I guess I’d be going to the trouble of having the school draw up a WHOLE 504 plan that permitted my child to use the restroom when they, you know- the ones with the nerve endings in their bowels, rectums and ureters- felt the need to go. There’s no way I’d let my kids go in their pants , or the daughter flood her pad. Until the paperwork was all set up, they’d have my permission to go if absolutely necessary.
I guess the teachers must WANT more special needs papers drawn up and hanging around the classrooms. @@

And before anyone tells me about jobs/breaks etc.- I’ve never held a job where the rules were so Draconian that I did not shave the freedom to go take a dump or waz or change a feminine product when necessary.. That would include the factory setting, service industry, office setting and management level.

But the teacher never said they could not go, she was trying to limit the continual visits. Let’s be honest, we all know kids will use the bathroom as a social time trip, we all did it. I think thr real issue here is how on every article I have read about this incident there are only the same two parents complaining. Seems like this is being made into way more than it is by people who want their 15 minutes. Speaking of which, what’s the deal with the teachers union rep Vicky something, appearing on tv and speaking bad about a union member? I’m in a union and I can tell you if that happened in my union, the rep would be removed. Maybe this union rep should go, she kind of seemed to have an axe to grind

Yikes, I would never have survived in public school (as a teacher or as a student)! I had to go all the time as a kid, and now my teacher friends tell me they don’t hydrate ’til after school because they only have one chance to pee all schoolday. If I’d been in school as an elementary schooler, I’d have wet my pants at least once a week!

Let me guess, another public school teacher who was at the bottom of her college class and therefore thinks this constitutes good pedagogy and good judgment.

Rosana, re: In a world where many parents do not give their kids lives any structure and let them make their own rules (because it is just easier)

You mean things like regular 9pm bedtimes? Check
Limited screen time? Check
(In fact have a 13 yr old daughter who is so self-disciplined she will not use her computer throughout the week unless its for homework. Only on Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday until 3pm. Her rule.)
3 squares with a family dinner? Check.
Daily chores? Check
Homework done at table upon arriving home, no TV, etc? Check.
Minimum standard grades expected of each child according to their skills and aptitude? Check.
No cell phones til they can earn the money to pay for it? Check
No driving license unless they have good grades and job to pay for insurance and gas? Check.
Curfews appropriate to age and maturity with plans reviewed with parent? Check.
Ability to use bathroom when they need to do so. Check.

What other structures do you deem necessary?

I’m with Goddess on this one. I have always needed to pee frequently, and it was never my fault or due to lack of discipline.

I am a kindergarten teacher and 36 weeks pregnant. I purposefully do not drink any water after lunch (which is at 10:45 AM) because I am NOT guaranteed a bathroom break. We have a bathroom in the class for the children but I cannot use it because then the children would not be supervised for those 2 minutes I am in there. Oh, and this is in a public school in Texas.

Linda,

I really think that attitude is going to be a problem down the road. Deciding the rules are arbitrary and shouldn’t apply to your kids? Did you ever once discuss why those rules are in place?

I will tell you that I would ask for a doctor’s note that there is a medical need to use the bathroom upon request because I don’t allow my students (middle schoolers) to use the toilet during class. That’s why we have passing periods.

@LittleFrogs, LOL “down the road”? This happened when my oldest was in third grade and almost wet her pants in class because the teacher wouldn’t let her use the bathroom after repeated requests. The principal backed me up 100% since it was one of exactly two times I’d called him about something other the course of many years (the other was when a substitute called the entire 5th grade class a foul name). Of course I discussed why the rule was in place. I told her that it was in place because some adults like to abuse their authority and that her dad and I weren’t going to allow that to happen to her because it wasn’t right. Since said child is now a high school aged honor student, I’m not too worried about how she’ll turn out. It’s never come up with either of my boys (1st grade and middle school). Using the bathroom when you need to go is a basic human right and I’ve never had the sort of kids who leave class to wander about the halls anyway. Anyone who teaches children in fifth grade or above ought to be aware that girls have their periods and when they’re young and it’s new to them, they tend to have learning curve with the planning bit. I hope you have cleaning supplies available to clean the blood off your classroom chairs. If that happened to a kid of mine in your classroom, I’d be calling you out for your idiocy all the way up to the superintendent, if needed, and you’d be apologizing to my kid. On a related note, I’ve also instructed my children to K.O. any kid who hits them and told them I’ll have their back no matter what the school district says. I think it’s my responsibility to raise kids who trust their bodies and their instincts. Amazingly enough, despite not being a mindless puppet of every school district policy, my kids are the sorts that the teachers always say they wish they had 30 of. Educators are people, not omniscient beings whose every whim needs to be backed up by parents and obeyed without question. And less face it, some day one might ask your kid or my kid to do something completely inappropriate. My kid’s going to scream bloody murder. What’s the kid who was taught to take the teacher’s every utterance as sacrosanct likely to do?

Totally agree with Linda TOO.
It’s time that people- and unfortunately, it seems like it’s the teachers yelling the loudest, propagating a myth that it’s a GOOD thing to hold back on the urge to urinate or defecate. It’s not. It’s medical fact that it’s unhealthy for one to do so- and it’s Draconian to expect it of children.
When you discuss menstruation, you are really treading on thin ice.

As a teacher, I know of many classrooms where the students get 3 bathroom passes for the semester and there are no issues (middle school). I personally do not limit bathroom trips solely because of female menstration issues. I have many students who come to my class right after a class with a male teacher in which they did not want to ask the teacher to go too the restroom, so I let them. I cannot say no to theboys who ask to go since I do not limit the girl’s trips. However, I have had to take away some students bathroom privileges because they would instead be roaming the halls with friends. I then do not let those students out for breaks. In the extreme case of them REALLY needing to go – I may let them go if they take a tardy for it. That has happened once, but he understood my position since he had abused the restroom privilege..

Great point HNAH74, I didn’t even think about menstruation. But certainly, this is an issue with 5th grade girls.