I just found out that my LO's school does not allow characters on clothing. LO's shirt was turned inside out today because it had Hello Kitty.
Is this the norm at preschools? I'm literally speechless. I've only ever heard of asking kids to do this for clothing which has swearing. How is wearing a shirt with a picture of a cartoon cat with no name different than wearing a picture of a cartoon cat named Hello Kitty?
pomegranate / 3791 posts
I've heard of this, but I think it's so bizarre. Ours are still in daycare, but the attached preschool does not have this rule.
honeydew / 7444 posts
Yes, DD's Montessori school recently instituted a dress code. No licensed character clothing, no shoes that light up or make noises, no jewelry, etc.
Luckily she doesn't have too much clothing with licensed characters. The director explained that it was getting out of hand and kids were getting too distracted and wanting to have a conversation about their friend's Tshirt. They are okay with lunch bags/backpacks though.
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
Mine isn't in preschool yet, but that seems excessive. I mean... It's preschool.
admin / watermelon / 14210 posts
wow i never heard of such a thing. the kids at olive's preschool loved characters!
apricot / 347 posts
I've never heard of it but I kind of love it. Branded kids characters are sold to our kids and makes them little consumers. Makes for less clutter as they develop their imaginations to keep them out.
grapefruit / 4066 posts
That's crazy! My LO is going through a picky clothing phase and refuses to wear anything without one of her favorite characters on it, so this would be so hard for me!
cantaloupe / 6791 posts
I was a preschool teacher for 5 years and I think that's crazy!!
@Freckles: Okay, the "distraction" argument works in high school or whatever, but preschool?? Kids are SUPPOSED to be having conversations with their friends (obviously not ALL the time, but that's kinda an important part of school). So silly!
papaya / 10560 posts
I think I might actually like that. ALthough it isn't practical at all... I can't stand character stuff and when I dropped DS off yesterday DD was super distracted by an Elmo backpack!.
nectarine / 2085 posts
I don't have a problem with that rule, but the enforcement here was ridiculous. Preschoolers aren't responsible for what they wear, so shaming a child like that would be an unacceptable response to me. Seriously poor judgement on the school's part.
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
No, character stuff is very popular at our center.
apricot / 428 posts
lo went to a nature based prek program that banned characters. but mainstream school has no issue with it. shrug!
wonderful grape / 20453 posts
I think this is stupid. Half the time, mornings only go smoothly because of a Mickey Mouse shirt or shoes. Then again, I'm not one to control what my kids wear. You wanna wear Mickey? Whatever!!! Don't care! A cartoon cat is a cartoon cat in my book
grapefruit / 4321 posts
I would be super annoyed. I would question the school why their teachers are incapable of teaching anything interesting enough to takes the kids' attention off a hello kitty t shirt.
pomegranate / 3791 posts
@Freckles: I still don't get it. It's really a problem if a preschooler starts talking to their friend about Mickey Mouse or whoever on their t-shirt?
pomegranate / 3845 posts
I think it's over the top. LO is obsessed with Elmo and I think he has a better day when he gets to wear his Elmo or Cookie Monster shirts. It makes him so friggin happy, I'm not taking that away. Let kids be kids.
pineapple / 12234 posts
That's nuts!!! I've never heard that!
@lilteacherbee: exactly, I think DD might talk to another kid wearing an Elsa shirt! And she's very shy!
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
@honeybear: agree. @sunny: clearly you weren't made aware of this rule. It's kinda ridiculous they turned your LO's shirt inside out. She didn't have another shirt in her cubby/backpack they could've changed her into? I would be pretty annoyed by this.
bananas / 9227 posts
This is ridiculous! At later grades, I can understand, but at preschool?! I completely agree with @lilteacherbee: at an age when they're just starting to communicate with each other, why limit it?
I also have issues on how they handled it. Forcing a kid to wear her shirt inside out all day brings unwanted attention from her peers. Was she made an example? I feel that whenever persons on power enforce strict "moral" rules, they should really cover all their bases and think things through. I'm kind of pissed for you 
grapefruit / 4997 posts
I think that is a ridiculous policy for preschoolers and it was handled poorly. A letter home to the parents would have been better.
honeydew / 7444 posts
@wonderstruck: @lilteacherbee: sorry, I was typing this on my phone and wasn't able to write out the full story. The issue isn't having a conversation, it's that one kid will come in their Frozen costume dress and will be surrounded by 5-6 kids wanting to look/touch/talk about it and it distracts them from the task/work at hand. This type of situation happened quite a bit that they instituted the policy this year. I can totally see my DD being distracted and wanting to talk about it all the live long day.
grapefruit / 4997 posts
@Freckles: oh ok, yes I can see how an Elsa costume full of glitter can be very distracting but to me a Tshirt is no big deal.
pomelo / 5628 posts
I was surprised to read that violent characters are not allowed at our preschool. Even Batman, superman, etc. because they fight. I guess kids were trying to be like them a little too much.
I was surprised, but it doesn't bother me. I don't really that stuff anyway, but I still feel like I'll slip up sometime with underwear that is a hand me down or something...
Luckily Lightening McQueen is safe or we would have a problem!
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
Characters are not banned from our preschool...it's a nature preschool, so whatever the kids wear shouldn't be too precious. It's going to get dirty.
As for the discussion, I find it very interesting, because a lot of people are very anti-character before their kids are born and then change their tune when it makes mornings easier to just throw on the mickey tee shirt.
kiwi / 635 posts
I like it as we severely limited screen time for my daughter until she was 2, but she became obsessed with Elmo and Frozen from what she saw at daycare.
pomegranate / 3314 posts
I have heard of this policy and don't think it's a terrible idea. My daughter is 3 and goes to Catholic school, which requires a full uniform and I really like it. However, in your daughter's case, they shouldn't have made her turn her shirt inside out. They could have let it go for one day.
watermelon / 14206 posts
I've never heard of this. D has always lived in character clothes.
