“Why Going to the School Restroom Is a Hard Experience for Kids” — an honest piece about a problem we don’t want to see

According to a survey conducted in Great Britain, people consider the toilet to be one of mankind’s greatest inventions. It is in the top 10, along with the internal combustion engine. With each passing day, researchers are busy making our moment in the bathroom as comfortable as possible, and they don’t see anything wrong with that.

we, from awesome.club, we reflect on why our children need to remain in the Stone Age and still need to ask to leave the classroom to use the bathroom. Check out!

In elementary school, a friend named Olga, a calm, pale girl who was barely noticed, ended up peeing in the room. She tried to get the teacher’s attention, but the woman was busy complaining to a troublemaker and had no time for Olga’s attempts to get her attention. But when the urine went right under our wallet, everyone noticed.

I remember that moment with dread. The most important thing was to show that it wasn’t me, because that was a shame! From a young age, we all know that nothing worse could happen than peeing your pants. And having someone to explain why without you doing anything wrong, but just not being able to take it anymore—no, no one could.

In my parents’ opinion, our teacher was good, but this is what I think: she was an ordinary teacher like hundreds of other teachers. She scolded Olga for not getting her attention enough and sent her home. And that warning sent a clear signal to the whole class: whoever pees his pants is guilty. And Olga, who was previously unnoticed, would now be shunned by everyone.

They say that the school should prepare children for adulthood. Imagine if the boss of a company forced employees to ask to go to the bathroom aloud in front of everyone, the future of that company would be, to say the least, exciting — press protests, social media memes, employee outrage.

We adults who talk about our psychological traumas to well-paid psychologists would not bear such humiliation in our lives. But for most children, this is a common thing, a familiar reality, and the main thing – you have to scream to ask the teacher for permission to avoid an awkward situation, otherwise no one will feel sorry for you.

Because of shyness, many children hold back their pee at school, which is not good for their health. And they do this not only because they have to expose that they need to relieve themselves in front of the whole class, but also because instead of a comfortable and safe bathroom, they need to use a bathroom with several stalls in front of everyone.

My son’s school has plastic windows, computers and projectors in the classrooms, lockers in the changing rooms and some old bathrooms separated by flimsy partitions. But according to the school principal, children shouldn’t spend too much time in the bathroom — “They’re here to learn, not to use the bathroom,” she argued.

A group of parents went to the school board to question the structure of the institution’s bathrooms. And the director thinks they just wanted to make a fuss, simply because they asked to put doors in the bathroom. They were willing to bear the costs, as it did not fit into the school budget. But the board was adamant that teachers should be able to look inside any school environment and be able to assess the situation.

Psychologists can write about how it can affect children psychologically, doctors can talk about how harmful it is to hold on to pee and how it can lead to various illnesses, but the established order in many schools remains unshakable. A teacher may not let a child go to the bathroom if he thinks he wants to run away from an assignment or test. But how will the child really prove he needs it? Many parents turn a blind eye to this problem. This subject is taboo, it’s uncomfortable.

And most importantly, not all teachers are ready to be our allies. Some are horrified by the possibility that children could leave class without asking permission. They think that there may be an interruption in the educational process and the children are just walking around, and they compare: “We can handle it, they can handle it too!” Let’s be honest: no adult is going to hold their pee until the end, and children have no idea about the situation, so you shouldn’t equate them with adults.

It seems that this subject is precisely a taboo because it is a childhood trauma for many people. We don’t want to remember those moments of humiliation and we forget that it is our duty to protect children and make a simple and basic human need something more comfortable, so that no other child has to endure it until they get home or pee their pants because it’s shy.

What do you think: is it necessary to debate the subject or are there more important things to deal with in the school environment? Tell us in the comments section.