I know its been done before but there are diffrent people on. How do you feel about uniforms for your kids?

I have no problem with it. My son goes to private school and all the kids, boys and girls, must wear either a navy, baby blue, or white polo shirt everyday. Boys must either wear khaki pants or khaki shorts, and girls can wear either khaki pants/shorts, or a khaki skirt. They school has a couple of "dress down days" a year where kids can wear jeans/t-shirts/whatever (within reason lol) and it works just fine. My son is in third grade and has never complained. It also makes getting dressed effortless for him.

All the schools here require a uniform. That one is not a uniform and certain not strict.

We had to wear the same skirts, shirts, jumpers, socks, blazers, tie scarfs and shoes. The school sold them specially and there was no other option.

Heel height restrictions and they measured the heel heights and also skirts were allowed to be no higher than 4cm above the knee and yes they were measured too.

No make up whatsoever.

No nail polish - not even clear.

Only one pair of gold stud earrings, no hoops.

All hair accessories must match school uniform so had to be green, grey, black or white.

No scarfs other than the school scarfs.

If you wear a coat, it had to be an all black one with no patterns.

No badges or emblems allowed that aren't issued by the school and you can only display a maximum of 2 at one time.

Yes, you would be sent home if you weren't wearing a uniform and be made to go and take off make up/nail polish and had unauthorized items confiscated....

Although i don't agree with it being this strict, i don't think it is a huge issue. The school i went to was and still is one of the best grammar schools in the country. The uniforms are expensive, however unless there is a huge amount of size gain (it was an all girls school for 11-18yr olds) some items can last the whole way through. They were all good quality made.

Children go to school to be educated, they can express themselves elsewhere. It isn't meant to be playtime, you go there to learn and to prepare you to enter into work. Uniforms teach you that although you may not like the way you have to cover up 'your own creativity', if you want to work in certain areas, tough sh-t.

They must be doing something right, even though it is run by nuns and some of their policies are insane and i only left there is 2006.

My two younger children are in public school and my oldest is in a catholic high school. My kids in public do not wear uniforms and there is no "dress code". I would vote for uniforms every time if I could. It is so much easier on the kids and the parents. My daughter in high school does not have to worry about what she is going to wear or how she looks. Everyone looks the same. Her biggest problem is what bag to carry. There is no competition because one kid is rich and one is poor, no one is making fun of anyones clothes. My other daughter is in public middle school and we constantly have to make sure she has on the "right" clothes, the right shoes, everything to make sure she won't be made fun of or bullied. Basically you have to dress the part. It is horrible. I would love it if she was told what to wear. My son is in public grammar school, and although boys are easier, it is so much cheaper to just buy a uniform and call it a day.

I'm torn on this issue. I think in some ways it would be great but I also think it would be a pain and I know people say it's cheaper but to me it would be more expensive because even though they would have uniforms you would have to buy them and then you still have to buy regular clothes for when they are not in school and after school so it seems it would be expensive to me.

I think it's fine when they restrict certain clothing such as no short shorts and mini skirts and no tank tops etc...but tell kids in a public school what color shirts, pants and shoes they have to buy just seems over the top to me.

I would of course go along with it but I wouldn't like it at first. In my opinion, if a public school decides to go with uniforms then they should cover the cost of the uniforms or provide them. I think it's one thing when a private school has uniforms but in a public school you have families from all sorts of income levels and not all families can afford to buy school uniforms on top of regular clothes for their kids. So this should be covered for these families at least.

I'm all for it. I wore a uniform, my kids wear uniforms. I don't see the downside. People can argue money all they want, but unless you kids ARE in uniforms, you have no idea how much it will cost or save you. In my experience, it saves money. I buy used at the uniform sale, or khakis at Wlamart, and nobody is any the wiser.

ETA: A lot of parochial school parents are worse off financially because they are already making sacrifices to pay tuition. Private school does not necessarily equal wealth. And, they ALL manage okay. Trust me, uniforms are not the exhaustive expense people make them out to be.

This is one of the few issues I don't have a strong opinion on in either direction.

I don't think it's gonna hurt the kids any to have a dress code. Gets rid of plenty of distractions, makes the school more of a professional learning environment. Never really got into that 'it squelches their individuality!!!!1' argument -- bologna, if their clothing is the only way the kid can think of to express themselves, then they need imagination lessons, anyhow.

I also don't think it's a problem to let the kids wear what they'd like. It's just less of a hassle, what they wear while they're in the school building is the least of our worries and we've got much bigger fish to fry...

Either way, this is a battle I wouldn't pick. It's just... not important.

I'm with iluvmyboys in that I don't understand why people say it's a cheaper alternative. Uniforms are expensive, they are almost always overpriced and you will need at least 5 of them. Plus regular clothes for the rest of the time.

I sort of get the argument about it cutting down on bullying in public schools, where there are mixed social classes...some kids ARE made fun of for not having trendy, costly clothes. But I wish uniforms weren't the answer, I wish more parents would instill non-snobbery in their children. LOL Wish in one hand, crap in the other...

Overall, I don't like them.

i don't have a strong opinion either way. we had a strict dress code bordering on uniforms when i was in high school (coat and tie for the boys, button down solid-color shirt and solid color skirt or pants w/ blazer for girls). at the time i found it irritating, but when i've been back to visit my high school it has been striking to me that there is a tone of seriousness that gets set from the dress code that you don't really see at the (uniform-free) schools where my kids go.

Uniforms suck IMO, growing up the clothes you wore were to show your style, how you wanted to fit in, and to show how different you were from the other children in school. At least your daughter has a little bit more color options than I did. (middle school-6th grade first year we wore blue and white, that was all) I felt like I was conforming to school and how they wanted me to be. I remember feeling the same as everyone else, when I was really trying to figure out how I was different from everyone else. Looking around all you saw was blue and white, it was just depressing.

When I grew up all schools had dress codes.

Didnt hurt any of us, and trust me, kids will find a way to express themselves regardless of how hard they try to make them all look the same.

We all had ugly gym uniforms, and the cool kids would remove the pleats. Cause that made them look so much better, you know. :o)

They are just trying to eliminate the extremes of "fashion", which, given the amount of underwear you see in public these days, is okay by me.