As a kindergarten teacher I'm acutely aware of the need to provide SPECIFIC directions to my students to ensure my desired result. Or so I thought...
Today a student asked me if he could please use the restroom. Actually it sounded more like, "ease use estoom?" I told him he could go and continued on with my teaching. After aboout 15 minutes had gone by I noticed that this student had not returned. NEVER A GOOD SIGN. The last time that happened I found out (much too late) that the boy had pooped on the floor and then decided that was not right and he should clean it up himself. The grout in the bathroom is now brown. So needless to say my palms started to sweat as I approached that closed door. Please don't let it be poop. Please don't let it be poop. ANYTHING BUT POOP! Assuming the worst, I took a deep breathe and vowed not to breathe again until I knew it was absolutely not poop! Shockingly, it was not! However, I did find a most interesting scene...
First of all, the sink was FULL of water. And by full, I mean he had plugged the drain, turned the water on high, watched it fill to the top and thought, "I should let this spill over and land on the floor. That would be fun!" Because water was all over the floor. Upon further inspection, the child was also soaking wet. Not only were his clothes drenched (shoes and all) but his face was covered with water as were his bangs! This is what I think his thought process was: I don't feel like listening to Mrs. Fendell rant and rave about the importance of becoming a lifelong writer. Who needs to learn about the writing process anyway? The real adventure is in the bathroom where there's water! I'm going to fill the sink with that water. Then I'm going to let it keep running and spill all over the floor. Once the floor is good and wet, I'll stomp around in it, jumping in the puddles I've made. And in case I get thirsty, I'll drink it like a dog from the sink! I will continue playing this fun game until someone catches me.
I know this is exactly what he was thinking because when I walked in the bathroom he was drinking out of the sink LIKE A DOG.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! Nothing. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! I don't know. THERE IS WATER ALL OVER THE FLOOR AND YOU'RE DRINKING OUT OF THE SINK! Blank stare. CLEAN THIS UP NOW! ***This is the point in the story where I should have know better. This is when very specific directions would have come in handy. Clearly, this student needed them. But instead I said CLEAN THIS UP NOW! I didn't tell him HOW to clean it up or give him anything to clean it up with! I think I was shocked. Yes, I'm blaming shock. I'm also blaming the relief I felt that "at least it wasn't poop." Shame on you Mrs. Fendell.
About five minutes later, I returned to see how the "clean up" was going. The sink was now empty-success. But the floor was now COVERED in soap water he was using to "clean up" the floor just like I'd asked. The peach colored floor was now bubble white. And the boy was now sitting on the bubble floor, which meant his pants were now covered in soap. Deep breathe. This was SO my fault.
This time I learned from my mistakes. I ripped a few hundred paper towels from the dispenser and demonstrated how to dry the floor, just like a good teacher would. And this time he got the hint.
You win some, you lose some, but at least it wasn't poop.
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