Potty time - to sit or not to sit?
A few weeks ago Justice Fergie blogged about the incessant potty trips when you've got multiples. Today, I had a similar experience with potty time that was quite exhausting and a little concerning. I went on a field trip with my daughter and her class to the National Zoo. The zoo is basically across the street from her preschool, so we walked there and back and the kids were happy to be on an excursion. I was thrilled to be able to go with her and her class up until she needed to potty. We were smack in between the restroom areas, so we had a bit of a distance to walk so her teacher decided to just make it a potty break for everyone. Great idea - right??? Imagine 16 toddlers making their way to the ladies restroom at the National Zoo just about lunch time with 12,000 other people - it was interesting to say the least.
I took three (including my daughter) into one stall with me so that I could get the show on the road. DD was the only one out of the three girls that wanted to potty so I let her go first. We've got the routine down (don't touch ANYTHING, squat and pee, and don't touch ANYTHING). Next came girl #2. I try to put her on the potty as I did with my daughter and she seemed a little bit resistant but went along with it. She squatted and was peeing. I'm thinking, great...this is working out well, the kids will potty and everyone would be happy! DD then shouts to me look at what girl #2 did. I look up and instead of girl #2 going into the toilet, she was basically spraying me and the floor of the stall. I gather myself and tell her its okay - I didn't want to traumatize her. I grab girl #3 hoping that this will go better and praying that she knows the squat and pee position like DD. No luck - she didn't understand how to squat so I end up having to lift her entire body and hover her over the stall. She's almost in tears because she didn't understand what I was doing. I'm also pretty sure that there was additional spraying but because DD and girl# 2 had left to wash their hands, I was not told about it. Boy....I wish they had worn pull-ups!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After this experience, my question is - do people go bare and sit on public (really public) restroom seats? I was amazed and I still am amazed that these girls didn't know how to squat; so clearly the answer to my question is yes, they do! I remember as DD was getting potty trained I was really concerned about what to do in a public setting. To the rescue came Justice Fergie to inform me that there was no need to worry, and explained the squatting routine. Did no one tell their parents about this trick? Or do their parents sit? I just don't know and I'm afraid for the kids. Public restrooms are extremely disgusting (hello....see what happened above) and I can't imagine their delicate behinds being exposed to the filth of a public restroom.
Is this normal or am I a germaphobe?
Mamalaw is a group blog about three moms and wives who just happen to be lawyers too. We have seven kids between us which means that we have no shortage of funny stories, touching moments, reasons to rant and the occasional kernel of parenting wisdom. In our "spare time," we founded 
12 comments:
no, its not just you, i never sit on the seat in public restrooms...i don't care even if theres a thin bit of paper to suposedly protect me...no thanks...on the bright side, i have great thigh muscles!!!
LOL @ Sally's World - it does build up your thigh muscles, doesn't it?
Justice Ny, you KNOW I feel your pain. I could never (NEVER!) sit or let my child sit on a public toilet. it's bad enough that i know they do it at school where there's only about 15 kids.
the whole thing is madness.
I think its normal to squat I dont know if you've ever been in a situation where the bathroom is far away and you really have to go that use to happen to me a lot as a child so I got practice squatting early I teach my daughter the same thing you dont sit on no ones toliet but your own
Well, let me tell you my daughter for some reasons squats at home, hmmmm. She's been squatting forever:)She may possibly at 8years old be a little obsessed:) I'll never forget the only time I sat on a public toilet seat by mistake at the movie theater my mother smacked the crap out of my behind she was horrified, and I was scared to death, I thought I was going to get chicken pox or something:)
Can a doctor PLEASE chime in on this discussion??? So funny that you would mention chicken pox because I know FOR SURE that you can catch a strain of herpes from toilet seats. We're not all crazy:)
I totally agree but have to say that when you have young ones you ALWAYS have to carry those tiolet seat covers (put two or three I do!) cause whats worse then #1 is when they have to do #2 and you really cannot tell a little one they have to hold it when they say they have to go cause they just might do it in their pants!
This is so funny to me , because I m known in my moms group as perfecting the best public potty position.
In my experience most public potties have been too tall for my daughter to squat. So I place one arm behind her back and one arm under her knees. She places on e arm around my neck. And the key is, she relaxes her body, bends her knees and drops her bottom down low. This position is so much easier on my body. I hold her cery low, her bottom is almost IN the toilet. But she is so tiny that she doesn't touch the seats. The urine goes straight into the toilet.
The dropping of the bottom is key, because once we were at a nature preserve and she had to go outside. She was nervous and didn't drop her bottom. SPRAY!!! It was worse because we had JUST gotten there. My socks were wet! Ewww!!!
Anyhoo, the kids might be used to squatting in public restrooms with their parents, but may have associated the Zoo restroom with the school restroom since they were on a field trip. So technically, to them, they were 'at school'. Maybe? IDK!
Ok, last but not least, I just had a field trip with my daughter to the zoo and like I just explained, my daughter knows the deal. Well, guess what. The restroom had child sized toilets. When she saw that she wanted to go 'all by herself'. Get ready for the ick factor. I let her.
EWwwwwww!!!!
Ok, guess I'll go post this over at my blog since I've had writers block the past few days! LOL!!!
I can't lie - I've given up with my daughter. She never could quite get the squatting concept down, and I now just plaster toilet paper all over the seats and pray for the best.
We sit and wash hands, wash hands, wash hands. Maybe I'm the last of the Mohicans.
Teaching my daughter how to squat was hard - so I went for the thick wad of paper lining the seat. Getting this right requires some gymnastics also, but it was easier than getting her to squat and having us both be a wet mess.
I never heard of the hold your daughter and squat her thing! What?!! I just line the seat and warn her not to touch anything. Any mom's of boys? I had/have done the same thing with my boys. Little B is not tall enough to stand so he too has to sit on a seat lined with paper.
You learn something new everyday!
I've had quite a few years to perfect my "hover pee" technique, but I didn't learn it from my mom.
I'm a big fan of Clorox wipes and multiple layers of seat covers... but it does appear that my two youngest girls (both have sensory integration dysfunction) will be going to college in diapers, since they have no interest in potty training whatsoever.
I happen to love the National Zoo! Will be there in a few short days again... are they still doing construction, or is the entire zoo open?
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