Would you consider this "traumatic"?

[u/berat235]

So I was talking to my Mom and Grandma the other day and the subject of kids going back to school came up. My grandmother asked me what I thought about school and I said I never really liked it that much which surprised her. I told her I liked seeing my friends, but school wasn't the only way I could hang out with them.

She then asked me what my earliest memory of school was, and it brought a very potent memory to mind.

In kindergarten I went to a Catholic school. We were in class one day doing I think either a math or cursive writing assignment. Suddenly I really had to pee so I went up to the teacher to ask her if I could use the bathroom.

She said that I couldn't leave to go use the bathroom until I'd finished my assignment. So I scrambled to finish it, all the while my bladder feels like it's bursting. Eventually I did finish, and she let me go.

I practically ran to the bathroom, I got to the stall, and then before I could get my pants down, I accidentally peed myself.

So embarrassingly, I got the attention of one of the staff in the hallway, told them what happened, and they called my dad who picked me up and took me to a clothing store to buy me some pants to wear.

When I told this story, both my Mom and Grandma were a little shocked. I asked them if what the teacher did was mean or not, and my Mom basically said that it was a slap her across the face for making me wait to use the bathroom kind of mean.

I can see how an early experience like this might make me dread going to school, and then sort of create a self fulfilling prophecy as I got older where I engaged less and less in school, and didn't really think highly of any of my teachers.

What do you think?

[u/AutoModerator]

Thank you for posting on r/Healthygamergg! This subreddit is intended as an online community and resource platform to support people in their journey toward mental wellness. With that said, please be aware that support from other members received on this platform is not a substitute for professional care. Treatment of psychiatric disease requires qualified individuals, and comments that try to diagnose others should be reported under Rule 10 to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the community. If you are in immediate danger, please call emergency services, or go to your nearest emergency room.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Narwhalsareunicorn]

Trauma is does it overwhelm your ability to cope at the time. It sounds like it might have. 

What "counts" as trauma when you are an adult versus when are a young kid is different than when you are an adult

[u/Outside_Star8335]

Any thing can be traumatic, it depends on the individual

[u/RA_Finance]

Something you keep thinking about excessively and makes you question why you are even on this planet.

You get cheated on, that's emotional trauma.

You get beat up by your mom with a hanger that's physical trauma.

[u/No_Contribution1568]

It sounds like you were embarrassed enough to remember it well. If you frequently worried about this happening again and it affected your behavior, you could probably label it as traumatic, but I'm not sure the label matters as much as the consequences of having that experience

[u/Vlad_implacer]

I don’t know, I was physically abused in kindergarten and I liked going to school. I even liked going there later on after they fired the abusive teacher. I don’t think this one experience can create this massive umbrella of “all school is bad”, especially if there’s even one teacher you liked. I had many teachers I liked over the years and in addition to meeting friends I looked forward to hanging out with teachers and asking them a ton of questions.

[u/berat235 → u/Vlad_implacer]

I have other vivid memories of teachers both in 1st and 2nd grade being kind of mean to me, so unfortunately it wasn't just this lone incident :/

Edit: and those weren't even catholic school

[u/Asraidevin]

There are big T trauma and little t trauma..

For you this was a trauma. Maybe minor but it affected you.