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AIBU?

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DS’s school friend made a mess of our toilet and his Mum has defended him

613 replies

LeahYoga · 29/04/2025 22:49

DS had a friend round after school today (they are secondary school age). When he left, I had reason to use the upstairs bathroom and the toilet was completely covered in crap, skid marks everywhere. I immediately asked DS if he knew anything about this and he told me it was his friend who used it but he hadn’t mentioned any mess afterwards.

There’s a toilet brush in there and I don’t think it should be beyond the ability of a young teenager to clean up after themselves. My DS certainly would.

I messaged his Mum to politely say that if her son was to visit again, I’d appreciate him cleaning up after himself if/when needed. She sent me a bit of a shitty reply (pun not intended), along the lines of I should be glad I’ve only got one DS rather than the three she has as she has to put up with all sorts as the only female in the household. Then she had the cheek to say I could have cleaned it in the time it took me to message her! With two laughing emoji’s. Which isn’t the point. No apology at all.

AIBU to tell my DS he isn’t to invite him round again?

OP posts:
notsureyetcertain · 30/04/2025 05:10

It is poor behaviour, if the mum was a good friend I might have mentioned it the next time I saw her but not otherwise .

AiryFairyLights · 30/04/2025 05:05

See you in a few weeks when you’re posting that your son is having trouble at secondary school with his peers as a result of this!
you need to learn to pick your battles @LeahYoga - this was one you should’ve not acted on. 👍

Zanatdy · 30/04/2025 05:03

Oh come on, not great, but i’d have just rolled my eyes and cleaned it. Or asked my son to tell him his mum wasn’t impressed and can he use the toilet brush next time.

Arlingtonchase · 30/04/2025 04:57

You were and are being ridiculous.

On the plus side, it will make a good point of discussion in future years between your son and his therapist.

Idontknowhatnametochoose · 30/04/2025 04:19

Wrexhamite · 30/04/2025 03:33

No I think you’re right here. That’s disgusting. I was raised to never do a number 2 anywhere that’s not my home.
granted, overnight stays are different if you’re going to be there all the next day too, but, only if you’re really desperate. I’ve done entire weekends without going.
At home I wasn’t expected to clean it, as I did anyway, probably because I had been raised to help clean the house too, and that included the bathroom.
sometimes I joke “I’m lazy, I don’t want to clean at the end of a day, so I clean as I go” in work. But it’s true, who wants to spend time trying to scrub off stains when you can do it when it happens and make it easier when doing a proper clean.
ps. To those who say it’s a male thing. No, it’s not. I’m a male, I was raised right is all.

Edited

How you were raised means nothing if you have Crohns, Colitis, IBS or another bowel condition that means if you gotta go, you gotta go!

I appreciate the friend in this case may not but implying its somehow rude to do a poo away from home is a bit silly. And extremely bad for your gut if you constantly hold it in.

iseethembloom · 30/04/2025 04:17

You are definitely being unreasonable to text his mum about skid marks on the toilet pan.

TheMumEdit · 30/04/2025 04:15

Honestly Never occurred to me to clean a toilet after use. I always wait till next time the toilet gets it general clean. And would never clean someone else’s. You learn something every day

Freshstartyear25 · 30/04/2025 03:57

You should have told your DS to clean up after his friend. Next time he’s here and wants to use the toilet, I’m sure your DS will tell him to clean though it’ll be rather jokingly as he’ll be pissed off that he had to clean up after him. You texting the mum would have been embarrassing for your son

JellyNellyKat · 30/04/2025 03:55

The comments on this thread are insane! Replace ‘my sons secondary aged friend with My DS or Dad’ and 90% of the comments would be ‘yanbu that’s FOUL get him back in there every single time he leaves it like that’

id be embarrassed if my kid left a toilet in such a disgusting way that his friends mum messaged me!