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22276 posts
What?! Since when can kids not be kids? That's sometimes the only way I can get my kid dressed to go anywhere. She would be so bummed!
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
@HLK208: agree! My son will approach someone if he sees a common interest (they have batman on their shirt, I like batman. Let's be friends.) that's important in preschool! A lot of preschool is about social interactions and etiquette.
I think it's silly. Like another said, my child's favorite shirts are: curious George, batman, Spider-Man, and minions. Getting him dressed without those would be a lot more difficult- I want him to be able to wear what he likes!
persimmon / 1363 posts
I think that also at that age sometimes they don't even know it's a character. My daughter picked out a Sophia the First backpack yesterday because it was purple and had a horse on it. I don't even know what Sophia the First is. I can see a rule about no costumes, but not no character clothing.
wonderful grape / 20453 posts
@Rockies11: true! E has this little cotton dress from Kohls with a tulle skirt and glitter sparkle stars on it and it's my little pony, but it's PURPLE and that's all she cares about
persimmon / 1363 posts
@blackbird: purple is the lifeblood of my LO. I hear "PURple" at least one hundred times a day. I don't have a clue where she got into it - she never owned a single purple thing ever until the obsession started.
grapefruit / 4671 posts
I think that is OTT and pretty ridiculous. I hate character clothing but I hate trying to stamp our the individual choices of the kids even more! Plus if a preschool told me that my kid couldn't wear her earrings to school I would be pretty upset.
persimmon / 1436 posts
I can understand not wanting kids to wear a full Elsa costume to school but a T-shirt should not be a big deal. Costumes and dresses are discouraged at DD's nature preschool because they aren't practical for playing outside.
blogger / pomegranate / 3044 posts
That boggles my mind! I hope they didn't make your daughter feel bad about it
Eta: what would they do if it was on shoes? Make you buy new ones? Have her go barefoot?
pomegranate / 3231 posts
My son doesn't go to daycare or preschool yet, but I would embrace a policy like this. I don't really like commercial characters and we don't have any at home other than one Thomas book that was a gift. I assume that he will likely get exposed to this stuff when he goes to school but I would prefer to avoid it. I just don't see many upsides to having that stuff in my life. It's neutral at best, sometimes a bad influence, and always putting money into the pockets of big corporations. No thanks.
I realize this is a relatively extreme, crotchety view, and I don't criticize other parents for having a different perspective. But I would still welcome a character-free preschool with open arms.
cantaloupe / 6687 posts
@sunny: I can't believe this wasn't communicated to you more clearly and explicitly before school started. I can't believe they turned her shirt inside out 
My LO went to a Montessori school last year and it was a Pre-K through 8th grade school. The older kids wore uniforms and the pre-K kids were exempt but were restricted from character clothing. But it was clearly stated as part of the school's policy and clearly communicated in all the paperwork and at orientation. While I didn't agree with the policy I understood their philosophy behind it. It was not a daycare, it was a preschool. They had a history of little kids dressing in character clothing (specifically superhero stuff) and the little kids would see each other and start playing superheroes and roughhousing. They are just being kids. But the teacher has them for a limited 3 hour time frame and is being paid to provide some enrichment and education separate from what they get at home. So eliminating the character clothes helped the school environment and limited distractions. They didn't want to pick and choose what character clothes could and could not be worn so they made a general rule across the board. Again, I didn't necessarily agree with the policy but I knew about it and the reasoning behind it and so we sent LO there despite it. And for myself I didn't put her in dresses at school bc she had no help with the potty and at that age I couldn't reliably trust that she could lift her dress completely up when going by herself. So I can understand for that age group making some restrictions on clothing BUT it needs to be clearly communicated
pomegranate / 3565 posts
It's not a rule where my son goes. But it wouldn't bother me. I generally don't buy character clothes for my boys.
coconut / 8430 posts
Thanks for all of your thoughts. I am annoyed that they turned her shirt inside out and singled her out, when it wasn't her fault since she didn't know about the policy yet! I don't think she was too bothered by the incident, which I'm thankful for. I don't think she felt "shamed" by it -- I think that was more a feeling that *I* felt. We are new to this school (it was our 3rd day yesterday) and parent orientation is next week so I'm sure they'll go over all the rules then.
I totally get the sentiment that we don't want to turn our kids into little consumers. On the other hand, we can't keep them in little media free bubbles forever. If cats, horses, princesses, etc. make her happy, then I'm happy to support that by purchasing clothing which she is excited to wear and keep the morning battles over what to wear at a minimum. However, I totally get that marketing to kids is insane -- while I would purchase a princess t-shirt, I would not purchase a box of princess gummy snacks (which she has totally pointed out at Target).
I just think its a bit arbitrary that illustrations that have specific names are banned, but illustrations that are not trademarked are not.
@Mrs. Tiger: I'm not sure about the shoes. Her shoes actually have a very small Rapunzel on them, but she wears different "indoor shoes" in the classroom. I'm not sure if they just weren't caught or if its ok because they aren't worn inside the classroom. I just bought these shoes last month so hopefully they won't be banned!
@Mrs Green Grass: I think underwear is ok. She was wearing HK underwear and they all use the potty independently, so in theory nobody would see it except her. Come to think of it, she was also wearing HK socks yesterday but I guess they were mostly hidden by her pants so it was ok? They didn't turn the socks inside out
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