Dad blocking path with toddler on the potty

No OP you aren’t being unreasonable - some of these responses! We all managed to grow up with having to piss/poo in a potty in the middle of a public footpath, so this parent could have done the same. As you said a normal person would have moved off the path to the side.

I don’t think I’d have given this any thought at all, let alone been riled up by it and started a thread. 🫢

And that includes not placing them in the middle of a public path to have a shite.

Beautifully put. We wouldn’t say that dementia sufferers for example don’t deserve dignity and privacy if they reach a point they are no longer able to understand or care about it, and the same should be true of children, even young children. Where we are able to be respectful and allow our children privacy, we should. Obviously we need to assist them, but we can do almost always do that in a way that respects their privacy and bodies.

Parent could easily manoeuvre child and potty to the side, but folks only think about themselves. Maybe you could've waited right there for them to finish and clear the path, but that may have been slightly petty.

True. Given that he didn’t apologise I’m inclined to think he was just doing his best. Better than ignoring the child’s request too.

I think the dignity and privacy they need/deserve is different to what older people need/deserve. An older child or adult would feel embarrassed/undignified to be observed weeing or pooing but a toddler wouldn't. Their needs are different. I don't think they need privacy in the same way , no, and just as well because they can't have it! Given they have to be accompanied/ observed at almost all times.

If you need to carry a potty on a walk your child isn’t potty trained and should be in a pull up or walking where there is regular access to toilets.

Saw a mum carrying a potty totty or something the other day bright pink and white like a lunchbox almost. Made me so glad I’m not potty training today if that’s now the done thing.

Pee in a bush or behind a tree I can completely get but potties in the middle of paths or even the edge of the path tbh is just weird.

When did parents stop even trying.

Toddlers have no dignity and privacy. Those are alien concepts to them.

YABU OP - my guess would be it was unintentional, an urgent situation and the path had looked clear and within a minute or two wasn't.

He might also not have offered an apology if onlookers like yourself were looking somewhat judgemental rather than sympathetic (from experience I generally wouldn't risk speaking to a stranger with a judgemental expression, because you're giving them an opening for a nasty comment whilst busy trying to manage things for your child, whom at the end of the day you should be focusing on).

I'm wondering if she stopped to tell the toddler,

"Hey you, yes you! Do your poopoo or weewee 750mmm to the east of this point and do it now! Verstehen!??"

This has reminded me of a mortifying story concerning DS who is now 16.
Whilst at nursery, he once kicked a potty of wee over (another child had used it) and we were told of this misdeed on collecting him.

Obviously we weren't too pleased with him and asked why he had done it. He said 'it was in my way'....We do still remind him.of this story.

Regarding this incident, I think I would have at least tried to move to the side of the path.

What is wrong with some of you? The child was in the middle of a public path, no dignity or privacy. They really could have been more discreet, of course they could, if they were walking over a zebra crossing was he going to whip it out and let the kid hold up traffic. We are always telling kids that their private bits are private and here is a parent sending mixed messages, as well as being very grim. @WTDress you are not unreasonable at all.

I'll be honest, performance parenting was my first thought too but I didn't know there was a phrase for it and I thought I must just be being unkind.

I am kind of struggling to see why else you would put your child on a potty in the middle of a busy path though. It seems as though he was hoping for praise, recognition, or sympathetic smiles.

It sounds a little like a scene from one of those tedious parenting comedies that keep being trotted out, where everyone is supposed to laugh and say "oh so cringey and relatable!"

I've potty trained two, and never taken a potty out with me, ever. You go before you leave, utilise the public toilet when you get there, and if in desperate need do a jungle wee off in the woods.....

There's no way for you or I to tell is there? I prefer to give the benefit of the doubt, you don't have to of course.

YANBU OP. Travel potties are rank and I’m sick of seeing kids pissing and shitting in full blown view of the world. A woman brings a travel potty for her kid to our Mums Pilates class, and instead of taking her kid to the toilet next door, we all get to watch and listen to her do her business. Ridiculous. And yes I stopped going to the class.

Doing his best or performance parenting ?

You have said it wasn’t much of an inconvenience so it would hardly have registered with me. Making a thread about it is weird.

Probably the same way parents with children in nappies dispose of wet wipes, put in a bag and dispose of it in the nearest bin…?

If you’re potty training it’s not advised to go back to nappies, as it confuses the child.

People going for a wee in a bush or whatever on a country walk is very normal - I don’t see why a child doing it is so appalling.

I thought this too, but presumably (hopefully) if he brought a potty and wipes, he also had the foresight to bring poo bags so he can dispose of any poo the same way you would a dog poo. Wee can just be poured into bushes.

That’s disgusting- If someone needs to carry a potty on a country walk then either the child is not ready to go that far without a pull up or he should’ve taken the wee one somewhere nearer or more suitable

I wonder what he was going to do with the contents of the potty, and the used wet wipe afterwards.