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?

I still don't understand why anyone in a household would make such a mess that you had to scrape it off the bowl. Mebeez better nutrition and fibre based meals are in order?

I think the thing with toilet brushes is knowing when to use them. I have one but it is perfectly clean because it's only used to clean the bowl WHEN IT'S CLEAN.

If there are any deposits they are removed by way of bleach and or boiling water being poured down the loo. I'd never use the brush for that - yeuk. The brush is simply to polish and shine the ceramic afterwards

Ahem... we have a toilet brush. It has no brown marks/nasty remains on it because I bombard loo with bleach, skoosh brush around bleachy toilet water, then flush with brush under water flow whilst dunking. This flushes/rinses all nasties off brush which has been doused in bleach anyway.
My loo brush is absolutely clean and it gets changed regularly.

Eevn my Scandinavian SIL (who is very hygenic as Scandinavians tend to be) uses a loo brush.

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

So you don't want your kids being 'slaves' to you, but you don't mind being their 'slave' and making them believe, as they grow up...that someone else will always do it or them!

Great!

Well, she has at least 4 pieces of fruit a day and over 30% of her meals are vegetarian (prays that poor dd doesn't read this thread discussing her internal workings with all and sundry)so I don't think it is that. Don't you ever have 'remains' in the toilet bowl, FunnysInTheGarden?

Anyway ladies, this had been somewhat illuminating. I will give it a go with the bleach, etc (though isn't bleach bad for the environment? Arghh!!), and perhaps I am expecting too much of her.

I don't know about unreasonable but I do know about unrealistic. My 19 and 15 year old sons and even my dh need to be reminded about toilet hygiene. Not so much dh, but doesn't have my standards. Why is it so difficult a concept? I'm hoping our 6 yr old daughter will be better, doubtfull atm as she likes to make a clean mess in there. Tissue, empty rolls etc

Jennifersofia, I don't think you're being unreasonable at all! It's a sad (and ridiculously unmentionable) fact of life that there is often a bit of mess in the loo.

At the moment, our loobrush is on a high shelf in the bathroom so that DS can't reach it but guests can see where it is (is there anything more embarrassing than leaving poo-stains in a stranger's toilet?) By the time DS is 6 or 7 years old, I will expect him to understand about the dangers of germs, poo-stains and bleach.

I don't have the time to deep-clean the loo every day!! There are more important things in life! Loobrushes are great (if kept vaguely hygienic) - Let no-one tell you otherwise!

Greenbananas - get back to us on that one when he's 6

In our house any skiddies that remain after flushing get wiped off with a bit of toilet roll by the skidder. It's very easy.

I use a toilet brush, with Lysol household cleaner. I must clean the toilet with it 2-3 times a week. The brush is always clean, but I pour lysol over it when done anyways. It is not a plunger and not really meant to force feces down the toilet, in that cae toss it and buy a new one.
I feel it is too germy a job for age 9. But it also depends on the 9 year old, and if it is a once in a while chore. I guess on second thought it is ok, however I consider it a job for an older person on a regular basis, though mine was cleaning the cat box at that age!

I don't think you're expecting too much of a 9 year old to leave the toilet in a reasonable state. what on earth is so hard about giving a quick swish around the bowl?!

I am still totally confused... If you go to someone's house, and you do a poo, and something remains on the wall, do you leave the marks on your host's toilet?????
That's so bloody rude!!!

Absolutley hilarious that people are so princessy about loo brushes, which have been in existence forever, that they are more comfortable throwing chemicals down the toilet several times a day polluting our waterways.

Shame on you.

EEEW! NO toiet brushes here! Who cleans shite with a brush and then STORES it!!??

Rubber glove and an old cloth...that's how to do it. YUK! And a 9 year old is a bit too young to manage it imo.

Tatty....you dont NEED chemicals to clean crap from a toilet...a cloth and a rubber glove does the job...I cannot imagine why anyone would use bristles on crap and then keep them around!

I hate seeing the following in bathrooms:

toilet brushes
flannels
mats around loo

Shanahans, I'm talking to everyone crying "bleach" as the answer to everyone elses sins

Makes me laugh.

No toiletbrush here either. Hate the idea of them sat in the bathroom.

We use cleaning wipes which I know are not great ecowise, but they are more hygenic imo. They then go in the bin and are thrown away.

Honestly, what is this toilet brush phobia? Shall we do a survey and find out whether the families with 'boak unhygienic disgusting germ-breeding' toilet brushes are in fact ill any more often than the families with the 'wouldn't have something so disgusting in my house and obsessively bleach every time someone uses the loo' approach?

We have a toilet brush. I can't remember the last time DH or I had a stomach upset or were sick.

I'm amazed some of these germ phobic people have ever managed to change a nappy, wipe their own bum, kiss someone or have sex. Think of the germs in someone else's mouth!

What if the crap is stuck on the walls under the water level?
Bleach gets diluited.
And i will repeat : what if you are in someone else's bathroom?

Just wipe it off with bog roll. You've just wiped your arse anyway.

to toilet brushes.

I find bleach does the job and one of those blocks in the cistern helps.

I use one of those toilet duck disposable toilet brush things