Kindergarten Behavior - Washington,DC

Is this a special needs classroom? I would make compaints to the principal and superintendent's offices. This must stop.

Jilly,

Sorry - but that's NOT normal in my opinion.

I've had three kids in Kindergarten...not once have I EVER heard about a child urinating into a trash can during recess...nor have I heard of them playing with their excrement AT SCHOOL...yes...i've heard of kids doing it at home..unsupervised...

You need to have a talk with the school principal and the school counselor. This is NOT acceptable behavior. This is NOT normal. Maybe the kids need to go to the bathroom BEFORE they go to the playground. Maybe the teacher needs an assistant in her room.

Maybe the kids needs supervision in the bathroom as well.

That's just not right.

Kids have accidents, but that's not what you're decribing. Once during a birthday party at our house a kid decided to pee on the fence in my yard, but that was an isolated event.

I've never heard of kids making it a habit to pee in the trashcan or to play with poop at school. It this is a routine thing at the school, then I'd have some serious questions for the teacher(s) and principal about what the heck was going on there.

Wow, no not normal, at all. Maybe one kid peeing in the can, but several? And the poop playing is REALLY disturbing.
What is the school saying/doing to handle this?

The peeing in the garbage can isn't too strange. Kids go camping in the summer, discover that they can pee outside (because that's what you do when you go camping), and then they think it is fun to do until the novelty wears off. The supervisors need to put a stop to it.

The playing with poop sounds like it may be a sensory thing. I would suspect that their is a special needs child in the class who is doing this.

I have to say, kids at this age are OBSESSED with bodily functions. I have a 5 yo girl and 4yo boy and the potty talk is nonstop. I can sort of imagine a kid peeing in a trashcan at recess (a boy most likely) and others thinking that was funny or cool. My son is obsessed with peeing on trees when we are outside somewhere, he thinks its the best thing ever. Of course the teachers should be watching a little more closely if this has happened a lot, it still needs to be stopped and the kids need to understand about where they should and shouldn't urinate.

The poop is a little more unusual as far as playing with it. My kids are sorta fascinated with poop but they would never touch it because its gross. They will certainly talk about it an show it off in the potty and say "poop" when they think they'll get a laugh out of someone.

I kind of wonder if there is one or two kids with a real problem which is causing the other kids to talk amongst themselves about the poop on bathroom wall??

My daughter is in kindergarten and we recently got a note from the principal about kids misbehaving in the bathroom, although it wasn't anything about poop, I think kids were splashing water at each other. I was surprised that they're allowed to go to the bathroom alone and unsupervised, I think at this age kids need to be watched.

Kids are strange at this age, and they are obsessed with body functions. i can't imagine them playing with poop, but it might be one of those weird peer pressure things.

i can totally see the peeing in the trash can. One of my friends lets her daughter pee outside if there is no toilet, etc. and this gave my daughter the idea to pee behind a tree at the park one day. I about died.

Sounds like something weird is going on with that group of kids. It isn't normal, but what really is normal with kindergartners? It's a strange age.

NOT typical AT ALL!!!

Is this a special needs or inclusion class?

I would ask someone at the school what is going on.

I have never heard of kindergarteners doing this at school. I do not believe it is common or normal. The school should be addressing this very seriously.

If kids playing with pee and poop continued at one of my kids' schools I would remove them from the school, because a good school will easily find ways to stop such behavior.

Where are the playground monitors, for starters?

Wow.

You said the school is dealing with it, but how? Can you give details?

Is this as someone else asked a special needs classroom? Or is it hideously overcrowded and the teacher is totally overwhelmed? Is this a case of one or two kids doing this repeatedly or several kids?

If the school is "dealing with it" but it's still occurring -- they're not dealing with it effectively. If the classroom is overcrowded, please ask first how to formally request that the school get an aide in there. Then see if it would be allowed to have parent helpers at least temporarily. Yes, kids get fascinated with their bodily functions, but what you describe is chaos.

My son was in kinder last year. I never heard of anything like that happening at all. Granted, my son would never be the one to do that (at least not at school), but he is the one to tell me when others get in trouble, so I probably would have heard one way or another.

Hi, Jilly:

Smearing poop on the wall is called encopresis. This is a mental health problem.

Talk to a Narrative Therapist
Good luck.
D.