Teacher Gets Fired After Denying Menstruating Teen Access to the Restroom, Internet Deems Teen's Protective Mother a Hero

Author image for Sienna Varady
Sienna Varady
Apr 1, 2024 8:00 AM EDT

Teens, especially young females, should be treated with grace and compassion. Given their daily struggles with drastic bodily changes, hormone imbalances, and, well, the bizarre social environment they live in, one would think that a person in a position of power would make an effort to lead by kindness and example.

But in the story that follows, the exact opposite occurs. The Original Poster (OP) is the mother of a thirteen-year-old teenage girl. OP's daughter called one day, sobbing, saying that since she wasn't allowed to use the restroom during class, her period had completely destroyed her clothes. Understandably appalled by the lack of compassion her daughter's teacher has shown her, OP rushes to the school in an attempt to console her daughter as well as scold the entitled teacher.

Naturally, things got out of hand very quickly, so OP turned to Reddit to try and determine whether she was in the right or whether her maternal instincts had gotten the better of her. Therefore, if you're interested in learning exactly what happened, be sure to check out the screenshots below! Additionally, once you've finished reading, don't forget to check out the article about the women who share green flags to look out for in female friendships!

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  • 01
    I am 40 female. I have a daughter that's 12 in sixth grade. Yesterday she got her period in English class. She asked the teacher if she could use the restroom and the teacher refused to let her go. When my daughter asked her why she couldn't go, her teacher told her she could just hold it in. My daughter told her that she really needed to go but her teacher still refused and said that she could wait until class ended.
    via canva
  • 02
    AITBA for yelling at my daughter's teacher?
    via u/Far-Examination-3601
  • 03
    I am 40 female. I have a daughter that's 12 in sixth grade. Yesterday she got her period in English class. She asked the teacher if she could use the restroom and the teacher refused to let her go. When my daughter asked her why she couldn't go, her teacher told her she could just hold it in. My daughter told her that she really needed to go but her teacher still refused and said that she could wait until class ended. My daughter never said anything else and just obeyed the teacher. After her
    via u/Far-Examination-3601
  • 04
    English class, it was her lunch period. She called me in the bathroom sobbing because she didn't have any supplies. I immediately drove to the school and helped her through it. When she told me what happened in English class I was furious. I barged into her teacher's classroom and confronted her about it. She told me to get over it and that she didn't know what was going on. Then she blamed my daughter for not explaining herself. I yelled at
    via u/Far-Examination-3601
  • 05
    her for being a bad teacher. I regret saying that to her now and I don't know if I overreacted or not. I've always just been the overprotective mother. Let me make some edits. 1. How is my child supposed to just say "I'm on my period" in front of everyone? 2. Now that I've thought it over and read some of your comments I have decided that we were both in the wrong here.
    via u/Far-Examination-3601
  • 06
    3. It wasn't just me who got the teacher fired. There were a couple more reasons of why the school decided to fire her. 4. There is no school nurse in this school, also no products. (Which is insane!) If you get hurt or anything, you get sent home. 5. Thank you for giving me a different perspective, especially from teachers/parents.
    via u/Far-Examination-3601
  • 07
    6. I know, I made a big mistake but not packing products. I didn't know that the school didn't have any product until this actually happened. But either way I should've been prepared. 7. I don't know if this is important, but just in case, I am president of the PTA parent board. 8. When I confronted the teacher no students were present in her class. I would never confront a teacher if there were students present.
    via u/Far-Examination-3601
  • 08
    wovenriddles NTBA. I remember being 11 or so and having to pee so bad, and I begged my teacher who refused to allow me to use the bathroom. I peed my pants right there in front of the entire class. It's traumatizing. My mom had to come bring me new clothes to change into and everything.
