or 15... it had snowed a bit, and my mum (with the best intentions I am sure) insisted that I wore snow boots to school... I was not very fashion conscious, but that was too much even for me... I was horrified and protested all I could, but she yelled and shouted until I put them on. And wait... they were not even my own snow boots, I didn't have any that still fitted, they were hers!!! The kind even my grandmother would have been ashamed to wear... My mum always wore 'older clothes', never pretty things, so the thought of having to wear any of her things, but especially her shoes, at the age of 14, felt like the ultimate nightmare... My own shoes were normal leather winter shoes, it's not like I wanted to go to school wearing sandals... I wonder if my mum still remembers that day too and what she thinks of it now... I still promise myself never to make my kids wear anything that will make them feel THAT embarassed all day long... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 I remember my mother appearing at the school gates when I was about 14, after some particularly heavy snow, and presenting me with a pair of bright yellow wellies to put on, much to the sniggering delight of the lucious Callum Morton, whom I really fancied. I was mortified (yellow wellies, with draw-strings around the top aren't really my 'thing'), and it still makes me blush now when i think about it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 I don't seem to teach a single girl who doesnt' wear those ballet pumps. As for the skirts - in this school you get a good look at their behinds as you follow them up the stairs yet "Ooops, word censored!"ody cracks down on it but woe betide any kid who hasn't got their top button done up! Never mind their ties are halfway down their chests In the school I used to teach at skirt lenght was always picked up - isolation if it wasn't long enough after being unrolled and top buttons didn't have to be done up but ties had to be neat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 Our skirts were measured at school - they had to be no shorter than 1" below the knee. That's showing my age! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronze Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 I got in trouble at school because of my skirt. I never rolled it up or anything I couldnt be bothered with how I looked at school, there were no fit lads there anyway . On my last term though one of the stricter teachers stopped me as he had been on a crackdown on school skirt lengths. I got given a detention. My Mum went in aand complained which isnt something she would normally do. She pointed out that I had grown a lot recently (I'm 5ft 11) and that she wasn't going to buy me a new skirt for one final term. He had to give in in the end. He didn't apologise to me though for not beliveing me when I said I hadnt taken it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted December 20, 2007 Author Share Posted December 20, 2007 Its ridiculous at my girls school The rules are supposed to be quite strict - no coloured scarves, skirts no shorter than 2 inches over the knee,black shoes,no boots,no patterned tights. But some children just get away with wearing whatever they like Cleos friend had a hair dying disaster last week when copper streaks came out pink, & she was made to stay in the language black for 2 days until she could get to a hairdresser. It wasn't even that pink But other girls were parading around wearing teeny tiny little skating skirts & Ugg boots to school Devon got told off for wearing a dark teal coloured coat the other week when the rules on uniform say any dark colour,but I went there & saw several girls in white puffa coats. Drives me mad it does,as she now won't wear this very expensive very warm coat in the fear of being told off again I blame 'Waterloo Road' for a lot of it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 What's Waterloo Road? Rosie is still at primary school and some of the year 6 girls there turn up dressed like lap dancers! Luckily Rosie is a bit of a prude and wouldn't dream of dressing like that, but it does make me worried for them.... what growing up have they got left to do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 My girls are still at prep school, but in two years my oldest will start senior school... she is already moaning about the uniform there... the fact is at the prep school they have a choice to wear blue trousers if they want to, rather than the blue tartan skirt... My girl wouldn't be seen dead in a skirt (the trouble she gives me on 'formal' days like carol concert and foundation days, when the skirt is compulsory!!!), so she wants to have the option to wear trousers at the senior school too, which I understand is not allowed... To some extent my daughter has a point... although I'm sure she is motivated by wanting her own way rather than rational reasoning, I can't see why teenage girls would have to wear skirts (and they're not long skirts, I understand many girls shorten them, but even the longest ones I see are still what I would call above the knee) if they feel uncomfortable about it... This being said, I refused to wear a skirt or dress from age 11 to age about 19, so maybe I'm just sympathising with my daughter out of subjective compassion... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted December 20, 2007 Author Share Posted December 20, 2007 What's Waterloo Road? TV show,Clare All the girls wear ultra short skirts & thigh length sock & have their ties all short & stubby looking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 They'll catch their deaths! *shakes head* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 Corned beef thighs are not attractive are they. