Tights for school are a waste of money

Green_Bag

My daughters attend a school where girls must wear skirts, but have the option of black 40 denier tights or white socks. Whilst I appreciate many girls would prefer to wear tights so they look more stylish and grown-up it is a lot more expensive. I can get a pack of 5 white knee high socks for £7 from M&S that will last for months, but if I get them tights it’s £3.50 a pair that will last for a couple of weeks if I’m lucky. I save around £200 a year by keeping my 3 daughters in socks. My eldest daughter will be in year 10 in September and wants to start wearing tights, but I have told her if she wants tights they must come out of her £5 a week pocket money. I can’t see her giving up a large amount of her pocket money, when there are other things she could spend her money on and other girls her age are still wearing socks. With rising petrol and fuel prices nylon tights for children is an expense I don’t need when socks are a much more practicable.

mrcow

You can get 4 pairs of black tights from M&S for £6

At school my tights used to last me much longer than 2 weeks :eek: I wouldn't have been seen dead in knee high socks in secondary school. How old are your girls?

LillyJ

Green_Bag wrote: »

My daughters attend a school where girls must wear skirts, but have the option of black 40 denier tights or white socks. Whilst I appreciate many girls would prefer to wear tights so they look more stylish and grown-up it is a lot more expensive. I can get a pack of 5 white knee high socks for £7 from M&S that will last for months, but if I get them tights it’s £3.50 a pair that will last for a couple of weeks if I’m lucky. I save around £200 a year by keeping my 3 daughters in socks. My eldest daughter will be in year 10 in September and wants to start wearing tights, but I have told her if she wants tights they must come out of her £5 a week pocket money. I can’t see her giving up a large amount of her pocket money, when there are other things she could spend her money on and other girls her age are still wearing socks. With rising petrol and fuel prices nylon tights for children is an expense I don’t need when socks are a much more practicable.

Do they go to an all girls school? Because there was a law passed recently that meant girls have to be offered the option of trousers.

I am sorry but your daughter will be the laughing stock in year 10 in knee high socks.

Why don't you go to Primark for tights, I have never paid £3.50 for a pair of tights in my life.

*Louise*

mrcow wrote: »

At school my tights used to last me much longer than 2 weeks :eek: I wouldn't have been seen dead in knee high socks in secondary school. How old are your girls?

Neither would I - I would have been bullied for that at high school

Plus - I would much rather my daughter wears thick tights when she's older and wearing a skirt...more covered up lol

galvanizersbaby

You can buy black opaque tights much cheaper than 3.50 per pair in many shops - both Tesco/Asda do them in a 3 pair pack for about 3 pounds I believe.
I'm all for MSE but think that it is a bit harsh to expect your daughter to buy them out of her pocket money as it is part of her school uniform.
Like many of the other posters I'm not sure that knee high socks are appropriate on older girls - just my opinion

Alikay

Home bargains do them for £1. Decent quality too, and they last for way longer than 2 weeks! A year 10 is 14 or 15 years old....they'd really suffer at the inner city school my kids went to if they wore white knee socks!

Oldernotwiser

OP does say that other girls her daughter's age are wearing socks. It's also worth pointing out that socks are a far more healthy option than tights and should we be encouraging teenagers to conform to peer group pressure anyway? How far would you take that in other areas?

galvanizersbaby

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

OP does say that other girls her daughter's age are wearing socks. It's also worth pointing out that socks are a far more healthy option than tights and should we be encouraging teenagers to conform to peer group pressure anyway? How far would you take that in other areas?

Hmmmn - not sure about this one....I think a teenage girl would just look wrong in knee high socks (only my op!)
I don't think I could do that to my daughter just to save a few quid on buying the tights - health wise they are a better option but I think I would invest in over the knee socks that stayed put rather than the knee highs!

LillyJ

I personally think that white knee high socks are conforming to the Britney Spears style "school girl" outfit, where as tights are more modest and grown up.
Whilst conforming to peer group pressure is a difficult one, something so obvious that may be making her stand out from the others is not needed at a time when hormones and emotions run so high.
Anyway the OP is only using cost as a factor, nothing else. It has been quite clearly pointed out that her cost estimations were wrong and so there should be no issue now

elona

My DD has to wear 70 denier opaque tights in Navy!

Great fun trying to find those at any price!

honeypop

£3.50 a pair is ridiculous for 2 weeks wear.

If they will fit into small adult sized tights then Tightsplease have them for £4.50 for 2 pairs (free delivery).

A 3 pack of 40 denier black tights in Tesco is £3.50 in their Florence & Fred range.

The quality doesn't matter really as long as they last as long as 2 weeks which is what the M&S ones last your daughters, so now you can get 3 pairs for the price of what you pay for one, making it cheaper to put your girls in tights if that's what they so wish.