INFANTS IN SPECIAL UNIFORMS

Not everything is as simple as it seems at first glance. Uniforms made of organic materials have been made for children at nurseries and given out to them free.

But was that really necessary? We remind you that the decision to introduce a single uniform for the staff at nurseries was adopted by the administration of pre-school educational establishments and orphanages attached to the executive authority of the city of Baku. The explanation for doing this was rather vague, namely that "the clothing manufactured in Turkey complied with the health and safety requirements". In doing this, the executive authority "was counting on" the new outfit having a positive effect on the children's mental state and its meeting with understanding on the part of the parents. At the beginning of the year all the staff at nurseries complied with the new dress code. The winter uniform in simple colours, a red top and blue bottoms, in which the boys were dressed, but the little girls did not get any alternative either complying with health and safety rules orhaving creative effect to "propel them along".

In some nurseries, as was supposed to happen, two sets of clothing were given out and in others none at all (may this issue be on the conscience of those who did it - author). But many parents, who had not been asked whether they wanted to see their child in this clothing or not, threw up their hands in bewilderment, as they did not wish to have either one set or two of this progressive designer invention. Now, when the summer variant of the "nursery school" clothing has started to be given out in the nurseries - grey tops and grey bottoms -shorts and sleeveless T-shirt-type vests, it is hardly likely that those carrying out this wish would fall to thinking that the grey matter should be in the nursery staff's heads rather than in the clothing and that such a modest style of special uniform is hardly likely to make people favourably disposed towards it. Once again the question inexorably comes up of whether children in creches and of preschool age should have to wear the same clothing?

A lot of clothes are needed

What should a child wear who is going to a nursery? Let's break this issue down.  According to former mothers, there are certain factors at play in choosing clothing for the nursery. Firstly, the child's age. As a rule, "children at the creche" need more changes of clothing: their clothes get dirty more often, and they may wet themselves. But at the Baku nurseries they are only giving out one set of clothing which is given back to the parents to be washed at the end of the week. So, it turns out that the child has to spend a whole week in dirty clothes. If the worst comes to the worst, they can change into the second set of clothing, but only the next day. Even if children in the older groups do not necessarily have a lot of clothes in their locker, it would not be excessive to have a change of T-shirt, pants (joggers, shorts) and socks. Even an older child can sweat and spill something on him- or herself. It turns out that a child cannot be provided with a fresh uniform even if he should get himself dirty, let's say, three times.

The second factor is the temperature in the room housing the nursery. It is obvious that, if it is hot in the nursery, a light set of clothing needs to selected, and, if it is cold, a warmer set. In this case, the introduction of a single uniform does not leave any alternative.

The third factor is what the child is actually doing at the nursery. The children in the group require several sets of clothing and footwear, to sleep in, for physical training, for going out for walks, for festivities and for morning performances. It is obvious that in Baku's nurseries everything is done in the same clothing, except sleeping and morning performances. Well, the main thing and the most important is not to forget that the clothing for children in nurseries should be easy to put on because your children have to dress themselves quickly and easily, so they should not feel embarrassed because it is hard for them to do that.

Besides this, since the clothing is constantly in use, it should be easily washable so that spots and other "nasties" can be removed. Parents say that the only advantage of the uniform in the nurseries is that it really is made of good-quality materials and can easily be washed. But in this case, they do not see the point of having it, since they can provide their child with changes of all the necessary clothing, including organic clothing without all this extra bother with a special uniform. "I absolutely cannot see the point of this clothing. I am told that this is good from the point of view of teaching children modesty; they say that a child should not show off his clothes to other children. It should not be forgotten what kind of clothing one's own child wears at this age and the idea has not been hit upon that, before the uniform was introduced, I used to put decent clothing on my child but, all the same, what she would wear at home," Elvira Balayeva, mother of three-year-old Aysel, says, when speaking out against the introduction of a uniform in state nurseries.

A member of staff at one of the nurseries, who wished to remain anonymous, said that, since the introduction of the uniform, children have been having a lot of extra problems. "According to the directive, a child is supposed to wear the uniform all the time on the nursery premises and in the grounds. Therefore, if the uniform gets dirty, we often have to wash the dirty places and dry them out, since there might be an unannounced inspection at any time. All this is an unnecessary waste of time that we could spend with the children in our care."

What do the psychologistshave to say about it?

A no less important issue in this connection is the existence and influence of unified standards in dress on the mental outlook and creative abilities of the child. Psychologists say that everything that parents bring for their young child should be neat and attractive, and also carefully folded. So, it is important not to forget that this should also be true of clothing in order that the child gets used to taking pride in things.

Thus, psychologist Humay Axundzada has an extremely negative attitude to the introduction of a uniform in Baku's nurseries: "From a psychological point of view, the introduction of any kind of strict rules, including a single uniform, does not allow for any variations. Firstly, this can of course stifle individuality; secondly, parents have the right to instil a sense of good taste in their own child right from the early years. On the whole, the introduction of a single uniform should not have been a directive. With regard to this issue, it would have been more appropriate to make a recommendation offering a wide range of choice of colour and style, but ensuring that it was comfortable for the child to wear, since a child is constantly moving about and grows at a fast rate. But the main argument "against" this, is that when a person puts on a uniform, he or she loses their individuality. Children under four years are busy socialising with one another, and only at about five years do they begin to distinguish who is smartly dressed and who isn't. A child should see a variety of colours and shapes around him."

But there are arguments "in favour" of it. Psychologist Orxan Sultanov believes that a uniform is a beneficial and necessary phenomenon: "It is wrong to regard a uniform as harmful and destroying individuality and colour perception. On the contrary, this means that a sense of becoming a member of the collective is created more rapidly. I think that this helps children to adapt more quickly to the collective at schoolwhere a uniform is also worn. The argument that this is not customary in Western countries does not really apply to our way of life, if only because the West has a culture of individuality; ours is a collective culture and there's nothing wrong with that. Especially considering that we put children into nursery not just to "leave" them for a time while we are at work, but to teach them how to interact with other children. In my view, a single uniform reduces children's egocentrism and will help them to learn more rapidly how to work together with others."

But training is training, and for children the creche and preschool ages should not become like a "trampoline" catapulting them into school. What is more, the nursery has plenty of other methods of inculcating a sense of the collective in children, so it is not obligatory to resort to the introduction of a single uniform as well. A child's early years are the most important for his or her future, not only for the years at school. Today's parents take advantage of this period as far as possible and are paying increasing attention to the early development of their children. In this instant, we are not only talking about intellectual and physical development, but about that of their creative abilities. The environment should undoubtedly favour this too. But, when children behold a uniform environment in the form of the same clothes around them, this does not provide a very extensive field for creative manoeuvres.