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03rd Sep 2023

Mum left shocked after teacher tells her daughter to ‘hold in’ her period

Ellen Fitzpatrick

A mum has shared her shock after a male teacher told her daughter to “hold in” her period after asking to use the toilet while at school.

Sharing the bizarre story on Mumsnet, the mother told the forum that her daughter was left in an embarrassed state after the male teacher made the unexpected comment.

The mum explained that her daughter, who was 15 at the time, was attending a school that had a “no going to the toilet during lesson time rule”.

“Which I completely agree with on the whole as I know how disruptive it can be if people are constantly in and out, and how everyone just uses it as an excuse to bunk off (I am a teacher too – very different environment though),” she added.

The only time a student was allowed to use the toilet was if they had a medical note from a doctor.

“Today in one of her lessons DD [dear daughter] says she could feel that she really needed to change her pad, she was getting quite worried about it leaking,” the mum said.

“She eventually asked the (male) teacher if she could go to the loo.”

She then went on to explain how the conversation went down between her daughter and the teacher.

She said: “Teacher: No, you know the rules / DD: I really need it. / Teacher: What did I just say? / DD: It’s a girl problem… /Teacher: What do you mean? /DD: Umm… I’m on my period /Teacher: Break is only in half an hour, hold it in [sic] til then.”

The mum went on: “Obviously those aren’t the exact words said but she says it’s pretty accurate. DD is quite shy so did just wait til break (no leakage btw).

“She doesn’t seem overly bothered but AIBU [am I being unreasonable] to be pretty shocked at him telling her to hold it in? Surely even men have some basic idea that it doesn’t work like that?”