Dress code for children

Intended to say…religious…sites…spell check?

Except for Turkey, I've never seen dress codes for any religious sights. Of course, mosques will be different-hair covering and cover up skin but Christian churches? I've been to Germany, Spain, France, Belgium, UK and never saw any rules.

Yes…in Italy Catholic Churches do. No knees or shoulders exposed. Just not sure about kids. Some churches also in Spain.

No and Yes, per the link below and others just like it,

Dress Code for Kids
While there’s no specific Vatican dress code for kids, the same rules as adults apply to them.
Shorts shouldn’t be too short and shoulders must not be visible.

Vatican Dress Code Explained | Clothing Rules for Men, Women & Kids:
https://www.thevaticantickets.com/vatican-dress-code/

I was surprised to see that the dress code applies to the entire area, not just to St. Peter's Basilica:

"The Vatican is a self-governing city-state that serves as the seat of the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican has dress regulations throughout the city because it is a religious state.

They advocate modest clothing and skin covering as a religious institution, similar to how other religions have tenets dictating appropriate attire. The guards have the right to refuse you access into the city and its attractions if you do not follow the dress code and are dressed immodestly."

Oh my. Catholic churches have always expected people to dress respectfully. Even here in the US, where they wont throw you out for it, but will judge you for it. Not all churches can afford bouncers at the doors, and multilingual billboards to explain what should be common knowledge. It may be a tourist attraction / photo stop for you, but it's still a place of worship for others.

It may be a tourist attraction / photo stop for you, but it's still a place of worship for others.

I agree with Stan. It's a sign of respect and why shouldn't kids be taught respect for places of worship? How are they going to be expected for follow restrictions as an adult if not taught as children. It wouldn't kill any kid to wear shorts covering the knees and shirts that cover their shoulders when visiting these venues.

So sorry if I started a big controversy. I wish to be respectful and do understand how that is very important. Was being careful and cautious with how the children should dress. We want to do the right thing.

When we took our then six year old to Italy, we made sure that she had a dress below her knees or capris on church visiting days (she didn’t have any tops/dresses without sleeves because we worried about sun exposure generally). This is pretty easy to achieve with girls, but I acknowledge is harder to achieve with boys.

At all except the most strict places (Vatican, Florence, St. Mark’s in Venice), I imagine a young kid in modest shorts (close to the knee rather than barely any inseam) would be okay. The nine year olds might be on the cusp of “young kid.” The twelve year old should follow adult rules.

It’s worth noting that on that same trip an older woman in our party wore mid-thigh shorts into several churches that aren’t big names (i.e. not St. Mark’s) without any trouble. And she’s a practicing Catholic, so it wasn’t a question of respect.

@ stan

Thank you Stan.

And yes here in Germany no signs necesssry on church doors because people should know how to dress and how to behave.

Talking about kids in my eyes the same rules aply for them as well.

Clearly I’m in the minority, but I’ve never put pants on my boys when they were little to go in a church during a hot day. I think God is ok with that.