AIBU to think child might struggle to poop in a hole in the woods?

[wldpwr]

If you have a child aged 4, 5 or 6...

... full day of childcare in the woods, only option for number two is 1) notify teacher, 2) teacher digs small hole, 3) child poops in hole, 4) teacher covers hole and helps child clean up.

YABU = my kid could cope with this, no problem

YANBU = this sounds like something my kid might find weird or difficult

Thanks!

I think it’s the cleanup that bothers me. Clean up with what? How?

My kids have never to my knowledge pooped at school so they’d just wait to come home (assuming the day is like 8-6 or school hours). I have no issues with kids learning how to wild camp and such but feel it would be quite intrusive to have some teacher help them manage. And would have a lot of questions about wiping and hand washing as even if it wasn’t them, it will be someone and then they’ll all be touching all the same stuff 🤮

agree. You shouldn't bury loo paper or wipes and hand sanitiser is not going to be anygood for removing poo from skin without using something wipey to wipe with. Sanitiser only works on clean hands, not hands with "matter" on.

I don't think DS would have coped with this no. There's a privacy and dignity issue with a teacher having to help a child who normally toilets independently. And it's not very inclusive (DS has Cerebral Palsy and Autism and I think both of these would have caused him issues). A toilet tent and a camping loo would be a pretty low cost alternative.

At about 8 mine was abroad and wouldnt poop or even wee because the toilet used foam not water..
And also that year needed a wee but wouldnt go on the plane as the toilet room was tiny and next to the crew sat there.
so i would say no.
other kid can take ages pooping so couldnt be squatting outside

Agree, we were just discussing this, unfortunately they move around the woods during the day so they couldn't set anything up for the day.

In the hole?

I would not be sending my kid here! I don't think this is something that should be normalised

My two DS used to go to cub/ scouts and camp, different place for the “loo” was dug every year. A weeks camp.

Surely they wont all need to take a dump on a day out!!

Sanitiser also doesn’t kill norovirus, so isn’t a great solution in these circumstances.

Unlike you and my other llama @Llamallamafruitpyjama friend, it's not that simple to just not poo when out for many people.

With my IBS I would have to fast from the previous day and take a shitload (pardon the pun) of immodium and reduce water intake to avoid pooing on a hike and even then it wouldn't be guaranteed.

@wldpwr Regarding this as a routine plan for a group of children I don't think it's a good one. Especially not the leaving poo everywhere. Or the safeguarding aspect of either others seeing them poo, or having to go far enough away to poo with privacy that they are quite a way from the rest of the group. No idea what the clean up arrangements would be but I can't imagine they would be satisfactory for anything but an emergency, not a regular arrangement.

Mine would be horrified but then I'd never send mine to a childcare in the woods

We had to do this on an outing during Covid! Classic timing from DS who was 8 at the time no toilets open so there I was digging holes and burying poo in the most remote part I could find in the gardens of a local attraction!!

Yup. too old and broken to hike now but I have done it at need for the same reason. I am kind of puzzled though because I am a city child, forest school wasn't a thing when I was a child and nobody ever taught me to do it that I can recall. I mean in toddlerhood a parent might have held me over a hole at need on a beach holiday but not in a sense of teaching how to do it.
Honestly it sounds to me like one of those 'what to do in a forest school" brainstorming sessions...and maybe ok in summer in easy to pull down and keep out of the way clothes but less do-able and more risky in winter in coats, wellies and waterproof trousers?

🤣🤣🤣

I couldn’t put my children in a childcare situation where they wouldn’t have safe appropriate and hygienic toilet facilities.
Privacy when toileting and soap and water for cleaning hands afterwards are non-negotiable.

Additionally, how are the adults ensuring they’re not disturbing a recent used hole? How fast can they dig if someone has a sudden need? How many adults do they have to maintain safe ratios, if one, two or more children need to toilet simultaneously because those children need privacy from each other and cannot be left with a solo adult.

That’s a WTF childcare solution 😂 I voted YANBU because my 8 year old daughter would freak out. My 4 year old boy would love it but ew no.

How on earth did people manage in history, why are we all so precious now

They would just get on with it like every other child that has done in previous years there i suppose

I am assuming you aren't 4 year old though.

We had an allotment and my 3 DC favourite activity was pooing in a hole.
(Arguably not an exciting childhood!)

because when you know better, you do better....

My two have attended 3 forest school settings and all had a contingency for poos. Wees were done at a designated tree but poos required a trip to a toilet tent or composting loo. I don't think it's right for a setting to ask kids to poo in a hole. Settings should be all about developing independence and I think it's likely that usually independent toileters would need a lot of help with this - especially, as pp said, in the many layers of winter gear they will soon be in!

Edit to ask - are the staff expected to do this also or are they provided with better facilities??

I just know that as a 5 year old pooing in the woods would have been my worst nightmare!

Even the actual school toilets were grim in my primary school the 80s as many were in blocks outdoors, complete with top flush chains, spiders & the infamous Izal ‘tracing paper’ loo roll (so which absolute numpty back in the day invented a type of toilet paper that doesn’t even do the job properly??).

I think mine would if it was us out for the day, but with a teacher absolutely no way!

What? 😲 You can't squat and wee like women everywhere in the whole world have done for millennia?