📚 Clayesmore School: Many Older Swiss Pupils Are Wearing Diapers to School, Raising Teacher Concerns | Clayesmore School：许多瑞士大孩子穿着尿布上学，引起老师的关注
In schools across Switzerland, a pattern that once sounded like an isolated anecdote has become a genuine talking point among staff rooms, parents' evenings and education-news readers: pupils well past kindergarten age are still arriving at school in disposable diapers. Teachers describe children of seven, eight, and in some cases ten or eleven, who cannot manage a toilet independently, and schools are now forced to debate a question that used to belong entirely to the nursery.
在瑞士各地的校园里，一种原本听起来像是个别传闻的现象，如今已成为教师办公室、家长会与教育资讯读者之间真正的讨论话题：早已过了幼儿园年龄的学生，仍穿着一次性纸尿裤来上学。教师们描述了 7 岁、8 岁，甚至 10 岁、11 岁仍无法独立如厕的孩子，而学校如今不得不讨论一个原本完全属于托儿所的问题。
What makes the story worth studying rather than merely repeating is that it is not really about diapers. It is about what happens when a basic self-care milestone is postponed, and the cost of that postponement is quietly transferred from the family to the classroom. As schools such as Clayesmore School and many international counterparts emphasise, self-reliance is a skill that has to be taught, not a stage that simply arrives on its own.
这则新闻之所以值得研究而不只是转发，是因为它本质上并不是关于纸尿裤的。它关乎的是：当一项基本的自理能力里程碑被推迟，而这种推迟的代价被悄悄从家庭转移到教室时，会发生什么。正如 Clayesmore School 以及许多国际学校所强调的，自立是一项必须被教导的技能，而不是一个会自己到来的阶段。
1. The Core Phenomenon | 现象核心
The basic observation reported by Swiss teachers is straightforward: a growing number of school-age children wear disposable diapers during the school day. Crucially, the group is not limited to the youngest pupils in kindergarten; a significant share are older children, with some aged ten or eleven, meaning the issue continues long after the usual toilet-training window has closed.
瑞士教师所报告的基本观察很直接：越来越多学龄儿童在上学期间穿着一次性纸尿裤。关键在于，这个群体并不局限于幼儿园里最小的孩子；其中相当一部分是年龄较大的儿童，有些已经 10 岁或 11 岁，这意味着该问题在通常的如厕训练窗口关闭很久之后仍在延续。
The phenomenon is reported across multiple cantons rather than in a single town, which is why teachers' associations treat it as a structural issue rather than a collection of individual misfortunes. A child who cannot use a toilet independently affects the whole class: routines slow down, excursions become complicated, and staff must decide in advance who, if anyone, is responsible for a change.
该现象在多个州被报告，而非只出现在某一个城镇，这正是教师协会将其视为结构性问题、而不是一连串个人不幸的原因。一个无法独立如厕的孩子会影响整个班级：日常流程变慢，外出活动变得复杂，教职员工必须事先决定，如果真要有人负责更换，那个人究竟是谁。
2. How Widespread Is It? Ages, Cantons and Evidence | 波及范围：年龄、州与证据
Reports suggest the issue is spread unevenly but widely. Aargau is one of the cantons where school leadership has already acted, and similar accounts come from other German-speaking regions. The age distribution is the part that most alarms teachers: the presence of ten- and eleven-year-olds shows that this is not simply a matter of slow development in five-year-olds.
相关报告显示，该问题的分布并不均匀，但范围很广。阿尔高州是校方已采取行动的州之一，类似情况也出现在其他德语区。最令教师警觉的是年龄分布：10 岁、11 岁孩子的存在说明，这并不只是 5 岁儿童发展较慢的问题。
| Age band | 年龄段 | Typical developmental expectation | 典型发展预期 | Why school-age use is unusual | 学龄期仍使用为何异常 |
| 2-4 years | 2-4 岁 | Learning toilet independence with adult guidance | 在成人引导下学习独立如厕 | Normal training window | 正常的训练窗口 |
| 5-7 years | 5-7 岁 | Independent toileting at school | 在校独立如厕 | Occasional accidents are expected; daily diapers are not | 偶发失误可理解，日常使用纸尿裤则不然 |
| 10-11 years | 10-11 岁 | Full self-care in PE, trips and overnight stays | 在体育课、出游与过夜活动中完全自理 | Indicates a deeper cause: family, medical or psychological | 指向更深层原因：家庭、医学或心理 |
3. What Schools Are Doing: Notices and Deadlines | 学校应对：通知与期限
School leaders have begun to respond in practical, sometimes blunt, ways. One head teacher formally required parents to guarantee that their child would be able to use the toilet independently after the summer holidays, effectively setting a deadline rather than allowing the situation to drift from year to year.
