Preschool student, 3, suspended for not getting to toilet on time

The principal escorted little Zoe and her mother from the school building Dec. 3. "The principal told me that Zoe had had enough chances," says the mom, who is now pushing the county and School Board to change its potty policy. "That seemed absurd to me. It came as a total shock." She's come up with "Potty Manifesto." (Washington Post)

Comments

[anonymous]

This is uncalled for. This school is NOT a good environment for little kids...

[Abatha]

What is this crap? I would never send my children to this school, this is ridiculous. Worse than that crazy Chinese woman's methods that were being shown in the news only a couple of weeks ago. Or are schools now following her advice and becoming more strict toward children who can't even read for crying out loud! I am sure this child does not even know what suspension means. Even if this happened more than once, this is NONSENSE.

[G B Shaw]

Why is a 3 year old in a (pre) school?

[KDP]

"At pickup time, Zoe's teacher announced in front of everyone how many accidents the child had that day..."

Next stop is a government paid psychiatrist to find out why little Zoe has a problem with self-esteem.

[Tom Weidermeijer]

That is pretty brutal to a little kid.

BUT, I really like the name Zoe Rosso. It just rolls right off the tongue.

[jim]

This is an expensive preschool not a nursery. The parents obviously have no time for the child and expect a babysitter and nanny in addition to teachers to be at the school. They probably pushed the child out the door before she was ready. I wonder why the school accepted her in the first place.
Most schools will not accept a child that is not potty trained.
Perhaps there are underlying causes that need to be addressed first so don't jump to conclusions until all sides are known.

[Phranqlin]

Suspending a 3-year old for potty accidents? What a bunch of crap.

The asshat teachers and admins at the pre-school made the situation worse by publicly shaming the poor kid and threatening to suspend her. She probably regressed under all the stress.

[Sheila]

Three-year-olds are not ready for structure school environments. They are ready to be at home with Mom.

[Sheila]

structured

[RockyMtnMac]

The kid is not ready for school. That's it, and that's all. Deal with it, Mom.

[Lambiepie]

children should not be getting ready for their college entrance exams at the age of 3

[Rock Marine]

@Lambiepie...I've known some college students that weren't potty trained.

[Phranqlin]

C'mon, lambiepie, how will she ever get into Harvard if she doesn't go to the right preschool? You can't put them on the treadmill to the Ivies early enough, at least according to Tiger Mom.

[nunya]

let the poor kid be a KID,she'll have to grow up all to soon, as it is.mom,if you OWN the business,you get to let your daughter be at work with you.then you can potty train her,she gets to spend time with you and no problem.

[twerp]

My son's school will not accept 3 year olds who aren't potty trained. Yeah, an accident every once in awhile is excuseable but the teachers do not have the time to potty train kids when they are trying to teach a classroom full of other students.

At 3 years old, the kid should already be potty trained.

It only takes a 4-day weekend for parents to teach kids--and a little help with a video called "Once Upon a Potty." The video has two editions for boys and girls.

Pull-ups don't work. Telling the kid that it's "ok to have accidents" is not acceptable either. You tell the kid that accidents happen and it's not acceptable and to do better next time. Period. I'm so tired of these child psychologists who try to tell parents that it's ok for their kids to be 4 or even 5 and not be potty trained. REALLY!

I had my son potty trained in 2 days. It takes a lot of time and energy and preparation but it's possible to get it done in that short of time.

[twerp]

Oh, I forgot to add that you don't PUNISH a kid for having accidents. The teacher should not have embarassed the kid in front of the class. That's just wrong. But I do support the school's decision in suspending the student. If it has a policy in place, parents should honor it. Otherwise, look for another school that will potty-train your kids for you. I bet you one thing though, you'll have a tough time finding one.

[dru]

Every time I see an article like this, I feel so sorry for the children being raised nowadays, and profoundly grateful my parents and the age I was raised in.

[Glimmer]

Obviously this was not the right school for this child. Period. Boo to the mother for trying to make her child be someone she's not. I didn't and don't believe they should have had to change their environment to cater to my children, or even the majority of children. Pick the environment that is right for your child. That is one advantage of preschool/child care centers.

