Speak Out Network
Soiled 6-Year-Old Proves We Accept Humiliation of Children
..By J Budd, RN | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Fri, Apr 20, 2012
COMMENTARY | According to MSNBC, a 6-year-old girl at Southwest Elementary School in Washburn, Mo., was denied a bathroom break because she and her classmates were in the middle of taking a state standardized test. As a result, the poor kid soiled herself in diarrhea. Teachers did not try to clean her up. Instead, they gave her mother a trash bag to wrap around her child and take her home in.
How would you feel if you were soiled in diarrhea and covered in a trash bag by the adults who are supposed to be caring for you? My guess is you would feel humiliated. And to think this is not the first time a story like this has been in the news. Why would any adult feel this is an acceptable way to treat a child? Is this an acceptable way to treat any human being?
First off, the poor kid had to go to the bathroom. Was this test so important the teacher could not allow her to visit the toilet? The teacher claims she asked students to go to the bathroom before the exam. But even I have had times I did not need to use a restroom until after a more convenient opportunity passed. And I'm a 41-year-old woman.
Now let's apply this concept to bathroom breaks. How would you react if you heard about a company that denied its employees bathroom breaks when they needed them? You'd be screaming about human rights abuses. Is a teacher doing the same thing with a child any different?
Some folks, somehow, get it into their heads it's OK to use shame and humiliation with children. So they end up doing things to kids they would never do to adults. A recent story on Huffington Post shows public humiliation as a form of child discipline is becoming more common.
Children do not have the same rights as adults in America. But for Pete's sake, don't let it apply to using a toilet. That's humiliating.
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