Exactly. Maybe he couldnt do a thorough cleaning but he really just sat in it? I would expect a four year old to want to try to clean themselves up. Op, what do all those assessments say? Maybe you have some bigger issues to deal with. |
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Really? If my kid had basically sat in poop she would have been mostly unable to deal with the resulting mess by herself when she was 4. It would have gotten all over her arms and her clothes. She would not have approached it in an organized way, and the results would show that, and then the mess would have made her upset.
Granted there are other kids who are more self sufficient than she is, but I don't think it's crazy to not be able to deal with a poopsplosion at 4. JMHO. OP, I feel your anger that the teacher let your child sit in poo for an hour without helping him; that's not right. |
OP here. Thanks for the parenting tips. I wasn't angry - I was mostly asking if I was incorrect about my assumptions about policy. |
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Our charter had the same policy and I agree with it. They can coach your kid such "Johnny use some wipes. Ok more wipes. Now put on your clean clothes." I would not expect them to clean kids messes at all. It protects them and the kids.
The policies also say the kids need to be fully potty trained before starting school which clearly your son is not. Sorry op. You should be thankful they called you. |
This is the appropriate policy for a 4 year old. It's also what we use to protect ourselves from blood borne pathogens by having even kids this age attend to basic scrapes and cuts until they can get to the school nurse. We talk them through applying gauze to the wound. I disagree with the teacher and parent who said any real teacher would have changed this 4 year old. One that was severely physically or mentally impaired? Sure! An anxious child with speech delays, but normal intelligence and the ability to physically remove clothing, wipe himself, etc.? No. He should have been able to remove the actual stool from his underwear so that he wasn't sitting in poop. A thorough cleaning of his butt could wait for mom to arrive. |
| DCPS Teacher here: Potty training is not a requirement to attend any DCPS school. There are also no DCPS district-wide policies that prohibit a teacher from changing a child. Teachers should work with parents to develop a potty training plan if it's a frequent occurrence (which, it sounds like, is not the case in this scenario). Changing kids is just part of the job! |
| I'm not comfortable with a non-parent adult helping with toileting. |
No, your anger is misplaced. He's 4. |
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If a teacher or school can't deal with helping preschoolers with accidents, they are in the wrong field. 3 and 4 year olds occasionally have poop and pee mishaps. It is developmentally normal.
I think its nasty and unsanitary that they left him wallowing in poop for an hour. His teacher does not have the empathy and common sense someone needs to be a good preschool teacher. |
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In looking for toileting policies online, found this from KIPP which says kids must be fully potty trained to attend. Is this legal?
http://www.kippdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/KIPP-DC-Handbook-PDF.pdf |
| At Cooke (years ago), teachers routinely dealt with potty accidents. I'm not sure if they cleaned them up themselves or coached the kids how to do it, but they did not allow the child to sit around in their own poop. In fact, they would ask parents of older kids to pass down the uniforms they'd outgrown so they would always have backup clothes for kids whose parents had forgotten to send them with clothes (or who had multiple accidents during the day). I was extremely grateful when they changed my daughter when she had an accident, and used to give the PS / PK teachers new kids underwear as gifts so they would have extras on hand to use. This is a good thing to give them during teacher appreciation week, believe it or not! |
Hahahahaha...I call BS. Wow, it's a really good thing all those nurses in hospitals, and pediatric wards and NICUs and pediatrician's office and SCHOOLs don't feel like you. I'm guessing you also refuse to deal with vomit, pee, blood, sweat, or anything else the least bit "ew"-ey? That's very high and mighty of you and must seriously limit your job options. But seriously, there's nothing wrong with a 4 year old who has an accident. Or one whose not fully skilled at cleaning themselves up (seriously, how many parents are still assisting at this age - many!), so stop trying to put this on OP. |
You sound like a terrible nurse. And person. I'm so glad when my father was dying and lost control of his bowels that his caring nurses took the time to clean him. I hope you're in the same situation someday--either yourself or with a loved one--and have to rely on an asshole like yourself. |
| at our DCPS - the teacher changed PK kids and if it b/c a pattern would reach out to the parents to discuss a strategy |
| Why do you all even want your untrained child going to school, regardless of whether it is legal or not? Why are you putting children into situations they aren't ready for? No child needs to be in school before they can take care of their own bathroom issues. Y'all need to learn to parent and stop dumping your children. |