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I used to babysit in college and sometimes had to pick kids up from preschools or pre-K... I hated going inside to pick the kid(s) up that i was supposed to babysit because the preschools always smelled SOOOOOO bad. Like, honestly, after those experiences, I'm pretty sure I don't want children.
I can't blame the teacher here. Maybe she should've been more tactful, but come on, NOT teaching your child at a young age proper hygiene is really doing your kid a huge disservice.
Also, to me, it's not a big deal that the kid had to "sign" the paper too because let's be real... it's not like the kid actually read it. If I was the parent in this situation, I'd just sign it, have my kid scribble on it, and call it a day. Oh yeah, and I'd probably be making sure that my kid was bathing regularly and wearing clean clothes.
But yeah, if you've never taken a waltz around a preschool before, I highly recommend doing it at least once so you can have a better idea of what this teacher has to smell on a regular basis.
There is a thread at the Health and Welles forum: Bathing Once a Week about how often to give your child or yourself a shower. Many people said they only shower or bath 1-2 times per week because they don't get dirty or smell...that's until you ask someone else what they think and you will likely get another opinion.
There is a thread at the Health and Welles forum: Bathing Once a Week about how often to give your child or yourself a shower. Many people said they only shower or bath 1-2 times per week because they don't get dirty or smell...that's until you ask someone else what they think and you will likely get another opinion.
WOW! Ok, so I get it if your kid has sensitive skin or a dermatological issue... but kids are dirty, ESPECIALLY if they attend daycare/grade school. You don't know what they've been rolling around in all day!
I like to think my opinion on kids is at least somewhat unbiased because I have none of my own, but I grew up with younger siblings/cousins and babysat all types of kids in high school and college. So, I've worked with lots of kids, but I'm not really personally invested in them because I don't have any.
If you don't want to bathe your kid once a day for whatever reasons, fine, don't do it. But at least wipe them down with a washcloth and maybe a tinyyyyyyy bit of mild body soap in the mornings and/or evenings. Start with the face and then work your way down to the dirtier parts (do the private areas + feet and hands at the very end because those are the germiest areas - this is how nurses assist patients with bathing and will prevent you from spreading germs from the kid's vomit and booger covered hands to their face).
If you still don't want to do that, then at least make sure their private areas are clean and free of poop - like, that's literally the LEAST you can do.
Edit: this post is a general response to the thread posted by glass_of_merlot, not a post directed at glass_of_merlot.
As far as the space for the kids name, I would venture a guess that it's simply for identification. If you get back a signed note from Frances Jones and none of your students have the last name Jones...? In a school where hygiene is an issue I imagine that it might be quite common for the parent to have a different last name than the child. My $.02
I used to babysit in college and sometimes had to pick kids up from preschools or pre-K... I hated going inside to pick the kid(s) up that i was supposed to babysit because the preschools always smelled SOOOOOO bad. Like, honestly, after those experiences, I'm pretty sure I don't want children.
I can't blame the teacher here. Maybe she should've been more tactful, but come on, NOT teaching your child at a young age proper hygiene is really doing your kid a huge disservice.
Also, to me, it's not a big deal that the kid had to "sign" the paper too because let's be real... it's not like the kid actually read it. If I was the parent in this situation, I'd just sign it, have my kid scribble on it, and call it a day. Oh yeah, and I'd probably be making sure that my kid was bathing regularly and wearing clean clothes.
But yeah, if you've never taken a waltz around a preschool before, I highly recommend doing it at least once so you can have a better idea of what this teacher has to smell on a regular basis.
My son goes to preschool, they have 40 3 year olds in his classroom, and it nevers smells anything but clean. All the kids are clean and well-groomed.
Some parents may also not realize, but if kids are potty-trained during the day but still sleep in a diaper, they STINK the next morning - I've found that out with my son, and realized that even a thorough wipedown with wet wipes and a change doesn't get rid of the smell completely - they really need a full rinsing off in the morning, even if they had a bath the night before. Even now that he's fully trained, he still needs a wipe down and change of underwear in the morning sometimes, because he'll get up to potty during the night and will get droplets on his pants and such, sorry for TMI.
When we were kids, my sister's teacher gave her a bag of day-of-the-week underpants. That was a not too subtle statement about a hygiene issue. I used to wish my teachers would tell my mom something. She only let us shower or bathe once every two weeks because she didn't want a high water bill and even we knew we stank. We were in private school and the teachers ignored the matted hair and ragged clothes, except for the teacher who sent home the underpants, but all the kids told us all the time that we smelled bad. I can't blame this teacher for sending a note, and it was probably better to send it to everyone than to single out the smelly few.
Anyhow, you can imagine that I put a lot of emphasis on cleanliness and looking nice at school. I never noticed odors in my kids' classrooms, or smelly kids coming over, until they got to age 9 or 10, and then some of the kids smell pretty bad by the end of the day.
As far as the space for the kids name, I would venture a guess that it's simply for identification. If you get back a signed note from Frances Jones and none of your students have the last name Jones...? In a school where hygiene is an issue I imagine that it might be quite common for the parent to have a different last name than the child. My $.02
I always figured schools kept records of each kid's parents and regular guardians. But either way, the teacher could've (assuming the school policy allowed it) changed the field to read "Please write your child's name here". But of course, the whole reason for this controversy is her apparent lack of such consideration and foresight in general.
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