    via u/wovenriddles
  • 09
    Error_Evan_not_found I had a friend who got yelled at by a teacher for not paying attention to where the bathrooms were at a track meet (at a completely different school for crying out
    via u/Error_Evan_not_found
  • 10
    loud). She peed herself on the lineup in front of ~500 students we'd be going to middle school the next year with. She moved to Florida over that summer.
    via u/Error_Evan_not_found
  • 11
    lolurawful Same here, first grade though. Peed my pants in the hallway because teacher told me I couldn't leave class.. Went to principals office to call my mom. So embarrassing.
    via u/lolurawful
  • 12
    SourSkittlezx NTA My son is in 8th grade and they have 3 digital bathroom passes per "trimester" so only 9 the whole 180 days of school. He's 14 and I said "how do the girls who are just starting to get their period handle that?!" And he said "if they ask the nurse they get like 2 extra." And I'm so furious.
    via u/SourSkittlezx
  • 13
    I told my kids "unless you are having a lockdown or fire drill, or standardized test(because they'll fail them) if you ask to go to the bathroom and the teacher says no, and its an emergency, you have my permission to go. If you get in trouble, I'll go down there and let the administration know that if they deny my children use of the bathroom at least once per
    via u/SourSkittlezx
  • 14
    day (8 hour school day!) then they'll be getting doctors notes. If they continue to deny bathroom breaks with the doctors notes, they'll be hearing from my lawyer."
    via u/SourSkittlezx
  • 15
    POAndrea NTBA. It's bad classroom and/or school policy that doesn't allow children to attend to basic physical needs, whatever those may be. Your daughter shouldn't have needed to prove to the teacher that her reason was good enough by telling her why.
    via u/POAndrea
  • 16
    A couple years ago I was watching my grands while their folks took an anniversary trip and was called to come to the school for a disciplinary meeting with the principal. Apparently, my 9 year old grandson had drhea in the corner of the classroom after his teacher not only told him he couldn't go to the bathroom but physically prevented him from leaving the class. He wanted
    via u/POAndrea
  • 17
    to discuss what punishment would best "teach him a lesson." I pointed out that the only lesson to be learned here is the concept of "limited authority." The teacher's inability to recognize that another's bathroom need is not something over which they have unilateral control not only cost my grandson nearly an entire day of instruction, but significantly disrupted the learning of all the other
    via u/POAndrea
  • 18
    students. (The classroom truly was unusable for the rest of the day.) Sometimes even adults can't just "hold it in", whether "it" is menstrual bl d or loose st I from nerves over the soccer team tryout after school. It is unnecessarily humiliating for
    via u/POAndrea
  • 19
    anyone to have to justify the need to attend to their own body by discussing it with or seeking permission from another, even if it's not in front of 30 of their peers.
    via u/POAndrea
  • 20
    mamabear-50 What was the outcome of the meeting?
    via u/mamabear-50
  • 21
    POAndrea Absolutely nothing, though he was never denied permission to use the restroom ever again. (And he made the soccer team.) I do wish they'd made a policy where other children were allowed to go whenever they needed, but that didn't happen.
    via u/POAndrea
  • 22
    Affectionate_Salt351 NTBA. This teacher needs to get it together. Beyond that, assure your daughter that she doesn't have to listen to authority figures when it comes to needing the bathroom. She's allowed to leave regardless of what they say.
    via u/Affectionate_Salt351
  • 23
    OhNoNotAgain1532 I had to do that once in gym class. 9th grade, we were doing aerobics, felt one of those gushes, asked to leave, was told no. I stated I needed to change my pad, was told no again. I just left, calmly changed the pad, came back, finished the class. I was never talked to about it.
    via u/OhNoNotAgain1532
  • 24
    raging_phoenix_eyes You did the right thing.
    via u/raging_phoenix_eyes
  • 25
    serioussparkles OMG did that horrible teacher want a TWELVE year old girl to announce her period to the ENTIRE CLASS?!?!? I don't think you said enough, honestly. She needs training, go to the super!
    via u/serioussparkles

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