Knicker Flashing

Okay, so I don’t have any little girls, but if I did, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t flash their knickers in public.

When I pick the boys up from school, their teacher sends them to me, but after a brief hello they go straight to the trim trail in the playground and climb on it until I insist that actually, I’d really like to go home now, if only to feed them.

Boys and girls from both infants and juniors do the same, and there’s always some knicker flashing involved.

A friend of mine, when I expressed these concerns, told me she didn’t think it was any different from wearing a bikini, or playing on a beach in your pants. But I can’t help but think it’s about appropriateness. You wouldn’t let your kid go to school in a swimming costume would you? The only places you can go out in a bikini yourself is on holiday or those stupidly hot days, but it wouldn’t be round the Birmingham Bullring, it’d be round some tourist coastal town. And even prudish me has let the boys play in a local park paddling pool in just their pants on an unexpectedly roasting day.

My lovely friend also made a very sensible point that these days, kids are over sexualized. And she’s right of course, but for me it’s more about equality. There aren’t any boys flashing their pants, and why is that? Oh, it’s because they don’t have to wear a stupid skirt. In shorts or trousers, they are free to climb and jump and hang upside down without flashing their pants. Bellies maybe but not pants. Some of the older girls wear shorts under their skirts and that’s super, that’s how I spent my teenage-hood (there was a fair amount of skirt lifting when I was at school so shorts were the only way to go).

It’s not that I’m offended by the sight of underwear, I just feel bad for the girls. I would never let my boys flash their pants outside the house. I guess some parents of girls just don’t feel it’s an issue. Girls like to do handstands, cartwheels and dangle from the climbing bars too, and no-one should be stopping them. Maybe parents of girls just don’t get time to think in between frozen sing-a-longs, dance/martial arts class and the usual “Mummy, watch me, I made a dance up, watch me Mummy!” They should be applauded regardless because it must be a hell of a job. My memories of being one myself and watching my baby sister grow up tell me its a fuck load of drama.

I’ll be honest, if you come to my house, expect to see naked boys. I insist on underwear if we have a guest (even if it’s my sister) and clothes if it’s someone we don’t know very well (like when a SafeStyle salesman came to give us a quote).

But while only wearing underwear, they know only too well they aren’t to play in the windows or come to the door. I’m protective over their man bits because someone should be until their old enough to take charge.

And, just so you all know, I wouldn’t have a problem if my boys wear skirts if they wanted to, but I’d probably insist on a little pair of shorts underneath.

What do you think?