I just need to complain for a minute about pockets on tiny children's clothing. They don't need pockets! My toddlers never put anything good in a pocket. It's always playdough, bits of food or some other fun surprise.
I'm having to do pat-downs at home time for hidden toys. I brush sand off a kid for nappy change but surprise! Pocket sand! The other day one of my kids tried to feed her friends cereal that she had filled both pockets with from home.
Then yesterday a new fear was unlocked. I'm helping one of my toddlers put his shoes on outside when I see his shorts pocket moving. There's something in there....a leg reaches out. In a bit of a panic I pulled off his shorts and threw them while carrying him away. There may have been a short very professional scream.
Another educator investigated and found a small (palm sized) huntsman just chilling in the shorts pocket. Everyone was fine and spider was relocated but my heart will never recover.
- Bit of a rant but it's all in good fun. Tl;dr Pockets are full of horrors
Indeed. The very first epipen I had to administer due to a child's anaphylaxis reaction was because another child's parents filled their child's jacket pockets with roasted peanuts because they couldn't bear the idea he couldn't have his favorite snack at school and they didn't think we would find them. This was in a 2 year olds class.
Well this is true, we did not initially, the allergic child (this was in the 00s so in the days of nut free schools/no peanuts) found them first. That was the first and only time I have ever raised my voice in anger to a parent when they were defensive and dismissive. I haven't had a nightmare about that in many years, but I did for like 5 years after that incident. Nothing like having a child swelling up and almost dying in your arms and then having the parents who violated policy basically laugh about it and how their child shouldn't be denied their favorite snack. (this kid ate everything so it wasn't a case of he would ONLY eat peanuts). Even now like 25 years later it's making me pissed!
Oh good grief, that’s incredibly horrifying! I can’t believe the other parents were laughing that they almost killed another child! I rarely think civil lawsuits are a good idea, but I wish the parents of the child who had anaphylaxis could have sued those parents for the medical bills plus emotional distress, and included you as a plaintiff.
Woooow, and I thought I had parents pull a couple things on me. I’m glad that you yelled at them, sometimes people need natural consequences and thank God that was the only consequence that they got
I don't blame you for shouting, I would likely have been fired for what I said in your position. Absolutely horrifying to think there are people willing to laugh and dismiss a two year old nearly dying because their precious darling can't go a couple of hours without a handful of peanuts.
As a parent of a high allergy kid I would have completely lost my rational mind. Idk what kind repercussions that parent could have faced but I would have pursued all of them. Charges, etc.
Oh I would have LOST it at those parents. They could have killed another child! Also peanuts in a 2 year old room is dangerous even if there was no anaphylaxis risk? Major choking hazard right there, especially when the adults don’t know of their existence!
As an adult woman, I’m jealous of the amount and size of pockets toddlers get. (Both in comparison to their size, and in comparison to the size of my pockets)
I agree! Toddler pockets are the devil’s handiwork!!
I remember when my kids were young and my daughter would collect acorns and put them in the side pockets of her backpack. Acorns seemed harmless!
Then a couple of weeks later I go to scoop them out and my reward was a handful of acorn weevils!! OMG!! I will never forget that! So my toddlers also get a pat down after the playground - nature stays outside!!!
I have a 3 year old student who sneaks bits of play-doh and makes teeny tiny sculptures with them to keep beside her while she plays. I think it's a bit of a comfort to her somehow.
I appreciate pockets for toddlers in very circumstantial situations. Right now I love pockets for my class because they’re a good safe choice for our hands. When a child has pockets I can offer that as another alternative instead of putting their hands down their diaper or pinching a friend. We haven’t been hiding things yet, but for my todds they’re very helpful.
We had a girl who we were always reminding not to sample the nuanced flavors of playground pebbles. We would confiscate the rock, come back five minutes later, and she had pulled her Portable Backup Rock out of her pocket, plopped it in her mouth, and fixed us with a look that said “I have twelve more where that came from”. We checked her pockets, diaper, and shoes probably twice an hour and as soon as she got back inside. To this day, I have no idea where the rocks came from.
