by Michael Bates

Created on: March 29, 2010

As a regular education second grade teacher, this subject has been one with which I have struggled over the years. Over 14 years in education, I have found the answer to lie in the teacher's intuition. At the beginning of the year, I am very lenient with students who request to go to the restroom. This allows me to figure out which students are taking advantage of a chance to take a little walk, or to get out of instructional time.

Every class has the few children who would be in the bathroom every 15 minutes if they were permitted to go. However, these few should not lead to a hard and fast rule that the only time to go to the restroom is at scheduled times. A child who really has to go will be too distracted and too distracting to learn anyway. Thus, it does no good to make a child wait. Not only is the child not learning, those around her are not able to concentrate due to the wiggling and dancing she is doing at her desk.

I have a simple solution to the problem in my classroom that seems to work as a middle ground between a strict schedule and a "bathroom at any time" policy. First, I have scheduled bathroom breaks at regular intervals during the school day. The students never stop working, but I will send small groups to go if the have to. Generally, most students use those times to go to the restroom and do not ask to go at any other time. Second, I have a hard and fast rule that no one may go to the restroom during direct instruction. If I am teaching a whole class lesson, I do not permit anyone to go to the restroom. If I am working with a small group, no one in that group may go. However, during independent work time or other times when I am not actively teaching, I will allow one child at a time out of the room to use the restroom. The child goes to the door, waits for me to acknowledge him and then may leave to use the restroom. When I acknowledge the child, I check the clock and make a mental note of the amount of time the child is out of the room. This policy seems to work with second graders, and I rarely have anyone who tries to take advantage of it anymore.

This topic brings to mind a story from about 10 years ago when I had a student who used to ask to use the restroom at the same time almost every day. Eventually, I became suspicious. So, after acknowledging her at the door, I gave her 10 seconds then went out the door. I noticed that the girl was simply taking a walk around the school to wave at her friends in their rooms at the same time every day. The school was built in a big circle, so she could go all the way around the school before I would begin to wonder what was taking her so long. Because she didn't know I was onto her, she was very surprised when I went the opposite way and met her coming around a corner. Needless to say, this girl was not permitted to go to the restroom outside of scheduled breaks for quite awhile after that.

I think the key to this issue is flexibility. Children should be in school to learn and it is difficult to learn if you are distracted either by illness or by a need for the restroom. If a teacher has a clear, flexible and reasonable policy, it should never be an issue.

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