Wetting pants in kindergarten

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child started kindergarten this year and has wet their pants twice so far. It was less of an issue in preschool when they took them regularly. We keep a change of clothes in their backpack and we haven't had communications from the teacher about this, we just find out when our child comes home in the spare pants. I assume they are not the only child with this problem, but of course I feel bad for the teacher (our child says the teacher helps them change). I don't want to appear like I don't care or aren't trying to solve this issue. Would it be strange to reach out to the teacher about this issue? Should I wait a couple more weeks?

MCPS used to build k classrooms with bathrooms as mandated by state law. But then they overcrowded schools and k lost this standard accommodation. Having to leave the classroom alone in k is problematic.

How did MCPS overcrowd schools? I wasn’t aware they were allowed to stop admitting kids.

[Anonymous]

I would reach out to the teacher for sure so you can better understand what is going on and come up with a plan to address it.

[Anonymous]

DC is now older. Kindergarten teacher requested that parents bring 1-2 extra underwear and shorts/pants in ziplock bag as they said it was not uncommon for the kids to have accidents at the beginning as they get used to the big change.

[Anonymous]

I taught first grade through third grades and the first year I taught I had some kids who wet their pants.

After that year I started telling the students that they can use the bathroom down the hall during class without penalty. A lot of students find the bathrooms way to chaotic to use during recess. Way too many students in there.

I had them go in pairs and if a kid ever had an accident I would have them often be the partner to the kid who asked to go to encourage them to go as well.

I also told my students if you go into the bathroom and something is making you feel uncomfortable- maybe there is an older students or maybe someone is playing around or looking under stalls, come back to class and I will let you go again in a few minutes. I added that I would never get mad at them for going too often. I figured the kid who said they had to go and really didn't was telling me they just needed a quick break.

There are way too many teachers who don't allow kids to freely go to the bathroom. Sometimes it is because the school is crowded or kids make a mess, but I always thought it was cruel to restrict bathroom access in anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS was like this too. You can ask if the entire class takes bathroom breaks together or do they just signal when they need to go. My DS wouldn't go when the class went so then he had an accident because he waited too long. I asked his teacher to send him even if he said he didn't need to go. That solved it.

My 2nd graders class does whole class bathroom breaks, so I emailed the teacher to let her go as needed. Solved her problem (medical).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC is now older. Kindergarten teacher requested that parents bring 1-2 extra underwear and shorts/pants in ziplock bag as they said it was not uncommon for the kids to have accidents at the beginning as they get used to the big change.

I worked at a K-5 including a K classroom as an intern one year and literally no kid was having accidents. I heard there were a couple in some of the other classes though. Maybe that teacher is extra paranoid or she does not have a bathroom in near her classroom? Our K class did have a bathroom attached to every K class so maybe that explains the lack of accidents. The teacher in the classroom I was in was also very good about taking kids to the bathroom regularly during the first few weeks. Even if the kids said they didn't have go go, they got in line and I don't remember a single kid being like can I get out of line I don't need to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Talk to the teacher. My kid did it as they were afraid to ask the teacher to use the bathroom and the teacher didn't do regular bathroom breaks. She started to do regular breaks and that helped.

+1 it's not easy to adjust to new routines and some are shy.

Also is there a bathroom in the classrm or is it a hall bathroom? That is tough for a lot of kids - going out alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I taught first grade through third grades and the first year I taught I had some kids who wet their pants.

After that year I started telling the students that they can use the bathroom down the hall during class without penalty. A lot of students find the bathrooms way to chaotic to use during recess. Way too many students in there.

I had them go in pairs and if a kid ever had an accident I would have them often be the partner to the kid who asked to go to encourage them to go as well.

I also told my students if you go into the bathroom and something is making you feel uncomfortable- maybe there is an older students or maybe someone is playing around or looking under stalls, come back to class and I will let you go again in a few minutes. I added that I would never get mad at them for going too often. I figured the kid who said they had to go and really didn't was telling me they just needed a quick break.

There are way too many teachers who don't allow kids to freely go to the bathroom. Sometimes it is because the school is crowded or kids make a mess, but I always thought it was cruel to restrict bathroom access in anyway.

Thank you for being same. My kid struggled with this in K and I get annoyed when I see people saying it's because she wasn't potty trained. At one point my kid has an accident three consecutive days and it was only on the third day that the teacher admitted the issue was that their classroom bathroom was out of order and kids had to go to another classroom down the hall and ask the teacher there if they could use her bathroom. Well my kid was 5 and shy and she was scared to walk into a classroom full of kids and ask a teacher she didn't know if she could use the bathroom while the other kids looked at her. So she'd hold it until she couldn't anymore. But for two days the teacher acted like "she's gotta do a better job of going on her own" with no accommodations. And I also learned there were like 5 kids in class having the same problem-- one kid has accidents on the way home because he's been holding it all day.

After that the teacher built a bathroom break in by picking the kids up early from music, until her classroom bathroom was fixed. Problem solved.

New K kids need some handholding. This is normal. You can't treat them like 3rd graders. This is actually part of teaching them.

[Anonymous]

Another it was standard to send in a change of clothes or two for my kid when he was in K...and at least one time, he borrowed from someone and someone borrowed from him. We just cleaned and returned, no big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child started kindergarten this year and has wet their pants twice so far. It was less of an issue in preschool when they took them regularly. We keep a change of clothes in their backpack and we haven't had communications from the teacher about this, we just find out when our child comes home in the spare pants. I assume they are not the only child with this problem, but of course I feel bad for the teacher (our child says the teacher helps them change). I don't want to appear like I don't care or aren't trying to solve this issue. Would it be strange to reach out to the teacher about this issue? Should I wait a couple more weeks?

MCPS used to build k classrooms with bathrooms as mandated by state law. But then they overcrowded schools and k lost this standard accommodation. Having to leave the classroom alone in k is problematic.

How did MCPS overcrowd schools?

By not building enough classrooms.

[Anonymous]

All of the K students at my school keep a change of clothes in their cubbies; some 1st graders, as well. It is not unusual for a K student to have an occasional bathroom accident, especially during the first weeks of school! Often, it's because they don't want to take time out of what they are doing to use the bathroom. Then there's also recess following lunchtime, when kids will wait until it's too late to get to the bathroom. No one makes a big deal about it, they just go change their clothes and carry on.