Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

7 yo DD told by teacher she had to share her towel with another girl - AIBU to be unhappy about this?

217 replies

VelvetEmbers · 17/09/2014 16:38

Y3 have just started swimming, and this week it's every afternoon.

Last night DD's towel was so sopping wet it looked like she'd thrown it in the pool. She told me she'd "had to share with Anna" (not her real name). Apparently Anna only had a small towel so the teacher told DD she had to share her larger towel.

Wouldn't have been quite so bad had she dried first and handed it over, but apparently they "both dried together".

Sharing towels is an absolute no-no as far as I'm concerned, for hygiene reasons, but I've been on MN for many years and I know some of my views are odd. I also realise that what a 7 yo reports as the truth can be a different version to that of the teacher. BUT assuming this is what happened, WWYD?

OP posts:
CarbeDiem · 17/09/2014 22:48

So all the people who think there's nothing wrong with towel sharing because 'kids are clean' 'it's just a towel'

My ds3 had recurrent worms, every few months they kept coming back no matter what we done. Would you have been happy for your child to be sharing my child's towel?
Thought not.

OP - I would go and speak to the Teacher and make it clear that you don't want it happening again. Christ! I'd even volunteer to donate a clean towel that they could keep for situations in the future.

Greatfalls · 17/09/2014 22:53

Molluscum - nasty (and more of an issue on legs/trunk etc, not hands). Don't share towels.

Janethegirl · 17/09/2014 22:55

No way would I share a towel. I'd write to the school and say never ever again is my dc to share their towel with another child. No f'ing way! It's disgusting. I don't share towels with DH, just gross.
If the school is deciding what size a towel should be, they should inform the parents! My Ds could dry himself with a flannel cos he doesn't care about being dry before getting dressedSmile

sanfairyanne · 17/09/2014 22:58

thing with worms is, kids have horrible hand cleaning habits, hence the three month reinfection thing

i'd hate my kids to be in the same school as anyone with worms, but i just have to grit my teeth and get on with it, while trying to encourage more handwashing and less fingers in mouths. loads of kids have them at some point. a shared towel would be the least of my worries. i am more focused on the day to day grimness of sharing classrooms, toilets, cooking facilities, even the playdough, with other kids worms/germs

sanfairyanne · 17/09/2014 23:00

although i still dont think sharing towels is great

mind you, i dont think it is true either

PumpkinBones · 17/09/2014 23:07

That towel has been on the floor.

whatever5 · 17/09/2014 23:12

I wouldn't be impressed but I wouldn't make a fuss unless it happened again, particularly as your dd's version of events may not be totally correct.

MomOfTwoGirls2 · 17/09/2014 23:17

Send her with a smaller towel next time. One that isn't shareable.

Janethegirl · 17/09/2014 23:24

Grin mom

BackforGood · 17/09/2014 23:31

This is such a non event, I wouldn't do anything, except maybe tell my dd how kind she'd been to share and help out in the circumstances.

I like my own fresh, dry towel myself, and at home all my dc have their own towels etc.,etc., but this was a quick solution to a problem that presented itself, and is really, really, really going to make you look very odd if you go into school and demand your child never helps out ever again, even if it meant another child not being able to get properly dry.

TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 17/09/2014 23:33

This problem could be solved by installing one of those body driers they have at CentreParcs. [gavel]

Surfsup1 · 17/09/2014 23:34

I would say "good girl for sharing".

Shockers · 18/09/2014 06:58

To those who are comparing towels to knickers and loo roll... do you wash your towels after each use?

As a TA who takes children swimming, I would ask in this situation whether anyone would like to share. However, if Anna had a small towel, I would probably tell her to try her best with that first.

The story sounds more like the girls were drying themselves together through choice to me. Perhaps your daughter clocked your horrified face and amended the story slightly...

Panzee · 18/09/2014 07:03

These mucky children have just had a giant chlorine filled bath...

KoalaDownUnder · 18/09/2014 07:14

How ridiculous to compare towels with used loo roll. Nobody is wiping off wee or poo onto a towel after they've just been in a swimming pool! Shock

Y'know, when you're sharing a towel with a friend for a quick dry-off, I'm pretty sure you don't get right in there between your legs for a thorough dry, anyway.

People are so uptight on here! It was a one-off, not a new school policy or something; I really really doubt your child has contracted anything terrible. That's just paranoid beyond belief.

I don't know how your kids are ever going to handle camping or backpacking...

Surfsup1 · 18/09/2014 07:17

Surely sharing a towel is only a major risk for the spread of skin infections etc once you've got past the age where you're likely to cuddle, hug, climb on etc etc your friends while in your swimming costume?

If you're mucking about with close skin contact like any normal 7-12yo then the towel is probably pretty irrelevant.

diddl · 18/09/2014 07:24

It wouldn't gross me out but I'd be curious to know what really happened!

BettyFlour · 18/09/2014 07:26

It's disgusting and I'd complain.

Sunna · 18/09/2014 07:33

I wouldn't make a huge fuss but I would tell the teacher that it was not to happen again. And make it clear to my DC that towel sharing, voluntary or not, is not desirable and to say no.

Surfsup1 · 18/09/2014 07:35

In fact childhood in general is disgusting, someone should complain! Won't somebody think of the disgusting children!!

duchesse · 18/09/2014 07:43

Well, there were very few options I would imagine. Would you have preferred the child get dressed wet?

Of all the daily indignities happening to children all over the world every day (having to walk 2 miles to fetch water for example) having to share a friend's towel once does not rank very high.

YABU. Teacher resolved the problem the best she could. I imagine that "anna" is a good friend of your DD?

Beingfrank · 18/09/2014 09:02

Those of you who worry about towel sharing within the family, do you all have your own bars of soap as well?

I am in the camp that thinks the towel was probably dropped, but even if not i really wouldn't make a fuss. You will have far bigger hygiene concerns one day - eg when she starts kissing boys, or goes to a festival with hideous toilets and showers so grim she decides not to bother for the duration......

BiddyPop · 18/09/2014 09:43

Well in our house, we each have separate towels due to various skin issues. So we don't even share with ourselves.

As a once off emergency, ok, but I would mention it to the teacher that it shouldn't happen again, and if it has to, child with not suitable or no towel should use it after yours, not at the same time. Sure
Y child with smaller towel could use that for the worst and then bigger towel to finish off after?

BiddyPop · 18/09/2014 09:44

Being frank, DH uses a separate bar of soap, but we also adopter liquid soap years ago for general hand washing etc. and everyone has their own shower gel too.

MokunMokun · 18/09/2014 09:48

I'm an adult. I have on occasion dried myself with a hand towel. It was fine.

As I said we don't share towels because of the molluscum problem. I don't believe it's a big issue for hands so we share hand towels but not body towels. We use liquid soap.

I don't think sharing a towel is really disgusting or anything but there are a lot of skin conditions that can be passed on through towel contact so I don't think it is good for schools to encourage towel sharing.

Swipe left for the next trending thread