学校管理层已开始以务实、有时甚至颇为直白的方式回应。一位校长正式要求家长保证孩子暑假过后能够独立如厕，这实际上是设下了一个期限，而不是任由状况一年一年拖下去。
Other schools have issued written notices stating that teachers are not obliged to change pupils' diapers. These letters are not written out of unkindness; they are written to protect teaching time and to make the boundary of responsibility explicit before a conflict arises in the middle of a lesson.
另一些学校则发出书面通知，声明教师没有为学生更换纸尿裤的义务。这些通知并非出于不友善，而是为了保护教学时间，并在冲突于课堂中间爆发之前，把责任边界说清楚。
The very existence of such measures signals both prevalence and urgency. A school does not issue a policy about an event that never happens.
这类措施的存在本身就同时说明了普遍性与紧迫性。学校不会为一件从未发生的事制定政策。
4. The Family's First Responsibility | 家庭的第一责任
Dagmar Rösler, president of the Swiss teachers' association, has stated clearly that equipping a school-age child with basic self-care skills is first and foremost a family duty. When a child reaches school age and still depends on diapers, the cause is usually traceable to early parenting practice, including a lack of systematic toilet training.
瑞士教师协会主席达格玛·罗斯勒明确指出，让学龄儿童具备基本自理能力，首先是家庭的职责。当一个孩子到了入学年龄仍依赖纸尿裤，原因通常可以追溯到早期养育方式，包括缺少系统的如厕训练。
This is not an accusation aimed at individual parents so much as a description of a shift: the tasks that families once handled as a matter of course are increasingly expected to be absorbed by institutions. Once that expectation settles in, the child is the one who pays, because independence is learned through practice and patience, not through outsourcing.
与其说是对个别家长的指责，不如说这是在描述一种转变：曾经由家庭理所当然承担的任务，如今越来越被期望由机构消化。一旦这种期望固定下来，付出代价的是孩子本人，因为独立是通过练习与耐心学会的，而不是通过外包获得的。
5. Why Modern Diapers Make Things Worse | 现代纸尿裤为何让问题更糟
One widely discussed explanation is technological. Contemporary disposable diapers are extremely absorbent, comfortable and discreet, and many are designed to look like ordinary underwear. That combination removes almost all of the discomfort that used to motivate a child - and a parent - to complete toilet training.
一个被广泛讨论的解释与技术有关。当代一次性纸尿裤吸水性极强、舒适度高、隐蔽性好，许多款式还被设计得像普通内衣。这种组合几乎消除了过去促使孩子与家长完成如厕训练的全部不适感。
Convenience then does the rest. If a family is on a long journey, or if a child is tired at night, using a diaper feels like the sensible option. Repeated over months, these sensible individual decisions can quietly postpone the period in which a child masters independent toileting.
接下来是便利性在起作用。如果一家人正在长途旅行，或者孩子在夜里很疲惫，使用纸尿裤看起来是明智之选。但当这样的选择连续重复数月，这些单独看都合理的决定，就会悄悄推迟孩子掌握独立如厕能力的关键期。
Convenience × Frequency → Delay in independence | 便利 × 频率 → 独立能力延迟
6. When the Cause Is Psychological | 心理层面的成因
Not every case is a matter of habit or convenience. Child psychotherapist Felix Hof has shared the case of a seven-year-old boy whose toilet-training ability regressed after family conflict, so that he had to return to wearing diapers. Here the diaper is not the problem; it is a visible symptom of emotional distress.
