I see London, I see France; Wait, you're not wearing any ...

Recently,  my daughter attended a ballet recital. She acquitted herself well on stage. However, now that everything's all said and done, I would like to get some feedback on one thing.

A couple of weeks before the recital, the ballet teacher had a quick meeting with the parents to talk about the recital. The girls in my daughter's class are 5- and 6-year-olds.  The ballet teacher suggested they not wear underpants to the performance. If your mouth has fallen open, do close it (it's quite possible to do, as I managed to keep mine shut when she said it--despite the urge to shout: "What you talkin' 'bout Willis?")

She went on to say that the recital leotards were cut narrow and you might get panties showing. She mentioned that some girls in previous shows were upset they had polka dot underwear showing, so I totally get her forewarning parents. However, I think the warning about the cut of the performance leotard should have been enough. The suggestion that you have 5-year-olds go without their skivvies for the sake of appearances is, well, a bit much, in my opinion.  I can only assume everyone was giving her the same, "Are you nuts?" stare as myself because she kept receding in her suggestion as the meeting went on. She offered to talk to the girls about the prospect of going au naturel in case some of the girls balked at the idea (gee, you think!). Then she said again how embarrassing it was for the girls who had the polka dots peeking out. Then she finally suggested the girls wear flesh toned underpants.  (In the end, we settled on white underpants, to match the leotard color -- however, it was kind of a moot point, because their was a skirt that covered the bottom portion of the leotard anyway.)

I'm totally into having kids look nice when they're performing, but some things, like whether or not to wear underpants under your clothing, really shouldn't be presented to children by their ballet teacher.  If a parent chose that as a solution to the cut of the leotard, that's fine. But, I didn't really like the idea of her suggesting that should be our solution, or offering to talk to the kids about it.  I don't know. Maybe I'm just too old fashioned. While I get that people with a vehemence for visible pantylines go buff, I totally love my underpants, and my kid does, too.

So, I am curious what are your thoughts? OK to suggest bare behinds? Or too much?

-Hyattsvillle Mom