Middle and High School Girls wearing shorts to school. What is too short?

[wenrob]

I wish ALL schools required uniforms. It would be cheaper on all parents, and maybe tone down the competition to have the latest $150 pair of jeans.

Not really. DD has to wear polos and solid colored pants, no fading and no designs on either. These kids do not want to wear this after school and on weekends so you end up buying regular t-shirts/jeans as well. (think having to wear your uniform from work after work and on your days off) We both can't wait for high school! Not only that but DD has gotten crap for not wearing designer polos/jeans. It doesn't stop it at all. DD wears $15 polos and kids who wear designers give her a hard time for not wearing $50-$100 polos.

On the shorts thing it is finger tip length and as mentioned before that's not easy to find.

I grew up in Vegas where it is warm most of the time and flippin' HOT the rest. We were never allowed to wear shorts except for the last day of school.

 

[MomofKatie]

Our school went to the "To the knee" rule. So it's bermuda's all around. That's middle school.

That's our rule, too, for middle school and high school. Most middle schoolers wear super long, basketball type athletic shorts or baggy cargo shorts. DD has a bunch of sweatshirt knit Bermudas she got at Justice.

 

[Tink888]

Our school has the fingertip test. The shorts have to be at least the length of your longest fingertip at your side.

Ours too.

No way my middle schooler would go to school in those "glorified underpants" some call shorts!! Her Vice Prncipal instituted a rule ( and when he talks, most obey! Love that guy!!!!). The rule is when you stand up with your arms down at your side, the shorts must be as long as where your fingertips are. Some get away with shorter shorts but there is no butt cheek!

Yes!!! That's EXACTLY what they look like!

 

[Buckalew11]

DD always had to wear shorts that were just above the knee. We've never had trouble finding them. She's 16 and they still make longer shorts. Oh, they have plenty of short shorts also but they're out there, for sure.

 

[luvthatdisney]

At the school I work at, we have the fingertip rule too. Most teachers are good at enforcing it. However, we do not have that many issues with shorts (also in years past), our problem is more with too much clevage or kids wearing sleep pants (they are in the student handbook as inappropriate )

We have a clothing closet at our school that is used many times for kids with inappropriate clothing on. It really helps kids wear the right things as they really do not want to have to get clothes from school. All of the clothes we have in there are all clean and in good shape. But the parents know about the closet and will not bring the child other things to wear, kind of a form of punishment for wearing the wrong thing.

I do know that many kids at our school leave after their parents leave for work (bus comes later) so the parents do not know what the kids are wearing to school.

 

[Becky2005]

If not you have to change into your pe shorts.

I always crack up at this because my DD's gym shorts won't pass the dress code test! So, they would literally be putting her into shorts shorter than whatever it is she wears to school. Then again, she was a cheerleader last year too and when she wore her uniform to school, she was completely breaking the dress code. No way did that skirt go down to her longest fingertip!

We have the absolute worst time with this because of the way my daughter is built. She is short but her legs are supermodel length (I only know this because she has had her legs measured, the PT made them re-measure her legs because the measurement came out the same length as his legs! Poor guy, he wasn't too happy to find out the measurement was correct!) & her arms are long to. Her skirts end up pretty short to be able to fit her correctly in the waist BUT she is almost always wearing shorts under her skirts OR they are skorts, so even though they look short, she actually has something covering herself.

She pretty much wears jeans to school all the time so it's not really an issue.

 

[mamamary]

Our school has the fingertip test. The shorts have to be at least the length of your longest fingertip at your side.

This is our rule too. I'll tell you though that shorts do seem to be really short this year. I was in American Eagle and had to just shake my head at how tiny the shorts were. I did have to hit a few different stores to find appropriate shorts. My friend works in Macys and even mentioned to me how little the girls shorts seem to be this season.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Fingertip rule here with shorts and skirts.

With shirts we have the dollar bill rule. The strap has to be as wide as a dollar bill.

My dd wears bermuda shorts.

 

[NHdisneylover]

The school my kids went to in the USA had the fingertip rule. It was a pain because kids grow fast and something that meets the rule one week might not the next.

I do not remember a dress code when I was in school. In high school most of my tops were off the shoulder and I had at least one very short skirt and one pair of short denim shorts. It was never an issue. I was a good kid who never got so much as a detention and graduated with high honors while holding down two jobs and being active in the theatre, so wearing the occasional short shorts does not appear to have had any negative effects on me.

Here in Germany I asked two German ladies last summer what typical dress codes might be so that I could try to buy appropriate school clothes. They both looked at me like I had two heads and wanted to know why I expected German schools to be so "controlling." I explained that it was the norm in the US to have dress codes and pulled up some examples online (I think I even pulled up a thread from the DIS). They were both astounded at the way in which public schools are allowed to control something as basic as dress in the USA. It was the first of several times that Germans (many of whom have lived in the USA) expressed the opinion to me that they find our country to be much LESS free than most of Europe and they think it is very ironic that we always talk about how free we are. This is a topic I find fascinating. Here, the school would say something if clothing were totally out of line and not acceptable in public in a general way otherwise, but other than that you see everything. My friend said something along the lines of the schools are there to educate the kids not crush their individuality! Hair comes in all colors, shorts and skirts come in all lengths, etc. DD was one pair of denim shorts that she wears with a tank top when it is very hot--most American schools would not allow the outfit I am sure. She wears it because it is comfortable and cool though.

 

[MushyMushy]

I always crack up at this because my DD's gym shorts won't pass the dress code test! So, they would literally be putting her into shorts shorter than whatever it is she wears to school. Then again, she was a cheerleader last year too and when she wore her uniform to school, she was completely breaking the dress code. No way did that skirt go down to her longest fingertip!