ThesebeautifulthingsthatIvegot · 30/04/2025 03:50

LeahYoga · 29/04/2025 23:11

Me mentioning it to him myself would be the more embarrassing option, so I don’t think that’s appropriate and a polite message to the Mum sufficed.

No it didn't. She isn't going to do anything, which is clear from her response

Thepossibility · 30/04/2025 03:45

Unless he wrote on the wall with his shit I wouldn't have contacted his mother about it. At most I would've suggested that DS tell his friend to leave the toilet clean next time he's over.
How embarrassing.

IamtheDevilsAvocado · 30/04/2025 03:38

AtomHeartMotherOfGod · 30/04/2025 00:09

In an ideal world they would do this, but my DH occasionally fails to use the toilet brush, so I can forgive a teen. He might have been nervous to do it (kids can get nervous about weird things).

This thread has opened my eyes a bit though... decorative brush?! And I also think that brushes are pretty unhygienic - I don't know if I'd like just anybody using them as they can catch on the rim and spray grossness around.

I thought you meant shit on the walls and stuff, but in the toilet, well, it's the place for it.

Orig I thought this... That the OP meant the kid had smeared poo everywhere on walls /floor and the flock wallpaper just for fun... 😁

But a few skid marks?? Really??

If I were your son, I'd be completely mortified!

Wrexhamite · 30/04/2025 03:33

No I think you’re right here. That’s disgusting. I was raised to never do a number 2 anywhere that’s not my home.
granted, overnight stays are different if you’re going to be there all the next day too, but, only if you’re really desperate. I’ve done entire weekends without going.
At home I wasn’t expected to clean it, as I did anyway, probably because I had been raised to help clean the house too, and that included the bathroom.
sometimes I joke “I’m lazy, I don’t want to clean at the end of a day, so I clean as I go” in work. But it’s true, who wants to spend time trying to scrub off stains when you can do it when it happens and make it easier when doing a proper clean.
ps. To those who say it’s a male thing. No, it’s not. I’m a male, I was raised right is all.

Boreded · 30/04/2025 03:29

thrive25 · 30/04/2025 00:41

^ @LeahYoga : you are SO SO right to have complained to his mum. Why should you pick up some man/boys 💩.

If his mother wants to do that, let her - but she should have taught him some manners.

If the boy is embarrassed: let him be

I have noticed friends of mine sending their kids back to check the loo is clean when visiting me/other friends, and it makes me think they are respectful people!

You realise there is no poo to pick up, just marks in the toilet. It literally means op has to put a little bit of bleach down and flush after 30m…job is done

Idontknowhatnametochoose · 30/04/2025 03:28

Horrible that you messaged his mum. If I was thr friend I'd never set foot in your house again. You could potentially have ruined their friendship.

There are kind ways of dealing with it. This wasn't it..

HoppingPavlova · 30/04/2025 03:12

Ffs, phone has gone mad with autocorrects that are not correct, should have been:

No idea why you would message the mum, how odd. You should have made your DS clean it up. Then your DS will either take it up directly with his friend, or accept he is the toilet skivvy when friend next comes round. I’m betting when friend next comes round and goes to use loo, your DS would say ‘oi, clean up after yourself, I had to do it after you last time, it was disgusting mate’. Problem solved.
The way you went about it was really odd.

HoppingPavlova · 30/04/2025 02:39

No idea why you would message the mom, how odd. The areas you should have made your DS clean it up. Then your DS will either take it up directly with his friend, or accept he is the toilet skivvy when friend next comes round. I’m betting when friend next comes round and goes to use lip, your DS would say ‘oI, clean up after yourself, I had to do it after you last time, it was disgusting mate’. Problem solved.

The way you went about it was really odd.

rosemarble · 30/04/2025 02:34

gottakeeponmoving · 30/04/2025 00:28

OP I’m 100% behind you. Why is everyone laughing this off as a boys will be boys thing?
Absolutely don’t allow him back in your home. And hell yes he should know why. Whether it’s via his mum or your son - it doesn’t matter who tells him.