[Bob]

@Abatha
That book was written in satire. She was mocking the way she was raised by 'attempting' the same techniques on her kids and finding that they didn't work. It is supposed to be a funny book.

[jj2]

I had friends with a three-year-old who was HUGE. This kid was almost three feet tall and looked like a six-year-old and wasn't potty trained yet. I said "what are you waiting for?" they said "we were waiting until he's ready."
The kid could walk and talk and would go get his diaper and wipes and bring them to the parent to change his diapers. Ridiculous.

[Max Headroom]

@Bob: I call BS on the "humor" aspect of the Chinese mother book. She is either insane or a pure media whore - and seeing as how the book hit the NYTBS list at #5 and she's done every talk show, I'd say she crazy like year of Fox, man.

[DCer]

I am familiar with the Tiger Mom book, it's not funny nor is it serious. In the end the Mom realizes the mistakes she made when her daughter rebels. The Tiger Mom realizes that the concept of a Tiger Mom is wrong, at least partially wrong.

When you write a book you write it to sell so it's silly to call accepting interviews with people who ask for them being a "media whore."

[The Hermit]

We all know there are "accidents". Heck, last week there was a college prof that peed on somebody elses door. He could have done like the rest of us and just peed in the corner. Ahhh, college days....

[Rusty]

Sounds like stress. She's not ready for school and shame on the mom for putting her through this. Poor kid's gonna wind up like Sarah Palin - spouting BS and constantly looking like she constipated.

[chawke]

In Soviet Washington, preschool pees on you!

But seriously - the school taking steps to remedy the situation is fine, but their implementation was bizarre and abusive - and I am not one to toss around the word abusive. Shaming the kid in front of the classmates tells me that the teacher probably has other things against the kid - not just the accidents. I kinda wonder if the teacher is the one to blame for the accidents - either by setting the kid up, or by making the kid anxious.

In sixth grade I went to a so-called alternative school. The head teacher, Josh Record, had it in for this one kid. Among other weird stunts, he examined the kid's hair in front of the class, declared the kid to have lice, and proceeded to lecture the class how this could only happen in a 'lower-class' home with poor hygiene. Yes - this guy spoke like that. Of course, the kid didn't have lice. Josh just hated the kid because he came from another school district and his parents had moved into a duplex while looking to buy a house in this lower-level-upper-middle-class Eugene Or. suburb. This was about 30 years ago BTW.

[Swangirl]

I feel I can weigh in on this one because I am the mother of a three-year-old boy and have fought the potty wars myself.

Here in Georgia, almost every preschool requires a child of 3 or older to be potty trained. State hygiene laws require it so they have little choice or face not being licensed. That doesn't mean if a kid has an accident, he's out on his butt the first time. But they do expect a kid to be pretty well trained.

We didn't start training Sean until April last year, when he turned 3. Before, we had tried a few times and he had zero interest in it at all. But in April we started in earnest. I don't care how many people say it's OH SO EASY to potty train a child. It isn't! Not every kid learns in two days.

It seemed to take forever but in July, the lightbulb went off and he had it down cold. He was ready by September when he started preschool. WHEW! He has never had an accident at preschool and only a few at home.

Had Sean NOT been ready at that time, I was fully prepared to keep him at home until he was. The preschool promised to keep his spot open for him until he was ready in case that happened. There was no way I was going to send him if he was having multiple accidents. Why put the school and your child through that?

I think the mother in this case was expecting too much of her kid and is blaming the preschool for her (the mother's) unwillingness to keep her home or put her in daycare. THAT is where the problem really lies.

That said, what the school did by literally shaming the kid in front of her peers was equally wrong. I would never keep my child in an environment where that happens.

[lilly]

ive done that before i took a shit in my seat

[porta potties]

I feel pity for that kid who was treated negatively by that school principal. This is not applicable in an instance that the children really need to have a time for a potty. Children who failed to have a potty time may probably get sick. This is an aware to all the parents.