So do you pee sitting down when away from home?

[ForPetesSakeNotAgain]

One of the mothers at DS's school has asked whether the school could provide either cling film like covers for the loo seats or antiseptic spray so that her DD (age 5) can sit on the loo to pee rather than hovering over the loo. I expressed surprise that it was necessary and innocently said that if the seat isn't wet I just sit down and pee. (If the seat is wet, I grab some loo paper, wipe the seat and then plonk myself down.) The other mothers were horrified as if I had just announced that I washed my face in the loo as well.

Am I alone in this ie am I weird to be so casual (as the other mums clearly think)? I have to say what I think is weird is to hover over the loo and so dribble pee on the seat that I then have to wipe off

[IdrisTheDragon]

I always sit down on the seat. You are not weird, everyone else is

[wabbit]

morning Idris...

I'm a seat sitter too, thought that was what they were for? (maybe i'm wrong?)

[gigglewitch]

obv they have all been to the School of General Hovering

I am choosy : to sit or not to sit. Now that depends on the state of the loo in question, y'see. Preferable to sit, but as i say, am a bit -fussy-- selective. But i wouldn't judge anyone else's habits!! As you say, hovering has huge setbacks

[Pushpinia]

I don't sit but I used to as a child...I think you don't care when you're little and it's usually other kids using the toilets so there's not going to be anything unutterably awful.

Grown up toilets are usually horrible and I never sit unless it is very clean and respectable - in fact even then I try to hover. I am good at aiming though. I would sit at someone's house though.

Nowadays after having caught c diff from somewhere, I would especially never use a hospital toilet if I could possibly help it.

No I am definitely a hoverer.

[Buda]

I sit. Always wipe the seat first though.

[cyteen]

I always sit; the toilet has to be epically grim for me not to.

[oggsfrog]

I always sit.

Physios say stop squatting over toilet seats or risk bladder infection

[Flier]

i always sit and do just as OP describes re cleaning of seat, but i suppose a 5 year old may not think to do this and there's nothing worse than sitting on a wet seat eeugh!

I think the other parents are being OTT on this issue

[Flier]

what the school should do is encourage proper hand washing, that would be of better long term benefit

[hecate]

I always wonder what people who hover think is going to happen to them if their arse makes contact with the seat. Fair enough if you can see pee and piles of shit all over the seat then it's probably best to go and find a bush to pee behind or something but if it looks clean then why? So someone else's buttocks have been there, so what? Do they think they will catch something? And if so, what exactly do they think they will catch? Are there any diseases that can be caught from sitting on a toilet? If so, you'd think this info would be publicised and seat covers provided, what with this compensation culture we have nowadays. Has anyone ever sued for catching a disease from a toilet seat?

[sweetgrapes]

what's the seat for then?
wipe and sit.

[Cies]

I also sit. Tbh, it had never entered my mind to hover until about 2 years ago when a friend came out of the next door cubicle moaning about how much her thighs hurt.

These mothers are being ridiculously OTT. We´re talking primary school children here. What exactly does she think they´re going to catch.

I echo hectate - teach them to wash their hands properly.

[georgimama]

Antiseptic spray and cling film in the hands of 5 year olds, that'll go well.

Some people are completely mad.

If the seat is wet I always wipe it, usually with a baby wipe if I have some in my handbag. If it is clean I just plonk down. Is this not normal?

Antiseptic spray - FFS (I know I have already mentioned that but it's really annoyed me) - one of my friends was constantly spraying any surface her DS might come into contact with with Dettol when he was a baby - unsurprisingly he had a constant cold until he was about 2 years old.

[WowOoo]

Poor girl to have such nutter for a mother.

I sit unless dodgy looking toilet.

Have a colleague like this and her child has eczema and asthma (sp?). Can't help wondering if it's because she is sucha highly strung clean freak that it contributes to her daughters allergies. Her house always smells of bleach and air freshener.

[asicsgirl]

cling film!!!! i did a double take when i read that. cling film def used differently on toilet seats when i were a lad, and don't think school would have condoned it

my mum used to grade restaurants on the state of their toilets. she would come back going 'hmm, bit of a hover-job'.

so does this mean that french women have loads of bladder infections?

[Tortington]

i think there is some deranged wannabe alpha female thing that goes on with people who profess to have ocd tendancies with regards to cleaning - in fact i might start a thread about it.

poor kid thats all i can say - not being able to pee without being held.

surely thats MORE unhygenic

[elliott]

hmm, yes its what you might get on your hands that is the issue, not what might be on the backs of your thighs...
And in general i don't see lots of people manically and thoroughly washing their hands after the loo.
I'm pretty lax too - I do hover in those awful public toilets made out of metal that don't have seats, but otherwise I sit. Life's too short...

[ghosty]

Cling film covers??? Not very environmentally friendly really ...
Anyway, I hate public toilets with a passion but it has to be really really really disgusting (smears of shit etc) for me to hover. I wipe and sit.
If my DD (5 in Feb) had to hover she would get pee all over her knickers and shoes ... nice.
Those women are mad

[ghosty]

In fact, if it was really bad I would cross my legs ...

[asicsgirl]

custardo speaks the truth

[FabioVicePeeperPlopper]

Good lord.
What madness.

Are they also requesting their dcs should be allowed to wear air tight zoot suits with biological warfare standard air filtration units, or their own air supply, when another child in the class has a slight sniffle?

Small girls bound to be disasterous at aiming/hovering, resulting in loos covered in piss.[irony]

C.diff spores are airborne - you won't catch it from a loo seat.

[PeppermintPatty]

Another sitter here.

I must have sat on thousands, if not millions of different toilet seats in my lifetime and I'm still alive

I don't see what the problem is.

[FabioVicePeeperPlopper]

Custy start it start it start it.

[TrippingTheLightFanjTastic]

I too am a sitter. Nothing wrong with a visibly clean toilet seat. However if I thought it was a bit dodgy for any reason (eg cracks in the seat always fill me with fear of what may be lurking) I'd do what my mum used to do for us and put a layer of toilet roll down.

The most important thing about toilet hygeine is handwashing. I am a bit OCD about that.

[asicsgirl]

fabio custy's thread is here