“One of the most embarrassing things I ever did was …” FTSF #2
This post is written in response to the “Finish The Sentence Friday Blog Hop (FTSF #2) hosted by Janine @ Janine’s Confessions of a Mommyaholic and Kate @ Can I Get Another Bottle of Whine with My Morning Quiet Time and co-hosted by Stephanie @ Mommy, for Real and Jen @ JenJen’s Soapbox of Parodies. I participated last week (Confessions of a Mom Geek) and plan to “finish the sentence” each week for my Saturday post.
This week’s prompt: “One of the most embarrassing things I ever did was …”
… throw up on my teacher’s desk.
I was in third grade. A pretty anxious kid, very self conscious. I didn’t like using the restrooms that were attached to the classroom because I knew that everyone in the class could hear everything thing you were doing in there. So, when I began to feel ill I asked my teacher, Mrs. LaFever, if I could go to the office because I was sick and needed to go home. She told me to wait. My anxiety grew and I asked again telling her that I thought I might throw up. She again told me that I would need to wait until she wasn’t busy.
The next time I asked … I didn’t finish the sentence. Instead, I vomited the last night’s dinner of Chinese food all over her desk that was covered in student papers.
The embarrassment was overwhelming for someone that didn’t even want others to hear her functions in the restroom … to puke in front of the entire class. It was a traumatic experience and one that caused me to be afraid to return to school for some time.
My teacher was a great teacher. I don’t blame her. But the story does point to the importance to listening … listening with your ears and eyes and heart … to what children are saying.
When a child asks to use the restroom let them. Don’t ever deny them the ability to address their own bodily functions. If you believe they don’t really have to go … and are just doing it to get out of work or get attention. Let them go anyway … maybe they do just need a break. Maybe it’s a way for them to self-regulate (calm down or get a change a scenery).
Think about this … as adults we do this all the time. We walk away, zone out for a bit, chat on the phone, walk to the bathroom, get a drink … little ways we take care of our needs and return to focus on what we were doing.
If this need becomes a pattern and the pattern becomes disruptive, the issue needs to be addressed to see if there is something bothering the child … and to help the child find alternative ways to cope with the problem. But it should never be ignored … and a child should never be shamed or told someone else knows their body’s needs more than they do themselves.
Laura Hutchison
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Totally agree and as a teacher, I usually always let my students use the bathroom when they needed to. That said though, I taught middle school and sometimes the kids would misuse this privilege, but that is not the case with little kids, such as pre-school and early elementary school. Thank you so very much for linking up with us and looking forward to seeing your next’s finish to the sentence!!
Oh man, I remember throwing up in the hallway when I was in 7th grade. Thankfully, I was on the way to the nurse in the middle of class, so there was only one person in the hall. It was still awful. I let my kids use the bathroom when they say they need to, I get that. The challenging part is when my daughter asks to use the bathroom EVERY night after she’s been put to bed and she’s still in diapers that I have undo and redo. So, I have to get up to help her. We have her go before she goes to bed, but she still goes after. The next pack of night-time diapers I get will be Pull-ups. Then she can take care of it herself. One problem solved. 🙂 Thanks for linking up!
Oh bless you. I have had this argument about the school my children go to, they tell the children they should only go during breaks and lunch. I went in to the school and stated that my children would go when needed and if I found out they had been stopped I would report them for stopping a basic human right.
I had to stay in the hospital for a week because I got a horrible kidney infection when a teacher refused to let me go to the restroom when I needed to. She actually did it often and I was always going in my pants before she would let me. I think she secretly liked humiliating me.
After I was released from the hospital, my parents went to the school and DEMANDED that I be put in a different class and had a note from the doctor explaining why I developed a kidney infection. Yeah, she got in a *little* trouble. b*tch. 😀
What an excellent lesson to listen with your ears, eyes and heart! It is so true that I’ve have escaped to the bathroom for a breather, if someone told me I couldn’t go that just wouldn’t have been good.
I know one time I faked going to the bathroom A LOT. I was pregnant so that was my excuse. But we were buying a car. Every time my I felt my husband was going to argue with the salesman AGAIN one more time about the new numbers that were presented, I went to the bathroom. I’m not having any more babies and I’m not going car shopping with my husband EVER again. Visiting from FTSF!
Thanks for all the comments everyone!
I had a feeling that (unfortunately) many others have had similar experiences.