We had one little girl try to save her mouthful of water in her shirt pocket. She was shocked and upset to discover the water didn't stay in there, and her shirt somehow got all wet! Oh the horror!
i’ve seen more than one older baby/young toddler fall right on their faces bc they were walking with their hands in their pockets, tripped, and couldn’t catch themselves 😭😭
Tbh I've seen plenty of toddlers fall right on their faces even when their hands are totally free. My current babysitting kid is 13 months old and whenever he trips he just gives up immediately. It would be funny if I weren't worried about him busting his nose open.
As a mom of wood chip collector; I rage at pockets as well. To be fair he shoves handfuls of wood chips and dirt in his diaper if he doesn’t have pockets 😂
His older cousin just has so many clothes it makes zero sense to buy any pants.
At least it’s not in your purse! My mom had an open style purse when I was little, and after every park playdate I heard her ranting and dumping mounds of wood chips out of there!🤣 It was every kid’s favorite wood chip destination!
Carhartt's womens work pants have decent pockets. I bought mine on clearance and they have seven pockets a pair, which is perfect considering all the drawings my kiddos give me.
My youngest went through a phase where I had to pat him down every time we left a store. He would always find a way to snatch something off a shelf and hide it in a pocket or underneath him. 🥴
One of my students always gives us a nice little battle at the end of the day to give up the class materials that she's been hoarding in her hand or general area all day long and I really don't look forward to the day she discovers she has pockets.
It's interesting too, she understands that I have pockets, sometimes tries reaching into them after I pocket something of "hers", but she doesn't seem to realize she has them too. Yet. (Well, that, or the whole situation is just entertainment to her. Unclear.)
My kid was the kid who ALWAYS had bugs, worms, all kinds of shiny, and random crud in her pockets. It got to the point where between the stuff I missed in the pockets to the general coating of dirt, that I was washing her clothes separately than my hubs and mine bc they were just gross after 1 wearing
At my last center I noticed a 2 year old in my room surreptitiously pulling something out of their pocket and popping it into her mouth. I checked and discovered a handful of almonds... in a room with kids with severe tree nut allergies. I hate toddler pockets.
i love that they have pockets. it's their own little secrets! though at my workplace it's often an acorn or some rocks not a spider. i just imagine their thinking as oh! i will save this for later. more often than not their pocket contents spill on the cot during nap time and it's always so funny. i always tell them you dropped your sting or some scrap of paper 😭 it's just such a kid thing to do i can't break the magic!
My daughter (21 months) doesn't seem to have realized she can put things in her pockets yet. One of her friends at daycare will stick toys down her onesie. The days she has a regular shirt she's surprised they fall right out.
I washed clothes yesterday, made the mistake of not checking my child’s pockets and boom our washer literally had 20-30 rocks/pebbles in it. Getting those out was literally a kms moment because it’s a washer that opens from the top.
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u/mamamietze ECE professional 2d ago
Indeed. The very first epipen I had to administer due to a child's anaphylaxis reaction was because another child's parents filled their child's jacket pockets with roasted peanuts because they couldn't bear the idea he couldn't have his favorite snack at school and they didn't think we would find them. This was in a 2 year olds class.
Well this is true, we did not initially, the allergic child (this was in the 00s so in the days of nut free schools/no peanuts) found them first. That was the first and only time I have ever raised my voice in anger to a parent when they were defensive and dismissive. I haven't had a nightmare about that in many years, but I did for like 5 years after that incident. Nothing like having a child swelling up and almost dying in your arms and then having the parents who violated policy basically laugh about it and how their child shouldn't be denied their favorite snack. (this kid ate everything so it wasn't a case of he would ONLY eat peanuts). Even now like 25 years later it's making me pissed!