The Other Playground

What is it about boys that makes them exasperating crazy wild animals in the bathroom??

I can send my girls to the bathroom and I might hear a few giggles while they compare Hannah Montana shirts or look at each other’s nail polished fingers. Or I might have trouble if I send one of my girls at the same time that her best friend from Mrs. C’s class is in there. I have to tell the chatty girls to hurry up and get back to class. I might even have one girl, ONE, who gets carried away and soaps down the counter top because she thinks she is “helping” to keep things clean.

Yesterday I sent one of my boys to the bathroom and he didn’t come back. He didn’t come back. Didn’t come back. So I stopped our reading lesson, took off my FM system, walked across the hall, and found him scooping up water and slinging it at the mirror!!  Then he had the audacity to deny that he was doing it. Fifteen minutes of reading time wasted by the time I got him situated at his desk again and got everyone back on task.

In the past month one or more of my boys has been on top of the counter, under the counter, or standing on the toilet. They have flooded a toilet by stuffing it with paper towels, soaped down one of the walls, and slammed a door against a kid’s head. They have crawled under the stalls and all over the floor. They have kicked the walls. They have kicked each other. They have hit the walls. They have hit…you get the picture.

They do all of this in a matter of minutes. I have tried sending one boy to the bathroom at a time, but there are eight classrooms in our building so the chances are always good that someone else has also sent one of their boys. And even if my child is the ONLY boy in the bathroom, as was the case with the water slinger, he'll still find a way to get into trouble.

As punishment my boys have missed center or recess time, had to take notes home to be signed by their parents, apologized to the custodian, cleaned up the mess, written “I will not…” sentences, and missed daily reward stickers. One of them is improving. Three are still getting into trouble at least twice a week.

Boys! Why can’t they just go to the bathroom, wash their hands, and return to class??????

Comments

[teach5]

I had some girls a few years ago that would always get in trouble, and I was constantly sending out search parties. Finally, the only place they were allowed to go to the bathroom was the nurse's office where they could be semi-supervised. I used to think I would LIKE having my own classroom bathrooms, until I got them. Boys don't flush, don't lift the seat, don't aim, don't wash their hands, and honestly, my girls aren't much better, and for some reason, THEY like to sing in the bathroom. Loudly.