[Mithalwen]

I'll second that.. I spent a term as an assistant matron (housemother) at a Prep school (ages 7-13). I was on sleep in duty in the Girls boarding house when an alarm went off at 3 am. It wasn't a drill and the urgency to get out was increased for me not only because the sleep in room was in the attic so I had furthest to go but because in addition to the regualar boarders who were all 10 -12 and relatively able to take care of them selves we had due to a family emergency a day girl from the nursery school staying for a few days.

So no sooner was I down the attic steps than the senior matron delivered the sleeping child into my arms and I had to make my way down several flights of stairs and across the gardens to the sports hall. Not easy to maintain one's dignity and modesty with such burden and even a slender 4 year old seems heavy and bulky when they are very sleepy and you have to carry them a distance and you are acutely aware that knee length dressinggown and night shirt don't seem long enough when you are about to join a group of near adolsecent boys,,

After that incident I pretty much took to sleeping in clothes when on sleep in duty which was just as well since I always seemed to get the fire alarms....