Hey Teachers! Just Let Kids Go To The Bathroom!
As a former kindergarten teacher, I know what I am about to say is going to upset quite a few teachers, but I don’t care. I am saying it anyway.
TEACHERS NEED TO STOP TELLING KIDS THEY CAN’T GO TO THE BATHROOM.
I don’t care if little Jimmy has been nine times in the last hour. If he says he needs to use the restroom, it’s none of your business if he does or not.
Little Jimmy should be completely responsible for his body and deciding when and how he needs to use the facilities.
I don’t care if little Suzie goes to the bathroom and never uses it. Maybe she sings and sings and sings. Maybe she goes in there and unrolls all the toilet paper. It’s still up to HER when she needs to use the bathroom.
NOT YOU.
I understand what a crazy pain in the butt it is to deal with kids having to use the restroom in the middle of a lesson.
ESPECIALLY when you just let them have a planned restroom break and it took half an hour to get every kid through the bathroom.
But that STILL doesn’t mean you have the right to tell a kid they don’t need to go to the restroom. In fact, it’s NOBODY’S business but theirs, their parents, and maybe their doctor if there’s some sort of issue.
For some reason, teachers and people in authority have taken it upon themselves to govern bathroom breaks. To tell children when they need to use the restroom.
And I am over it. I understand that it can interrupt a teacher’s day. I understand that it can make instruction difficult.
But when you have teachers forcing kids to pee in trash cans in front of the whole class, then this has gone too far.
So the next time a kid asks you if they can go to the bathroom just say yes. Better yet, tell them they don’t have to ask. Tell them that they are free to go any time they need to.
Let them make this decision about their body for themselves. They have so many decisions they need to make in life.
This one should be a no brainer.
There is no one supervising the child in the bathroom. I am researching (for PhD) *who is responsible for injuries, rapes, accidents and even suicides in the bathroom? Parents often sue the school for negligence. This is a tricky place for a teacher, who wears many hats.
My son’s 3rd grade teacher has a policy where they must hold up their arm and cross their fingers without making a sound and wait for the teacher to see them and give permission to go. Yesterday he waited a long time and said he almost peed his ants. When she noticed him. She meanly said to hurry. Then he told me there is a procedure he must follow involving writing down his name, what time he left, put an orange cone on his desk and get a hall pass before he can leave the class. Then he walked to the bathroom and had to wait in line to pee. He said he barely made it. He’s too afraid of her to talk to her about his concern. He’s not a kid who uses the restroom often so I’m very upset right now. I asked if his second grade teacher did the same thing and he said no that she just let him go when they asked (verbally). It is in AZ and we have an excessive heat wave right now so kids are drinking more water do they don’t pass out.
I’d love to tell them they can go. I wish all they did was unroll the toilet paper or sing. Students at my school dump multiple boxes of crayons in the toilet and flush until it’s clogged. They set fires (yes, FIRES) in trash cans, meet for fights to beat each other up, and occasionally smear feces or urine around the walls and floors. I teach elementary school children, and they are not mentally or physically challenged. This is the plight of bathroom usage in an urban public school. I’m a music teacher and generally not involved in taking whole classes for breaks, and I’m not a administrator, so I cannot police or discipline as I would like. Oh, and how about I just walk out of my room leaving 20 children alone and say BRB when I need to go to the restroom. Free range bathroom usage is a lovely theory, way more messy in practice.
Being a teacher I find students go to the bathroom to socialize. I’m not saying all students but there are some that take advantage. In middle school students use the bathroom as an excuse to get out of class and roam the halls and get into trouble by fighting in the bathroom or vandalizing the bathroom. Again is this all students no. There needs to be a balance and if your child is going 9 times in an hour it may indicate a medical issue as a parent you should be concerned. Just my opinion.
Amen. A teacher messed my daughters system up by not letting her go to the bathroom. Literally full of poop. I told the teach if I have to take her to the doctor again she was going to pay the bill……
She is now 26 years old She has had stomach problems ever since.
I totally agree I teach VPK and I let them go they never have to ask
You are obviously not in education….. and I would bet you any amount of money if your precious little darling (who is probably in the bathroom 24-7) fails to lean, then it’s the teachers fault.
I worry if you’re in education though, because your reading comprehension skills fell a little flat here.
Oh my yes, let them go. I was painfully shy and could never ask. I’d hold it all day. It caused issues physically for me.