Kids Uniforms

For many of us we can remember when we were kids having at least one uniform that we wore during our time as a child.  For some of us there were a multitude of uniforms that we had and as you looked through our closets you could find a few different ones just waiting for us to put on for the appropriate event.  Kid’s uniforms have long been a source of debate for parents and school administrators but the school uniform is not the only place when a child has the opportunity to wear a uniform.  There are quite a few places where it is required. 

The belief behind most kid’s uniforms is that it either gives an identity (such as scouting, martial arts, dance troupes etc.) or it levels the playing field.  Most families come from different socio-economic backgrounds and schools in particular did not want the rich to flaunt it with their designer clothes and stuff or the poorer to be self conscious about what they wear.  The schools believe that it makes all the kids equal and tends to encourage camaraderie and breaks down some walls.  There is a lot of debate about that but in the meantime the uniform is being adopted by more and more school systems.

In the case of kids uniforms the family is usually required to buy them, clean them and do the upkeep on them.  The family would go to a fitting for the uniform, get the right size and then have them shipped to their home (sometimes you pick them up at the function like school or the office for the dance or martial art).  After the uniform is disbursed the rest of it is up to the family.  They are made out of washable materials the majority of the time to reduce the need for dry cleaning and that cost.

Although uniforms have changes a lot over the years there are a few things that have stayed relatively the same.  For the most part, girls uniforms are skirts or jumpers and boys are pants, shirt and tie.  In some cases this is not longer true but for most kids uniforms this is pretty much the way it goes.  The girls uniforms will occasionally have pockets but usually won’t.   The boy’s uniforms will have pockets in the pants.  The use of plaids, blue, black and gray are still prominent in uniforms for kids.

Unlike some of the other uniforms that adults might wear kids uniforms are more about discipline than functionality.  Uniforms such as scouting and martial arts are often looked at like badges of honor and the kids know that they cannot tarnish the uniform they are wearing.  Same is true for any other uniform that kids put on.  It is believed that uniforms just by themselves result in improved behavior by those that wear them.  Although the results of such studies are still up in the air, the belief that this is the outcome of wearing a uniform is why the majority of organizations that require it, do so in the first place.