“Are You Freaking Kidding Me?” — Principal Slams Parents of Un-Potty Trained Kindergartners

An irate school principal was flummoxed to learn that there's a school that allows kindergartners to go about their classroom activities without being potty trained.

Leigh M. Ragsdale, who goes by The Unorthodox Principal (@theunorthodoxprincipal) posted a TikTok about an interaction she had on Oct. 1, 2024, at a coffee shop.

During the bewildering conversation, which she recounted in a clip that garnered over 69,000 views on the popular social media platform, she said she spoke to the daughter of a fellow educator. The young woman informed her of un-potty trained, non-special needs children in her mother's classroom. This discovery floored Ragsdale.

"You won't believe what I just heard. Like, you won't believe it. So I was just at our local little coffee shop, just to prove that I'm here right now," she says, after briefly flipping the camera orientation around to show that she's not fibbing about where she's at.

The TikToker continued, "So of course I was ear hustling, cause I can't freaking help it. It's like my ADHD and there are these two darling young little college girls next to me. And they were talking about their education classes and what they were doing."

Continuing to listen in on the kids' conversation, the TikToker relayed more particulars about the nature of their talk. She did say that she had to jump into their discussion and introduce herself as the Unorthodox Principal that she touts herself as on TikTok.

"And what they were teaching and so of course, you know ... I couldn't just sit there I had to strike up a convo with them. And we got to talking and this one girl said, 'Oh yeah, my mom has taught kindergarten for 30 years.'"

"I was like, 'Oh my gosh, that's awesome.' She goes, 'Yeah, she has one more year and then she retires and it's so great.'"

While all of that seemed fine and dandy, Leigh goes on to detail that what the young woman said next made her ears perk up a little bit.

"And then she said, 'Yeah, it's a real struggle this year because ... they have over five kindergartners who are not potty trained and are not special education.'"

Leigh was floored by this revelation: "Are you freaking kidding me?"

She couldn't believe that there were parents sending their kids to school who still didn't know how to use the bathroom by themselves and not pee or poop their pants. "Are you freaking out of your mind?" she said.

The educator went on to express her outrage over this discovery: "When in the hell are we going to start holding parents accountable to do their damn job. Potty train your kids. Schools literally can't do it all. It cannot rest on our shoulders any longer."

She furthered her message in another caption for her video, which stated, "Parents, it is NOT the school’s responsibility to potty train your damn kids! PERIOD! Enough is enough!"

The principal also welcomed TikTokers in the comments section of the video to "please disagree with" her.

There were many who didn't disagree, however. One person said that the Center for Disease Control has come to expect less of America's students, as well.

"The CDC has lowered the standards for childhood milestones, too!"

One TikTok user said that folks are always flip-flopping on how little/much schools are doing: "My favorite is when parents say the school controls too many things then the next sentence is why aren’t the schools doing XYZ. Schools can’t win."

The Unorthodox Principal agreed with the aforementioned sentiment, writing back: "Omg! ALWAYS! It’s so exhausting!"

Another parent replied in the comments section that their children weren't even allowed to attend preschool unless they could use the bathroom by themselves.

What do you think? For all the parents out there: at what age did you potty train your children and does your school allow kindergartners to attend if they need help going to the bathroom or if they're wearing diapers? Is the thought of a child in kindergarten wearing a diaper seem foreign or strange to you?