并非每个个案都源于习惯或便利。儿童心理治疗师菲利克斯·霍夫分享过一个案例：一名 7 岁男孩在家庭冲突之后如厕能力出现退行，最终不得不重新使用纸尿裤。在这里，纸尿裤不是问题本身，而是情绪困扰的一种可见症状。
Regression of this kind is a recognised response to stress, and it deserves a professional response rather than punishment or public embarrassment. This distinction matters enormously for schools: a child who has never been trained and a child who has lost the skill need completely different kinds of support.
这类退行是对压力的一种被认可的反应，它需要专业回应，而不是惩罚或公开羞辱。这一区分对学校极为重要：从未被训练过的孩子，与失去已有技能的孩子，需要完全不同的支持方式。
7. The Social Cost Inside School | 校园内的社交代价
The academic impact of the issue is modest compared with its social impact. In the classroom a diaper is invisible; in the changing room it is not. Physical education and swimming lessons are exactly the situations where the secret becomes impossible to keep, and where a child is most exposed.
与社交影响相比，该问题对学业的影响较为有限。在教室里，纸尿裤是看不见的；在更衣室里则不是。体育课与游泳课恰恰是秘密无法保住的情境，也是孩子最容易暴露的时刻。
Once classmates know, the risk of teasing and exclusion rises sharply, and children of ten or eleven are at the age when peer judgement bites hardest. The consequence is a cruel loop: the very support that was meant to spare the child embarrassment may become the source of a deeper social wound.
一旦同学知道，被嘲笑与排斥的风险就会大幅上升，而 10 岁、11 岁的孩子正处于同伴评价最刺痛的年龄。结果是一个残酷的循环：原本用来避免孩子尴尬的支持，可能反而成为更深社交创伤的来源。
- Teasing and name-calling after PE or swimming | 体育课或游泳之后被嘲笑、起绰号
- Withdrawal from team activities and overnight trips | 退出集体活动与过夜出游
- Loss of confidence that spreads into academic work | 自信心受损并蔓延到学业表现
8. The Teacher's Dilemma | 教师的两难
Teachers describe a genuine conflict. On one hand they have a duty of care towards every pupil in the room; on the other, personal hygiene support of this kind lies outside their professional training and cannot be delivered without cost.
教师们描述的是一种真实的冲突。一方面，他们对教室里的每个学生都负有照护责任；另一方面，这类个人卫生协助超出了他们的专业训练范围，而且不可能零成本地完成。
Frequent changes consume teaching time and emotional energy, and they disrupt the rhythm of a lesson for thirty other children. A teacher who leaves the room to handle a change is not merely performing a task; they are making an educational trade-off that nobody formally authorised.
频繁更换会消耗教学时间与情绪精力，也会打断另外三十个孩子的课堂节奏。一位离开教室去处理更换的教师，并不只是在完成一项事务；他们是在做一项从未被正式授权的教育取舍。
This is why the profession's response has focused on clarity rather than generosity: define who does what, in writing, before the situation arises.
这就是为什么业界回应的重点落在明确性而非慷慨上：在情况发生之前，以书面形式界定谁做什么。
9. School Management and the Home-School Boundary | 学校管理与家校边界
At management level, the phenomenon adds workload and legal exposure. Schools are being pushed to write explicit policies that separate educational tasks from care tasks, so that staffing and budgets are directed at teaching rather than at provision that properly belongs to the family.
在管理层面，该现象增加了工作量与潜在责任风险。学校被迫制定明确政策，把教学任务与照护任务区分开来，从而让人员与预算投向教学，而不是投向本应属于家庭的照护工作。
| Responsible party | 责任方 | Core duty | 核心职责 | Boundary | 边界 |
| Family | 家庭 | Toilet training, routines, medical checks | 如厕训练、日常作息、医学检查 | Cannot be delegated to teachers | 不可转嫁给教师 |
| School | 学校 | Teaching, safeguarding, accessible toilets | 教学、安全保护、可用的厕所设施 | Not a personal-care service | 不是个人护理服务机构 |
| Health professionals | 专业医护 | Assessment and treatment of underlying causes | 对潜在成因的评估与治疗 | Requires parental consent and referral | 需要家长同意与转介 |
10. The Commercial Layer | 商业层面的推动
There is also a market dimension. Demand for larger-size children's disposable diapers has been growing in the Swiss market, which is indirect but telling evidence that older users are not a rarity. Products exist because someone is buying them.