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 Corned beef thighs are not attractive are they. Not at all - and there's plenty of that on view in Banbury It seems that the bigger they are, the less they wear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatsCube Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 It'll pass Cinnamon. Hahahahaha Wouldnt count on it, Im 26 and still dress like that (okay so I tend to wear skinny fit jeans not skirts) In a plus point at least the ballet pumps wont leave her with nasty bunions and crippled feet. So many kids seem to want to wear heals higher than I would even wear. I always find it horrible to see girls as young as 4/5 in 3 inch heels, they shouldnt even make them, its just wrong. rant over Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoid Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 Dr Martins, the best school shoes ever! steel caped/very strong leather, my feet no longer get squished in the massive crowds. (very stylish too) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 (edited) Shoes with steel toe caps weren't allowed at the school my children went to after an unfortunate incident where one boy deliberately touched another boy's shoe with his head. ........and fractured his skull. Edited December 20, 2007 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 Rosie has some purple flowered DMs and loves them to bits Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted December 20, 2007 Author Share Posted December 20, 2007 Corned beef thighs are not attractive are they. Thats the thing though there is no corned beef in sight. These girls are 14 - 16,lisome,slender & gorgeous I want to walk up to them & tell them to make the most of it as they will never look this good again in their lives DM's are fab,& a lot of Cleos pals wear them,but she won't entertain the idea. Not that they would look good with her skirts anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Looney Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 I used to wear DMs to school (They were the only shoes that would last me all year so my parents took a shine to them ). I used to get told off for skirts being too short (always wore navy tights though) or too long, or wearing non blue/black socks with trousers, or having too many earrings, or not tucking my shirt in (not physically possible as I inherited a couple of my brothers shirts and if tucked in they would have peeked under the hem of the skirt...although I did sometimes look like I was walking around with just a shirt on ), not having my top button done up......... ....I really couldn't have been accused of being fashionable, in fact I used to quite often borrow my Dad'd trousers if I couldn't find anything clean to wear - that was an 'interesting' look! ...aaaahhh, happy memories!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cate in NZ Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 Immi wears the ballet pumps too............. it's just a passing phase, it was Kickers last summer term . Her skirts are just above the knee but that's 'cos it's a school rule and all the girls seem to abide by it. She is far more interested in the fashion trends rather than function, not one to stand out from the crowd isn't my Immi, she'd prefer to wear the same as her friends, and, so far at any rate, I haven't had a problem with that. She does wear a coat generally, the current fashionable coat identical to the ones worn by at least 50% of the rest of the school. Seb's dreadful, he wears a cotton shirt (short sleeved) and a blazer. School uniform permits a plain black sweater or sweatshirt as well, but he won't wear one, nor will he wear a coat. If I point out the lack of clothing on these bitterly cold mornings he tries to tell me that his tie counts as an extra layer . I've got bigger battles to fight, so if he wants to freeze then good luck to him . I make sure that he has the warm alternatives to wear if he wants, but at 16 he's old enough and resilient enough to make his own decisions regarding his clothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftyhunnypie Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 What about her wearing some tights & knee length boots to keep her leggys warm. I'd say they were fashionable! She could even have some leg warmers ruched above her boots - very warm! Young ones & coats - they don't seem to want to wear them! hows about her wearing a thermal t shirt under her school shirt? If she's into the goth look - then long coats are the done thing - especially black. She can keep warm & be fashionable too! Would schools not accept crocs Alice shoes in black??? Sensible shoes! YOu can get some nice tights these days - lovely patterned ones - suggest whilst out shopping with her! Most young girls will dress as their friends do - they have to, to be included & fit in! It's a shame, but you have to let them do it! I was a hippy when I was at school, so our skirts were long!!! Emma.x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 There is a lot to be said in favour of a strict school uniform code! (Even if they "customise" it). My mother seriously expected me to wear a plastic rainhood if the weather was wet. I used to post them into the postbox at the bus stop and say I had lost it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
