Kids In UK Sent To School In Nappies!

[icyfroth]

I heard about this last week on the way to work:

Hundreds of children over the age of 5 are sent to school wearing nappies - and teenagers as old as 15 can't use the toilet on their own

The survey of 602 teachers in primary schools and 561 teachers in secondary schools found that pupils as old as 15 were not toilet trained, despite having no medical conditions or developmental issues.

Nine per cent - almost one in 10 head teachers and senior staff - said that a child aged between five and seven had come to school wearing a nappy in the past year. The figure was five per cent for classroom teachers.

If the figure is representative of schools across England, it could mean that up to 1,600 of the 16,000 primary schools in the country have at least one pupil over the age of five still wearing a nappy.

The findings also show that as many as 4 per cent of heads and senior staff said they knew of children as old as 11 who had been sent to school in a nappy in the past year.

The survey results add to growing evidence that an increasing number of children are starting school without knowing how to use the toilet on their own.

But this is the first report to suggest that toilet training problems extend beyond the Reception year.

According to Sky News, commentators believe the problem is not restricted to pupils from deprived backgrounds. They say that busy lifestyles of parents are often to blame for the problem.

Janet Marsh runs a programme at a Kent school to help toilet train pupils. She told Sky News: “It's an incredibly serious situation. There are children who miss 25% of their education in Reception because they're being taken out to be changed. How are they going to catch up?"

Anne-Marie Middleton, a deputy head teacher from Dover, added that “more and more children have an issue with toilet training further up the school”.

The survey was commissioned by Sky News for the National Foundation for Educational Research.

Asked if teachers are being asked to do too much by acting as substitute parents, Michael Gove, secretary of state for Education, said: “I do think hard about how much we ask of teachers because we do ask a lot”.

From Here

It's because of disposable nappies. Back in the day of terry-towelling nappies mothers got their littlies trained as soon as possible so they wouldn't be washing endless bucketloads of sh*tty nappies. Most kids were toilet trained by 18 months old.

[azureline**]

really? teenagers who need help to toilet? and not developmentally delayed? Hard to believe.

[2106greencat]

I want to reply, but find myself (unusually) speachless.

[polksaladallie]

Some could be the result of psychological factors, emotional and other abuse, which often results in faecal incontinence.

[2106greencat]

Actually polks you just sparked a memory for me.

Someone I knew a  long time ago had a son and he had a problem where something in the brain didn't send the message when he need to 'go'.

So the poor kid had to wear a nappy until he was quite old, I think an operation fixed it, but not certain on that.

Sot of like the bedwetter whose brain doesn't click on for them to wake up when they need to go.

[banoras]

Exactly right Icy!

We mind grandsons 5 days/week, they're aged 2 and 3. I have the 2 year old toilet trained now, but the 3yo is harder, he had been not under our care as much at a younger age. 

It is the disposable nappy business, also, promoting "nappy pants" on TV for toilet training. The boy in the ad looks to be 5 or 6! I think the ad mentions the boy will be more confident when he goes for sleepovers, so the ad is aimed at an older market, perhaps 6, 7+ ?

C'mon, parents, you'll save lots of money too, if toilet training is started early...the standard when our children were little (in early 80s) was 18months for girls and 2 for boys. 

[electric*mayhem*band]

A lot of the teenagers should be sent to school in straight jackets.

[lloydslights]

I agree that the use of a washing machine has changed habits.  I think more clothes wear out from washing than actually being worn.

A little girl I knew of, was too busy to go to the toilet.  She might miss out playing with her friends, if she went to the loo.  When her mother told the daughter to wash her own knickers by hand, the child soon learnt. 

The same plan was used for her teenaged sister too, monthly.  Just threw clothes into the wash basket!!!!!  

And expected her clothes to be in the cupboards when she wanted to wear them..........going out?......try on everything, eventually find the look for that day......throw everything else into the laundry basket......too much trouble to hang things up

DEB

[cherry*135]

We used disposable nappies in the late 1989's. Children were toilet trained at the usual age. I don't think they are the reason for late toilet training.

[azureline**]

I used disposable nappies on my children, born in 1973 and 1975. Both were toilet trained at between 2 ..and 18 months.