Five-year-old girl told to change out of summer dress and ‘cover up’ by school

A mum has taken to social media to express her anger after her five-year-old daughter was made to change out of her summer dress at school.

Emily Stewart from Minnesota in the US took to Facebook to express her outrage after she picked up her five-year-old daughter from kindergarten to find that she was in a different outfit to when she dropped her off.

‘The picture on the left is showing what my daughter was wearing to school this morning,’ wrote the enraged mum. ‘The picture on the right is what I picked her up in. She is in kindergarten and she is 5.’

https://www.facebook.com/officialemilystewart/posts/2083410348444782

‘Now, I knew the weather would be nice today,’ she continued. ‘I sent her to school with a light sweater over her dress and jeans underneath of it. It’s a new dress that her grandma got her and she really wanted to wear it.

‘We live in Minnesota and having 65 degree weather in April a week after a snow storm is everything to us in the Midwest,’ she added. ‘So, I thought ‘yeah it will be nice out you can wear a dress.’ And that was the end of my thinking.

‘It didn’t occur to me that an adult would look at my 5 year old child and think that wearing a dress was inappropriate,’ vented Emily.

According to Emily’s five-year-old daughter Harmony, she was sent out of class to the nurse’s office, where she was told that she needed to ‘cover her body’ and put on a T-shirt.

‘I am not making this post to bash the school or say anything bad,’ explained Emily. ‘I’m making this post to raise some discussion.

‘As a mother, how am I supposed to teach my daughter to love and celebrate her body when she has people telling her she ‘needs privacy’.’

‘What exactly is private about a 5 year olds shoulders? Why is it ok to put my daughters bare shoulders before her education? Why was her dress looked at as an inappropriate outfit to begin with? She is 5 why is she being sexualized?’ asked the furious mother.

Read more: School sparks controversy after ditching uniforms for 'hoodies' and joggers

Harmony told her mum: ‘I was told I had to put something on because I need privacy,’ and on being asked how she felt about that went on to cry her eyes out.

‘She was excited to wear that dress to school and show her friends and play in it on the play ground,’ said Emily.

‘She said to me ‘I don’t know why they told me I couldn’t wear my dress it was super embarrassing.’’

‘How do I teach a little girl that what she wears and her appearance is not nearly as important as her education and self development when things like this happen?’ concluded Emily.

Emily later updated her post to inform followers that the school has since changed their policy.

‘It no longer includes the ability for adults to make determinations about the appropriateness of a child’s body,’ she wrote.

What do you think of the school’s behaviour? And is it inappropriate to treat a five-year-old in that way? Head over to our Facebook page to have your say.