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Old 11-30-2013, 08:18 AM
 
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I would make sure my kids were bathing properly. Being smelly can make a kid rejected socially. It can hurt them later in life, stinking when going to a job interview could lose them a chance at a job.

Some parents lack hygiene -here there is even a problem of lice infected kids going to school to infect others.
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Old 11-30-2013, 08:30 AM
 
Location: Chapel Hill, N.C.
36,499 posts, read 53,871,772 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by malamute View Post
I would make sure my kids were bathing properly. Being smelly can make a kid rejected socially. It can hurt them later in life, stinking when going to a job interview could lose them a chance at a job.

Some parents lack hygiene -here there is even a problem of lice infected kids going to school to infect others.
To be fair getting lice can have nothing to do with hygiene. All it takes is one hat or scarf or nap mat getting mixed up for a kid to get head lice. Before people knew how contagious lice were it was believed to be from lack of hygiene but that isn't the case any more. I remember when the son of the district superintendant came down with head lice years ago. Suddenly notices came out district wide about how they can spread and way to take care of the problem.
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Old 11-30-2013, 08:56 AM
 
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Perhaps the parents should spend more time cleaning their kids than complaining about the teacher?

And that is about the way things are these days with this latest crop of selfish young people (20's/30's). It is not their fault that their kids smell and are dirty, rather it is the teacher's fault for writing the note...
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Old 11-30-2013, 09:07 AM
 
Location: TX
6,486 posts, read 6,365,795 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Billy_J View Post
Perhaps the parents should spend more time cleaning their kids than complaining about the teacher?

And that is about the way things are these days with this latest crop of selfish young people (20's/30's). It is not their fault that their kids smell and are dirty, rather it is the teacher's fault for writing the note...
Well there is a "right" and "wrong" way of notifying the parents. But I agree with you. I don't think the lack of tact here is the bigger issue. Quite frankly, the parents should ask themselves, "Should we be demanding consideration for us, when apparently the teacher hasn't gotten the same consideration?" Even if I got the note and I knew my kid wasn't one of the "several" who smelled, I'd be far more inclined to think, "Poor teacher. Hate to be in her shoes." than "How rude of her to send me this!" Fact is, one minute reading an unpleasant note cannot compare to an hour or more of smelling foul odor without the option to get away.

I have some friends who always smell, and they've told me the school has sent their kids home "claiming" they smell. I never know what to say or how to say it. Last time, I finally got the guts enough to say, "Well, maybe they do... somehow?" as if it's any mystery why a kid might smell bad on a regular basis, lol.
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Old 11-30-2013, 09:12 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 20yrsinBranson View Post
At least she spelled everything right. And with the exception of one errant comma, the grammar appeared correct.

Maybe she wrote in this manner because most of the parents are illiterate, or nearly so. Ya think?

20yrsinBranson
My daughter's 8th grade English teacher told her to place commas where they would take a breath if speaking the sentence, so I would not presume even teachers know grammar.
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Old 11-30-2013, 09:14 AM
 
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Originally Posted by Ceece View Post
I would be embarrassed and give my child a bath.
Yeah, this.
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Old 11-30-2013, 09:22 AM
 
28,593 posts, read 18,629,703 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vic 2.0 View Post
Well there is a "right" and "wrong" way of notifying the parents. But I agree with you. I don't think the lack of tact here is the bigger issue. Quite frankly, the parents should ask themselves, "Should we be demanding consideration for us, when apparently the teacher hasn't gotten the same consideration?" Even if I got the note and I knew my kid wasn't one of the "several" who smelled, I'd be far more inclined to think, "Poor teacher. Hate to be in her shoes." than "How rude of her to send me this!" Fact is, one minute reading an unpleasant note cannot compare to an hour or more of smelling foul odor without the option to get away.

I have some friends who always smell, and they've told me the school has sent their kids home "claiming" they smell. I never know what to say or how to say it. Last time, I finally got the guts enough to say, "Well, maybe they do... somehow?" as if it's any mystery why a kid might smell bad on a regular basis, lol.
Routine cleanliness is really a public health issue, especially when you have children in close proximity to one another. A man who had been a former prisoner of war in Vietnam told me, "Our rule was 'Always eat what they give you to eat and always wash when they give you a chance, because if you don't eat and wash you will get sick and if you get sick you will die. Don't die."

There is a reason why a flu epidemic today in the US would not have the same horrendous repercussions of the flu epidemic of 1918: The simple social transformation of the US into a "**** and Span" society (thank the radio "soap operas" for that one) since then.

The simple increased attention to daily hygiene has done more to improve health and decrease disease in the US than all the vaccines put together. Don't disrespect that bar of soap.
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Old 11-30-2013, 11:16 AM
 
Location: State of Being
35,879 posts, read 77,204,447 times
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I personally see nothing wrong with having a class lesson on personal hygiene and health (and how we spread germs) . . . and a follow up generic letter to all parents about the lesson on keeping ourselves clean and cutting down on germs so we don't get sick . . . and informing them that perhaps they are not aware, but some of the children are arriving with body odor and unkempt clothing, which also gives off an odor - so please work with their children to make sure they are all getting bathed and putting on clean clothes, and are careful to wash their hands to not pass germs, etc.

I think where the teacher went wrong was with the personalized statements about it being so off-putting that the teacher couldn't stand to be near the "stinky" kids . . . that should never have been included.

And I don't know that I would have had folks sign and return w/ the child's name on it.

I think if it had been approached a different way, then nothing would have been said, especially if it had been in relation to a "health class" on being healthy and not passing germs, and cleanliness, taking baths, etc.
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Old 11-30-2013, 12:04 PM
 
28,593 posts, read 18,629,703 times
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Originally Posted by Ralph_Kirk View Post
There is a reason why a flu epidemic today in the US would not have the same horrendous repercussions of the flu epidemic of 1918: The simple social transformation of the US into a "**** and Span" society (thank the radio "soap operas" for that one) since then.
LOL! Automated filters. Gotta love 'em.
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Old 11-30-2013, 03:36 PM
 
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I wouldn't have sent a note unless there was no other method of communication, but I have had to get in contact with various parents over the years and (gently) tell them their kids were producing an odor that was becoming noticeable in class. Sometimes this was just due to a child entering puberty and not being introduced to deodorant in a timely manner, and some kids clearly had plenty of money for nice clothes, but clearly weren't bathing daily and had reached an age where that was necessary. I hated to have to be the one to bring it up and felt it wasn't really my place, but at some point it's a choice between letting the kid be ridiculed by peers or saying something in private to the parents. My assumption was always that the parent had just somehow become accustomed to it or didn't realize not all kids smelled like that.

So while I think the method of communication doesn't scream "professional" I don't see anything particularly wrong with the message, the situation being overall quite unfortunate.
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