That was another thing I found really ironic at the middle school. My daughter played volleyball and we had to buy spandex shorts. Well, stupid me followed the handbook rule and bought spandex shorts that came to a few inches above the knee. Imagine my surprise at the first game when most of the other girls were wearing these super-tight, short short spandex shorts that left nothing to the imagination. Coach told the girls with longer shorts to buy the shorter ones so they could all be the same length. Sorry, didn't do it and neither did the rest of the parents.

It's just so ironic to me that the same kid who got in trouble for that cute skirt I posted above was being told she should wear the equivalent of 70s hot pants for volleyball games.

 

[mjkacmom]

Our school's official rule is than they have to be longer than the fingertips, but they obviously don't inforce that, since dd13's shorts are shorter than that. She's wearing last year's shorts, and has grown, and there hasn't been a big selection yet of new shorts, and I refuse to pay full price. However, there is no way cheeks are hanging out - yuck. And she's thin, so no muffin top hanging over.

 

[mhsjax]

That was another thing I found really ironic at the middle school. My daughter played volleyball and we had to buy spandex shorts. Well, stupid me followed the handbook rule and bought spandex shorts that came to a few inches above the knee. Imagine my surprise at the first game when most of the other girls were wearing these super-tight, short short spandex shorts that left nothing to the imagination. Coach told the girls with longer shorts to buy the shorter ones so they could all be the same length. Sorry, didn't do it and neither did the rest of the parents.

It's just so ironic to me that the same kid who got in trouble for that cute skirt I posted above was being told she should wear the equivalent of 70s hot pants for volleyball games.

Yeah, kind of like if you want to take your kids out of school for a trip, No can do, but if it is a school function, then it is no problem. Do the words double standard mean anything to these people.

 

[Disney Ella]

My kids' school has the fingertip rule and they do enforce it. Finding shorts long enough for school is not easy around here. When I was in school, we were only allowed to wear shorts for the last week of school, but there was no restriction on length.

 

[Tantor]

Our school has the fingertip test. The shorts have to be at least the length of your longest fingertip at your side.

that's the rule at my dd's school

 

[punkin]

Back in the day, I was the scandal of my (very conservative) school. My mother was of the opinion that little girls (that's under 18 as a translation) should wear the shortest skirts possible. She thought it made me look young and adorable.

 

[Tantor]

I wish ALL schools required uniforms. It would be cheaper on all parents, and maybe tone down the competition to have the latest $150 pair of jeans.

Uniforms are VERY expensive and not everyone can afford them. Uniform pants are 80 to 100 each and very cheaply made. (McCarthy`s up here in Canada)

I do not pay $150.00 for a pair of jeans for my daughter.......

 

[Christine]

Uniforms are VERY expensive and not everyone can afford them. Uniform pants are 80 to 100 each and very cheaply made. (McCarthy`s up here in Canada)

I do not pay $150.00 for a pair of jeans for my daughter.......

OUCH!!!!

My son wears some of the more expensive uniforms locally (i.e., we can't buy them at a department store and must use a uniform supplier) and they are only about $30 a pair and make it through the whole year.

 

[NHdisneylover]

That was another thing I found really ironic at the middle school. My daughter played volleyball and we had to buy spandex shorts. Well, stupid me followed the handbook rule and bought spandex shorts that came to a few inches above the knee. Imagine my surprise at the first game when most of the other girls were wearing these super-tight, short short spandex shorts that left nothing to the imagination. Coach told the girls with longer shorts to buy the shorter ones so they could all be the same length. Sorry, didn't do it and neither did the rest of the parents.

It's just so ironic to me that the same kid who got in trouble for that cute skirt I posted above was being told she should wear the equivalent of 70s hot pants for volleyball games.

I really think the school was crazy to get on to your daughter for that skirt I also think that if a school wants to have a set standard for skirt/short lengths that it should apply to uniforms for school events (like the aforementioned PE shorts and cheer outfits) as well.

 

[barkley]

Uniforms are VERY expensive and not everyone can afford them. Uniform pants are 80 to 100 each and very cheaply made. (McCarthy`s up here in Canada)

I do not pay $150.00 for a pair of jeans for my daughter.......

some schools also figure out realy quickly that if they sign an exclusivity contract with certain uniform companies that they get a financial kick back, so the school signs up with a company that prominantly displays their branding logo on every freaking item (so no way of buying a knock off cheaper version) that they sell for insanely high prices (8 years ago i was stuck paying $70 for little girl's uniform pants, and $40 for each sanctioned thin cotton polo or turtleneck, don't even want to remember what the freaking winter coats ran, with the exception of underware-and not even socks were excluded, everything had to be the sanctioned uniform company's stuff). the kicker was that in order to prevent parents from using hand me downs or doing clothing swaps to save on costs-each year the school and uniform company would slightly tweak the dress policy, so one year only blue uniform pants were allowed on the girls while the next it was only tan. polos were o.k. one year, banned the next, returned a few years later-but of course, in a different color.

despite dd and ds both being teens and having more expensive clothing than when they were younger, i spend WAY less by not having to buy uniforms.

 

[Darsa]

On my way to a doctor's appointment yesterday I happened to be behind a high school bus that was dropping kids off. As the kids exited the bus I was SHOCKED at the shorts that some of the girls were wearing. Honestly I'm really NOT a prude, but this kind of thing I believe is completely inappropriate for a learning institution. I know MY daughter sure's heck isn't going to wear those kinds of shorts to school or anywhere in public; she has a few pairs but wears them (with bike shorts) to dance practice and that's it.

It really makes it hard to buy some of the claims people make of their poor innocent teenaged baby girls being harrassed or stared at/ogled by men & boys...