Incredibly ridiculous rules, funding and infrastructure. The teachers are given no supplies, not even journals for their class, there is no air conditioning and it’s so incredibly hot inside and don’t even get me started on the bathroom for kids in KG and grade 1.
These kids are only 4 years old and the toilets for kids in this age group in classes are adult size. The kiddos have to literally grab the toilet seat (the last place you want to touch) and then with those same hands hold their clothes. Now it doesn’t matter if you wash your hands as your clothes already have the germs on. Kids are always fixing or adjusting their clothes every now and then, the same hands that they washed and cleaned, are touching the germ filled clothes, than those hands touch desks, pencils, books, lunch bags, school bags and then we wonder why kids keep getting sick all the time as well. How is this environment even sanitary now? Adults don’t behave like this in the world outside. We don’t touch toilet seats just to prop ourselves because the last place you want to touch with your hands is where someone’s bottom has been.
There is also no support to help wipe them, pull their pants up or help them button it. I understand this is not day care but some incidents need to be made an exception. May I remind everyone again that these kids are only 4! Not 6 or 7 years old, just 4! They are barely 4ft tall.
Make me understand something else, so the chairs and tables are at their height levels but the most crucial part of their day, the bathroom is adult size? I’m not working at the moment so I was able to go in and pick my daughter in her pee soaked mess, crying hysterically but what if I was working and wasn’t allowed access to my phone at work. They will just let your child stand for an hour in the bathroom, giving her a panic attack and now bathroom anxiety on top of that. They would rather trautamize your kid, let them stand in their own mess for however long it takes, then help assist them.
My daughter has not drank water since we came home because she is terrified of peeing. My fully potty trained kiddo with zero accidents on the potty since age 3 had her first accident today in K.G at age 4. She is a smart, bright kid but she physically cannot reach the toilet at the moment that is adult size.
It took the school 30 minutes to contact me. My number in their system was wrong despite me not even once changing my mobile number. Another teacher had my correct number available and when she told the staff that maybe they should try the number she has, they immediately and very rudely shut her down and told her no. They would rather your child stand crying for 30 minutes to 1 hour in their own bathroom mess than try a different number. They instead called my Dad, who lives 40 minutes away from me, and has been admitted in the hospital and is fighting for his life there as his kidneys have completely shut down and he is on dialysis at the moment. Thank goodness my Mom was visiting at the right time. She saw the call on his cell and called me to go after my daughter. What if my Mom wasn’t there to see that missed call? They would have made my child stand there in her own mess until dismissal. Can you imagine how traumatizing that is for a 4 year old and then people wonder why Canada has the highest rates of mental health issues. They start the trauma at Pre-K and K.
I have so many health issues, the soles of my feet are all messed up thanks to the fantastic medical system in this country that makes you wait for treatment so long you either get cancer or a limb amputated. It takes every ounce of my will power to walk my kids to school back and forth and now I’m being called in THIRTY MINUTES late for accidents and you know what’s going to happen, my other child who is in Grade 3 will miss vital learning time because I can’t physically walk anymore because I had to come in for accidents that just put more strain on my feet and can’t walk them to school anymore all because of a horribly engineered bathroom facility and the teacher’s stronger than the ten commandments stance of not helping the child at all. There is only so much a small child can endure.
I would also like to add that my child has eczema. The whole incident burned her eczema areas even more as there was no support to even help give her wipes. I was not told I could bring in wipes otherwise I would have. I asked one of the class teachers, “Could I borrow some wipes for her and I can/will bring a whole box of wipes for the entire class tomorrow.” She told me, “No we cannot share other student’s wipes that their parents gave us with you no matter what the circumstances are.” Like really? You cannot spare two wipes with me in an emergency?
This is just a bathroom incident. My son had so many bullying incidents as well last year. The teachers had no idea it was happening. I found out from my 7 year old son, I immediately emailed the teacher who then connected with the vice-principal in this regards and only then, was the bully reprimanded slightly. Now they force my son and his bully to be best friends. Utterly ridiculous.
My recommendation to parents, find a different school with appropriate support staff and bathroom facilities or wait until your kids is tall enough to use an adult size toilet and strong enough to handle bullies on their own.
Is it any wonder our education system is in shambles and an absolute joke? Half the time little kids are in this anxiety/panic mode over their basic bodily function and if they will get bullied today or not.