Haven’t read the posts from midnight on but no one said boys will be boys, most are saying op’s actions embarrassed the teenagers.

PlayingDevilsAdvocateisinteresting · 30/04/2025 02:30

@LeahYoga You ironically appear to be too embarrassed yourself to come back and reply to any of the other responders who were kind enough to use their time and effort to answer your question. I am reasonably sure that most of them replied for the sake of your dear son, and his dear friend, to try to get you to understand just how embarrassing it is for teenagers - especially those of 16 years and under (as the older ones would probably just wet themselves laughing at how uptight their poor mate's mum is!) - to have to deal with all sorts of emotions that are suddenly making themselves very uncomfortably, and confusingly, known. Were you never a teenager OP, or have you just buried those awkward and often embarrassing, but sometimes also amazing, teenage years, into the dark recesses of your mind?

So who, or what, is more important to you OP, the feelings of a young person unintentially having a quite severe bowel reaction in your toilet bowl, with maybe some of it even getting on to your toilet seat (isn't it a great pity that whoever invented toilet seats didn't make them easy to clean), which he hurriedly left without checking, as his embarrassment almost certainly made him vacate the bathroom as quickly as possible; or, is the fact, that to you, it seems much more likely that the young lad purposely disrespected both your bathroom, and you, and therefore, obviously and deliberately, left the unfortunate remnants of what was probably explosive diarrhoea, for you - who he may have previously thought must be a compassionate and loving mother, as your dear son is so very nice - to clean up?

My biggest worry now is that your - presumably and hopefully 'dear' - son, may never trust you to have his back when/if something actually important happens in his life. In fact, you may have, very sadly, already blown that trust, if you were ever lucky enough to have previously earned it. How can he trust you with his innermost feelings and worries, when he can't trust your reactions to the most minor of issues? Please OP, make some - believable - excuse to your DS, to his Dfriend, and to his Dfriend's mum, as to why you reacted in such an over-the-top and unreasonable way. That really is the only way that I think you have a chance to come out of this whole farce, reasonably un-scared. Of course, other Mumsnetters will have probably got much better suggestions for your way forward from this, if you indeed do want one?

Bunnycat101 · 30/04/2025 02:17

Toilets are for poo and wee. I think you were utterly batshit to message the mum and to take it so personally re him disrespecting your house. I also don’t think this is a feminist issue as it’s not like the women’s toilets are always pristine.

Should he have checked the loo before leaving? Yes. Should you have let it go and just flushed the loo a few extra times? Yes.

SouthLondonMum22 · 30/04/2025 01:40

MumChp · 30/04/2025 01:27

Next time teach the boy basic skills.

I would never txt a mum about this. Move on.

It's his parents job to teach him those basic skills, not OP's.

MumChp · 30/04/2025 01:27

LeahYoga · 29/04/2025 22:58

Why should he be able to treat my house with no respect at all and expect me to clean up after him? I’d be mortified if my DS behaved in such a manner. The message I sent was perfectly polite and I ensured it was worded in a reasonable tone.

Next time teach the boy basic skills.

I would never txt a mum about this. Move on.

AnonMJ · 30/04/2025 00:51

Oh my. Shocked you rang his mother. How weird.
also shocked you asked if you can tell your son he can’t invite him around again. Really!?

grow up.

boys or girls it doesn’t matter.

just ask the host - ie your son - to ensure things remain tidy.
and don’t you embarrass them by calling their mum.

Blossomly · 30/04/2025 00:50

It’s normal to be disgusted but I think it’s something a lot of children/ teens would do without thinking. Totally weird and unreasonable to bring it up. Texting his mum is nuts 😳. Poor boys.

MummytoE · 30/04/2025 00:41

I just hope that his mum has not passed the message on to her son. No need to embarrass a child like this. She maybe should be telling him how to clean up any mess but