Elementary School ‘Fines’ Kids For Taking Bathroom Breaks

Parents are at one UK elementary school were upset to find out that their kids were being “fined” for using the bathroom outside of recess or lunch breaks. The “money” came from a program the students are participating in called “earn and learn” that’s meant to teach them the value of working and earning money. How does stressing them out about needing to use the bathroom work into that program?

A mother with two children in the school told the Herald Sun, ”It’s their basic needs. They get fined, they lose their money, which they save for special things. Some of them have been known to wet themselves.” She thinks the program is “ridiculous.” In addition to being “fined,” her third grade daughter was kept back a few minutes at recess as punishment for using the toilet during class.

If children are opting to wet their pants rather than spend their “earn and learn” dollars — something is amiss. You have to wonder if they care that much about the dollars, or if the punishment that looms if they make a request to use the toilet during class is stressing them out so much they are opting to hold it.

There may be some students who abuse a bathroom policy, but an adult teacher should be able to see through the manipulations of a third grader to determine who the offenders are. Punishing a whole class with this ridiculous system is cruel. I’m an adult and I can’t even pee on demand. Maybe some of these kids just don’t need to use the bathroom at recess. Not everyone’s bodily functions operate like clockwork.

The principal of the school insists she had no knowledge of the program and as soon as she became aware she put a stop to it. ”Of course, our students are free to go to the toilet whenever they need ”” and we would never stop a child from going to the toilet during class time, or penalise them for doing so,” she told the Herald Sun.

Teaching good behavior is one thing, but not if it makes children so stressed out that they are opting to wet their pants rather than ask their teacher to use the bathroom. Any policy that encourages behavior like that is just cruel.

(photo: Getty Images)