To expect my 9 year old child to use a toilet brush?

[jennifersofia]

For goodness sake - the drama and denial associated with it when asked to sort her own mess out!
Oh, and by the way, what sort of chores / responsibilities does your 9 yr old have?

[FunnysInTheGarden]

toilet brushed are foul, why on earth do you have one?

[FunnysInTheGarden]

brushes

[Merrylegs]

Lovely.

[BelligerentGhoul]

YABU.

I think a nine year old should keep her bedroom tidy, lay the table, maybe do a bit of light dishing, feed pets if you have any etc. I don't think it's fair to make her clean a toilet.

And yes - toilet brushes are horrible.

[BelligerentGhoul]

dishing? I meant dish washing!

[Beamur]

I'm not sure my teens or DP know how to use one...

[dearprudence]

Well my 8 year old doesn't yet, but he didn't wipe his own arse until he was 7 .

He does other chores though - tidying his own room, veg peeling, making cups of tea, 'making' his bed, etc. Not loads, and only when he's told, but we always say that everyone who lives here has to contribute.

[Timeforanap]

I noticed on another thread that MNers don't like toilet brushes as a rule. Am intrigued to know how they clean their toilets?

[RobynLou]

I don't think I used a toilet brush till i went to uni

[BaroqinAroundTheChristmasTree]

NO! Don't do it - I do expect my DS's to clean around the top of the bowl and the seat (I don't p*ss anywhere other than in the toilet bowl).

I do have a toilet brush (well it's not "mine" - it was here when I moved in - but I never use it - becaues they're foul). It's part of a set so it kind of sit there looking redundant

HOWEVER, last week I knocked it over by accident while cleaning he bahtroom floor - and as I picked it up ended up pulling it out of it's holder...........DS1 (who has only just turned 10) has obviously been using it..........and it was RANK)

[Timeforanap]

RobynLou - hahaha! I thought the city where I was at uni was unusually dusty!

[FunnysInTheGarden]

timeforanap my toilet doesn't get so dirty it needs a toilet brush, besides which we have a cleaner.........thats why we don't need a TB

[mumeeee]

YABU. A 9 year old still needs some help to clean a toilet.

[HansieMom]

I don't use a toilet brush. Nasty things.

For awhile, I used clorox disposable sponges. You clip them on a handle. But they don't clean as well as Lysol toilet bowl cleaner.

Now I use Lysol gel toilet bowl cleaner. Squirt it under rim. Come back later and scrub bowl with a paper towel with my hand covered in disposable rubber glove. Then I withdraw paper towel into glove as I pull glove off.

Once I had rust in a toilet. I tried Bartender's Friend, didn't work. Tried a pumice stone, very slow going. Then I read on internet about the Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner, squirted it in, came back in 20 minutes and rust was gone.

[classydiva]

My kids when they were nine had no chores.

If they shat and it marked the toilet I put bleach down it, you don't need a toilet brush, just good old bleach.

I've a 17 year old here who doesn't know how to use the loo brush, but that's what I;m for.

The worst thing when a workman is in your home and borrows the toilet and they leave skiddies.

Now that is gross.

[jennifersofia]

Merrylegs, I don't understand the . It is actually a genuine question.
I agree, toilet brushes are foul, and I don't like using them, but seriously people, how do you clean your toilets if (sorry if TMI) the flush doesn't flush everything down? We don't have a cleaner, and anyway I would feel uncomfortable asking him/her to sort out a toilet with (ahem) 'remains'.
I don't make dd clean the toilets as a job or anything like that, just to clear up after herself.
BelligerantGhoul and DearPrudence, thank you for useful replies.

[BitOfFun]

Just put bleach down. Toilet brushes are skanky.

[classydiva]

When I was nine I shared the weekend chores with my mum, I prepared the evening meal ready for cooking, I done upstairs whilst she done down, one week she ironed the next I did.

I remember what it was like to be a slave, I always stated that my children would be allowed just to be kids.

Clean up after themselves by bringing their dirty plates to the kitchen, putting wrappers in the bin, and puttnig their dirty clothes in the washing basket.

That was sufficient for me and I worked 12 hour stressful days and bought work home. I managed to have a spotless home always amazes me others can't. Two kids under 10 too.

[BaroqinAroundTheChristmasTree]

my kids are expected to help out - just like I was. Not just on the weekend either.

They're not "slaves"

they just help to keep the house that they live in a nice place to live. I'm not their slave either.

DS1 has recently started doing (easy) dinners. And every night when he asks what's for dinner and I tell him something that he can't yet do, or that I haven't decided yet he always asks me to change it to something he can make.

[sea74]

To whoever says that toilet brushes are foul.....
Sorry, girls....maybe it's because I am not english and things are different in different countries but....does your sh*t flies straight into the water?????????????:))))))
Sometimes you just need toilet brushes because the walls of the toilet can get touched by the faeces and they get dirty. The toilet brush needs to be used in this moment....If this happens to you, do you leave the toilet dirty for the next person that use it???

TO clean the toilet (proper cleaning, once a week) i use bleach and a good sponge,but dont use the toilet brush.

PS: BTW, when the toilet brush becomes foul, it is time to change it....more or less, once every 6 weeks!

[ChippingIn]

I would rather they came and told me there was a bit of a mess and I cleaned it up tbh, we don't have a toilet brush because I think they are disgusting - but even if we did, I don't like children cleaning the toilet... it's a right of passage for a teenager


A recent thread you might enjoy reading here

[BaroqinAroundTheChristmasTree]

"more or less, once every 6 weeks"


unless your 10yr old DS gets hold of it and then it'll be after one use.......


I'm trying to figure out where to get a replacement to go with the set

[sea74]

the sets are so seventies....

[BaroqinAroundTheChristmasTree]

I know but it's not bloody mine!!!

(actually the toilet roll storage thing that comes with it is rather nice) it's not a horrible plastic tacky thing - and goes well with the Brabantia (oh yes my LL goes for quality ) bin in there (also not mine - however the 50ltr Branbantia in the kitchen is )

[catsinthebelfry]

Only on MN could a quite reasonable question about what a 9 yo be expected to do turn into a tirade against domestic implements.