Using the Bathroom Is Your Right Not a Privilege!
© 2001-2004 by Laurie A. Couture, M.Ed, LMHC
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Have you ever had to go to the bathroom in class and the teacher wouldn't let you go?
If you answered "yes", then read on! Using the bathroom is something that we all have to do in order to stay healthy. Yet, kids in school are often told they must wait to use the bathroom, or are actually told "no" as a form of punishment.
Are adults allowed to use the bathroom?
Yes! Bosses must allow workers, including teachers, to use the bathroom when they need to, or workers have a legal right to sue those bosses. There are laws in place to protect all workers from employers restricting their use of the bathroom. College students, (including those studying to be teachers), are also allowed to get up and leave class whenever they need to use the bathroom.
So, if adults have the right to use the bathroom, why can't kids?
There are a few common reasons why teachers restrict kids from using the toilet. Many teachers want to control kids from using the bathroom pass as a chance to get out of class. They feel that it is a distraction to their lessons when kids leave class. Many teachers don't believe that kids who leave class actually need to go to the toilet. When some kids use the bathroom pass as a chance to socialize or meet up with other kids, this causes teachers to think restricting the bathroom pass for everyone is the way to handle the problem. Teachers often forget that kids need a break sometimes, as do adults, (especially if the class is boring!) and that when they were young, it was important for them to talk to their friends, too. In cases when one student, or a small number of students, vandalizes the school bathrooms, this causes teachers and school administration to think that locking school bathrooms or restricting bathroom use to be a good way to stop vandalism. What they don't understand is that many young people who vandalize school property are doing so because they are angry at teachers or at the school or at school rules because of the way they've been treated at school. And lastly, some teachers are just plain insensitive or mean, and cannot understand what a horrible and sometimes panicky feeling it is to have to go to the bathroom badly and be forced to "hold it" against one's will. It makes some kids wonder if teachers EVER have to go to the bathroom!
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Are these good reasons for not allowing you to use the bathroom?
Defiantly not! Forcing kids to "hold it" is NOT a healthy thing to do! It puts you at risk for serious urinary and bowel health problems such as urinary tract infections, over-stretching of the bladder, incontinence (having "accidents"), urinary reflux (urine reversing back up to the kidneys), constipation (being unable to have a bowel movement) and fecal impaction (your colon being packed with feces, causing "accidents" and severe stomach pain). Another problem is your brain will begin to ignore the signal that you need to urinate or defecate, so that your bladder and bowels must get fuller and fuller before you feel like you have to go to the bathroom. In addition, forcing kids to retain their bodily waste is a form of corporal punishment (causing pain to the body), which is illegal in many states. Forcing kids to hold their waste is a human rights violation, and is considered by Amnesty International, a human rights organization, to be a form of torture when used against prisoners.
Okay, so now what can you do if a teacher won't let you use the bathroom?
- Ask to go to the school nurse's office.
- If that doesn't work, get up, leave class and go to the bathroom.
- When you return, maturely explain that it is unhealthy for you to hold in your waste.
- You may receive consequences for this action, but realize that you have done the right thing in protecting your body.
- Then, talk to your parents. Tell them you need their help and that you don't believe you should be punished for going to the toilet.
- Get a note from your doctor stating that you are to use the bathroom whenever you need to. (Kids should not need to get doctor’s notes to use the bathroom. However, it works!)
- Try talking to your teacher in private- with a respectful attitude.
- Try speaking to the school principal.
- Try speaking to the school guidance counselor.
- Try to write a story about this problem in your school newspaper.
- Start a petition in school saying that it is a health risk for kids to retain their bodily waste and ask for an open bathroom policy. Ask students and cool adults to sign.
- Contact your town's local newspaper or state's local TV station and tell them about the problem and how it affects you.
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What if that doesn't work? What to do in serious, emergency situations:
Although these situations below sound extreme, believe it or not, they do happen to some kids in school:
- If you try to leave the classroom to go to the bathroom and the teacher blocks your way out, yell for help, try for another exit, or crawl past the teacher. Try to resist the urge to strike out at the teacher, because she/he will probably take legal action against you and win- It's her word against yours! As soon as you are free, immediately go to the main office and report what has happened. Ask to call your parents (or guardians) and your state's child protection authorities to report what occurred.
- If you try to leave the classroom to go to the bathroom and the teachers tries to grab you and restrain you, yell for help and struggle to get away. As soon as you are free, immediately go to the main office and report what has happened. Ask to call your parents (or guardians) and your state's child protection authorities to report what occurred. You can also file a police report for assault.
- If you are locked in a room and an adult refuses to let you out, urinate or defecate in a trash can or in your pants. Then, as soon as you can, call your parents (or guardians) and your state's child protection authorities to report what occurred.
- If you are in any situation where the teacher refuses to allow you to leave the room, blocks your way, grabs you, or locks you in a room, the best thing you can do is urinate or defecate in your pants. Although that is terribly embarrassing and seems gross, you are showing the teacher and your peers that you are taking back control of your body, and that you refuse to suffer any longer. You are showing them that they don't have a right to control your body in an abusive manner. If more kids did this, teachers wouldn't dare tell kids that they aren't allowed to use the bathroom!
- If you need to use the toilet in school and the bathroom doors are locked, go to the nurse's office, the guidance office, or the main office and tell them you are about have an accident. Then let your parents know and contact your state's child protection authorities to report the locked bathrooms.
- If you need to use the toilet in school and the bathroom doors are locked and you cannot get anyone to unlock them, you may have no choice but to urinate or defecate in your pants, in a trash can, or outside. You may need to actually leave school grounds to find a place to use the toilet. Expect to get in serious trouble for these actions. Get your parent's help, report the matter to child protective services and your local media.
- If any teacher ever chases you into the bathroom, tries to pull you out of the bathroom or follows you in to watch you, as soon as you are free, immediately go to the main office and report what has happened. Ask to call your parents (or guardians) and your state's child protection authorities to report what occurred. You can also file a police report for sexual assault.
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What can you do to prevent schools and teachers from denying kids the right to use the toilet?
- When you ask for a bathroom pass, only use it to go to the bathroom.
- Never vandalize school property, especially the bathrooms. Tell other kids that vandalizing the bathrooms doesn't get back at the school, it just causes teachers and school administrators to lock them or restrict kids from using them.
- Don't smoke in school bathrooms- this is another reason why schools lock bathrooms or restrict kids from using them.
- Put trash in the trash can! Messy bathrooms don't get back at the school, they make a mess for janitors to clean. Janitors will complain and cause school administrators to restrict or lock the bathrooms.
- Harassing kids, threatening and fighting them in the bathrooms causes kids to fear using the bathrooms. It also can cause school administrators to restrict or lock school bathrooms. Pass this on to kids you know. Find another place to settle your differences.
Remember, using the bathroom is not a privilege. It is YOUR right!
You have a right to get an education in a safe environment. You have a right to have teachers treat you and your body with respect and dignity. You have a right to take action to protect yourself if an adult, such as a teacher, if hurting you in any way. You have a right to help from your parents and guardians, but if they will not help you out, call your state's child protection agency. You can get the phone number for a child protection agency from the operator or from your school guidance counselor.
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