Pre-teens and teenagers might need some help now and then when it comes to learning good hygiene habits. We know teens would be happy to leave their dirty socks piled in a corner for weeks, but as parents, we have to teach them that this isn’t the cleanest idea.
When one teacher tried to give a group of sixth-graders a lesson in hygiene it quickly went downhill and forced one mom to speak out.
As kids get older, parents are faced with a new set of challenges.
The tantrums and potty training days might be over, but as kids enter adolescence parents have to help them navigate other milestones.
For a lot of pre-teens, this means learning how to properly care for themselves.
Hygiene and issues related to their changing body start to become a personal responsibility.
One concerned mom of a sixth-grader recently wrote into the parenting site Mamas Uncut for some advice.
According to the mom, her son’s teacher told him he needed to start wearing deodorant.
Reportedly, the teacher approached her son and his two friends and told them they had “body odor”.
The teacher sent the three boys to the school nurse for deodorant. The teacher then told the boys that she wanted them to bring deodorant every day, so she could tell them to put it on.
However, what the teacher didn’t know was that one of the son’s friends has a medical condition and has to wear a special kind of deodorant that isn’t as effective.
The son didn’t want his friend to be “laughed at or made fun of alone”, so he allowed the teacher to assume that he had body odor, even though his mom said he already wears deodorant.
The mom wasn’t happy with how the situation was handled and wanted some advice.
“My son doesn’t want to even go to class because he doesn’t like his teacher anymore and she embarrassed him,” she said in her post.
Online, many parents were outraged by the situation.
“That should have been discussed in a private setting for sure. Did she say they had to put it on in front of her for the whole class to hear? I would demand my child be put in another class for such humiliation!” said one Facebook comment.
Many people thought the situation should have been handled in private.
“It’s one thing to have a private conversation with the student about such sensitive matters and another to have the others listening. This teacher lacks common sense and a heart. I’d def go do something as a parent,” another comment said.
Others encouraged the mom to speak to the principal or even the school board.
“Go directly to the principal with your son first thing in the morning. Explain what you just told us and tell him/her that you aren’t at all happy with the way this situation was handled with your son and that she has embarrassed him. Be appropriate but be firm and deal with this problem head-on,” said another Facebook user.
