Swedish preschool bans stripes over migraines

by Bethany Sanders (Subscribe to Bethany Sanders's posts)
Feb 15th 2008 2:24PM

Categories: Diet & Weight Loss, Nutrition & Supplements

My preschooler happily gets herself dressed every morning, being a girl who loves clothes. Sometimes, she comes down in an outfit that goes together -- a basketball t-shirt with yoga pants, cords with a matching sweater, a dress with appropriately colored tights. And sometimes, well, her outfits are a little hard on the eyes. But, we have a deal. She lets me sleep an extra 10 minutes and I don't tell her what to wear. It works for us.

I can only imagine what mornings would be like if she went to this preschool in Sweden. The school banned preschool children from wearing clothing with stripes or spots, because the patterns trigger migraines in one of the teachers. Instead, children are asked to wear clothing of all one color. The ban has been in place for three years, but parents are challenging it this year because they think it's unfair.

We adore our preschool teacher, so I'd be happy to pick out a few monochromatic outfits for school clothes if it meant protecting her health. But boy, would it put a damper on the fun for my kiddo. What about you? Appropriate rule, or going overboard?

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Comments (4)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

EM 2-15-2008 @ 2:46PM

I'd want to know if other measures had been tried. Has the teacher tried any of the various preventative or abortive medications for migraines?

I agree that the teacher's health is more important than the privilege of children to wear whatever clothes they want; however people should attempt to solve their medical problems in unobtrusive ways before asking other people to make accommodations for them. If it turned out that the teacher had an allergy to common migraine medications or that preventative measures had failed, then I say keep the ban in place.

Ellen 2-16-2008 @ 3:34AM

I think it's going a bit overboard - like EM, I wonder if the teacher has been treated by a specialist. That's the first step.

If the school is going to ban certain patterns/types of clothing, they should have to make the parents aware before they send their kids to the school. That way, if parents don't agree with the ban, they don't have to send their kids there. (I'm assuming it's a private school? I don't think a public school could get away with this - too many parents would complain, and rightly so).

Andrea 2-16-2008 @ 11:28AM

Unless she's the greatest preschool teacher in the history of the world, I think they should replace her. Colors and patterns are a part of learning for kids that age, not just part of their clothes. Taking that away seems like kind of a big deal. It kinda seems like a woman who can't look at bright colors should think of a new line of work; the only job worse for someone like that would be circus performer.

eydimork 2-16-2008 @ 3:20PM

I think it's symptomatic of an overly pill-popping society (and borderline ridiculous) to demand that someone be medicated for a problem that can be solved nearly effortlessly and unprobematically without medication, purely for the convenience of a few with entitlement issues.

I can agree that someone who gets migraines easily from bright visual stimuli might have a particularly difficult time working at a kindergarten, and if I were that kindergarten teacher I'd rethink my position, but if this little gesture is what it takes to keep her off medication and medical pensions, and keeping her in the workforce, then that's a good thing.

re: Ellen
I can assure you that it matters not whether the preschool is public or private (and private ones are still fairly uncommon in Sweden). This is still perfectly legal, as it's a matter of work environment health.