Extra Clothes

[mmmiller]

I keep a stack of extra clothes in my office for students that have bathroom accidents. I tell the students to bring the pants back to me the next day, but I rarely get anything back.

I'm almost out of pants for the second time this year. Over winter break, we bought about 30 new pairs of pants in all sizes and four months later I only have 4 pairs left (and they will only fit the very small kids).

We've talked to students and parents, called and sent notes home. Parents either have no idea their kid borrowed pants, have no idea where the pants are, or promise they will send them the next day (which rarely happens). I started writing our school's initials on the tags of all the pants, but it wears off when washed...

Any ideas on how to get pants back?! I'm beginning to get desperate!

[parkay]

Check your lost and found pile! Lots of times clothes never get claimed and our school will take them to Goodwill after a while. If my stash of clothes is running low I send out an all staff e-mail asking for the staff to check their homes for any items they don't need anymore. Most of what I have is donation and I have even brought some of my kids old things.

Some people are really good about returning stuff. I've used a marker to wright the schools name on the waist line of pants. Since they are donated I'm not to concerned if they don't come back. Maybe the student really needs the clothes!

For our Kindergarten Round Up (when kids and parents get to meet the teachers etx.) I suggest to parents to have a change of clothes in the kids lockers for accidents, spills, falling in mud ETC..

I do purchase new underwear annually and just take it out of the budget.

If we know a kid desperatly needs some clothes we have a group of parents who are willing to get what they need!!

[mmmiller]

Thank you so much for all your replies!

The majority of my students are from very poor families. I understand that some of the kids may really need another pair of pants, so they keep the pants I give them. I'm sympathetic to those students, and don't bug them as much about getting the clothes back. However, the kindergartner who has an accident daily and has kept or lost over 10 pairs of my pants since September, I have less sympathy for.

(This student does not have a medical problem - she is too embarrassed to use the bathroom at school. We've tried many, many things throughout the year but nothing is working for her. She is also much younger than the other students in her class - only 4 at the start of the year).

I don't think I could get my principal to go for charging families for the clothes -- we buy them at walmart so they are only $3-4 a pair. And we don't have a washer or dryer at the school to wash the dirty clothes. But, I will try asking for donations from staff/community and sending notes home immediately with the kids.

Thanks everyone for your great ideas and stories!

[mustlovepoodles, RN]

I'm sympathetic to those students, and don't bug them as much about getting the clothes back. However, the kindergartner who has an accident daily and has kept or lost over 10 pairs of my pants since September, I have less sympathy for.

(This student does not have a medical problem - she is too embarrassed to use the bathroom at school. We've tried many, many things throughout the year but nothing is working for her. She is also much younger than the other students in her class - only 4 at the start of the year).

We have her sister at my school. The teacher and assistants were"'handling it" by just getting fresh pants. Finally one day the assistant met her limit and came storming down to the clinic with the chid in tow, ranting and raving about all the potty accidents--at least 3/week. Well, this was news to me! I had never seen her even once for incontinence! I didn't do a sweet thing but call the child's mother and ask her to bring clothes. It happened a few more times and EACH and EVERY time I called her mother. AMAZINGly, it took about a week for this girl to get straightened out. She's been dry since January!