这里还存在市场层面。瑞士市场对大尺码儿童一次性纸尿裤的需求持续增长，这是一种间接却有力的证据，说明年龄较大的使用者并非罕见。产品之所以存在，是因为有人在购买。
Media reports have even featured advertisements in which primary-school parents openly seek to hire someone specifically to help change diapers. Such arrangements move a private parenting matter into the public sphere, and they risk normalising the idea that training can simply be purchased rather than taught.
媒体报道中甚至出现了这样的广告：小学生家长公开聘请专人专门协助更换纸尿裤。这类安排把原本属于家庭私域的养育问题带入公共视野，并且有可能把"训练可以购买，而不必教导"这一观念正常化。
11. What Educators Recommend | 教育界的建议
Educators such as Margrit Stamm argue that parents need to receive one clear message: a diaper is a transitional tool, not a permanent solution. Children should learn to use the toilet at an appropriate age, generally between two and four, through patient guidance rather than pressure or punishment.
玛格丽特·斯塔姆等教育家主张，家长需要接收到一个清晰的信息：纸尿裤只是过渡性工具，而不是长久的解决办法。孩子应当在合适的年龄，一般在 2 到 4 岁之间，通过耐心引导而非施压或惩罚来学习自己上厕所。
Recommended toilet-training window: 2-4 years old | 建议的如厕训练窗口：2-4 岁
For children with genuine difficulties, whether medical or psychological, the answer is neither blame nor silence but cooperation: family and school working together to obtain a professional assessment. Schools can act as a bridge, communicating with parents, clarifying the nature of the problem, and directing them towards a paediatrician or child psychologist.
对于确有困难的孩子，无论是医学上的还是心理上的，答案既不是指责，也不是沉默，而是合作：家庭与学校共同努力，寻求专业评估。学校可以充当桥梁，与家长沟通、厘清问题性质，并引导他们去寻求儿科医生或儿童心理专家的支持。
What schools should not do is quietly absorb a responsibility that belongs elsewhere, because that solution helps no one in the long run - not the teacher, not the class, and least of all the child, who needs independence far more than a discreet piece of padding.
学校不该做的是默默承担本属于他处的责任，因为从长远看，这种"解决方式"对任何人都没有好处——对教师没有，对班级没有，而对孩子最没有，因为相比一片隐蔽的护垫，孩子更需要的是独立。
12. Conclusion: Drawing the Line Together | 结语：共同划清界限
The Swiss diaper story is a small window onto a much larger question in modern education: where does the boundary between family, school and society actually lie when it comes to a child's basic life skills? Answering it badly produces overburdened teachers; answering it not at all produces dependent pupils.
瑞士的"纸尿裤新闻"是一扇小窗口，通向现代教育中一个大得多的问题：当涉及孩子的基本生活能力时，家庭、学校与社会的责任边界究竟在哪里？回答得不好，会造就不堪重负的教师；完全不回答，则会造就依赖性的学生。
A workable division looks like this: families take the lead in habits and self-care; schools teach, safeguard and make reasonable adjustments; health professionals handle diagnosis; and society resists normalising solutions that remove the need for a child to grow. Each party keeps its own ground, and the child gains the only thing that really matters - the ability to manage alone.
一种可行的分工大致是这样的：家庭在习惯与自理上承担主要责任；学校负责教学、安全保护并作出合理调整；专业人士负责诊断；社会则抵制那种"让孩子不必成长"的做法被正常化。各方守住自己的位置，孩子收获的才是真正重要的东西——独立应对生活的能力。
In your view, where should the line be drawn between family, school and society when it comes to building a child's basic life skills? Share your thoughts in the comments.
在您看来，在培养孩子基础生活能力这件事上，家庭、学校与社会各自的责任边界应当划在哪里？欢迎在评论区分享您的看法。
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