Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think children shouldn't wee behind my car and that you should carry a tub or something

85 replies

riskit4abiskit · 23/04/2014 11:04

On car park as I type. Family next to my car just got back. Little girl just had wee on floor behind and between both cars (I was just getting out and the dangly bits of my sling nearly went in it).

AIBU To think that you would carry around potty, jar or tub for this purpose when your child was this age (under 4ish).

I might be U because I have a baby so have no experience of this stage. Also it is the hospital car park I am thinking they might be stressed from visiting an ill relative.

but... there are toilets next to us in the building on one side, and also a wide vergey bit with trees and a wall - in this situation I would use the verge or a tub.

I am posting from interest really to see what people would do ready for when my dc reach this stage!

OP posts:
ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 23/04/2014 12:16

I ask again-

If your child has to wee in the street because they have to go now what do you do when they have to go now somewhere indoors?

TheScience · 23/04/2014 12:18

Can't think of any indoor place I'd take a newly potty trained child that I couldn't get to toilets within a minute.

CorusKate · 23/04/2014 12:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TheBogQueen · 23/04/2014 12:20

Well yu take them to the toilet. Believe it or not many indoor places have toilets where you can take the child in a couple of minutes - although sometimes if there is a queue you may have to utilise the disabled toilet Shock

But in our streets public conveniences are few and far between. Occasionally I've asked in a pub or cafe but it's a total faff if you have more than one child/double buggy/shopping and not very pleasant for the patrons of cafe/pub etc

Our local library has toilets but they keep locking them to stop the junkies jacking-up or smoking crack in them.

TheScience · 23/04/2014 12:21

Corus, what if they were dog owners rather than child owners - is it ok to let your dog pee in a car park?

girlywhirly · 23/04/2014 12:22

YABU, this wasn't the best place for the child to pee, but it happens. I used to have a potette, but sometimes there just isn't time before they wet themselves. Given that they could have whisked the toddler over to a verge I would have done that if there was no potty, and certainly if there was someone sitting in the car next to us who was going to get out and step in it.

If you don't want to carry a tub or similar around for an older child, they could just use a potette liner if desperate for a poo, the liners don't take up much room in a bag or glove compartment. We used to carry some in our car in case of travel sickness. Pedal bin liner or plastic container with some cat litter in does the job as well and is absorbent.

CorusKate · 23/04/2014 12:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TheScience · 23/04/2014 12:27

What about on the pavement where people are walking? I see lots more dogs doing this than toddlers.

CorusKate · 23/04/2014 12:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TheScience · 23/04/2014 12:29

Maybe dog owners need to carry tubs around too. And don't even get me started on cat owners...

hotcrosshunny · 23/04/2014 12:29

If your child has to go now outdoors I find a spot. I'm guessing behind a car was the best spot. Trying to get to a loo would be unrealistic.

MinesaMess · 23/04/2014 12:32

In comparison to animal urine, children's urine is harmless. Rats and dogs who wee everywhere can shed diseases dangerous to humans that can last upto 6 months or longer in the environment. Dogs treated for fleas excrete the toxic chemicals in their urine and faeces, these are then washed into our water supplies.
Seriously there are far bigger things to worry about than children's wee. Being held over the gutter for a wee was standard when I was a toddler, long before the day's of portable pottys.

CorusKate · 23/04/2014 12:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LadyRabbit · 23/04/2014 12:35

Sorry OP but YABU. I understand it's not ideal, but believe me when toddlers have to go outside and you can't see a loo within 50yards needs must. I've only had it happen once or twice and always attempt to let DS do it somewhere discreet and where it won't mean people have to walk in it but sometimes there simply isn't the time! And it's ALWAYS after you've spent the last hour asking the little blighters if they need the loo (when there's one nearby) and they insist they don't!

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 23/04/2014 12:39

but... there are toilets next to us in the building on one side

This from the OP. It wasn't a case of toilets miles away.

MoominsAreScary · 23/04/2014 12:41

It was behind and between the your car and their own, how on earth did you nearly dangle something in it Hmm totally fine, when they have to go some of them havw to go now.

I remember picking one of mine up and running through the shopping centre to the toilet

SirNoel · 23/04/2014 12:42

A tub? Get away wit ya Smile

Seeing as it was a hospital car park, going back inside to find a toilet might have meant having to get a new ticket/feeding the meter again etc, but anyway, toddler wee is pretty inoffensive imo

MoominsAreScary · 23/04/2014 12:43

I wouldnt be going back into a building where ww might hqve to wait for a toilet when they can just have a wee behind my car

TheBogQueen · 23/04/2014 12:47

Anyway op = come back when yu are potty training Wink

Gurnie · 23/04/2014 12:47

It'sallgoingtobefine....I guess they sometimes wet themselves or you have a potty to hand or you rush them to the loo or they wee on the sofa or where ever they are sitting! If you are out it's more difficult because you may not have a change of clothes available or of course a potty to hand.

ebwy · 23/04/2014 12:49

and when you do carry a cheap potty on the buggy with smaller child, you risk being accused of stealing it if you go shopping....

my eldest has got better at it, but for quite a while I'd have just enough notice to grab potty and get his trousers down. So then there are the comments from shoppers and staff about "letting" him do that in the shop, when the alternative would have been letting him do it on the floor in the shop...

mostly people just comment "when you've got to go, you've got to go!" or the occasional "been there, done that!"

AmberLeaf · 23/04/2014 12:49

YABU.

Mine never used/had a potty anyway, so were 'trained' to use either a toilet, or if outside with no access to a toilet, a well aimed pee down a drainhole or up a tree.

I have 3 boys though and from observations of friends with girls, al fresco peeing seems easier with boys as you can aim and be more discreet.

I would preferably try to find a drain, so the wee went away and didn't leave any residue to stink up the place, but on rare occasions had to let them go on the ground. Not ideal, but sometime necessary.

If your child has to wee in the street because they have to go now what do you do when they have to go now somewhere indoors?

Most indoor places have toilets that you can get to quickly. if you are outside, you typically don't have the time to get inside somewhere and then find toilets.

I don't see why little children peeing outside is such an issue really, as long as they aren't doing it aged 12 [not saying that is the cut off point for doing it, don't want to start a debate on what age this should stop at!] point is, this is a temporary thing and nothing to get worked up about.

BertieBotts · 23/04/2014 13:22

I never carried a potty, DS wouldn't use one. If we were caught short when out he used a tree.

I probably wouldn't encourage him to do it behind a car but if it was that or wet himself then it would have been the car. It's no big deal, dogs probably wee on your car far more often!

VisualiseAHorse · 23/04/2014 13:32

I'm one of ten children - not once did my parents ever whip a potty out while walking so we could wee. I think my mother would really laugh if you suggested that she carry a tub round with her. I remember my mother holding me over a drain in the middle of the highstreet - when you've got to go....

PenelopeChipShop · 23/04/2014 13:37

Hang on, when someone posted about their toddler needing to go in the middle of John Lewis I don't think there was one person who said it was ok, but if it's in a car park then it seems to be universally acceptable. Just trying to get the rules straight in my head as I'll likely be potty training my first dc this summer and it's all new to me...

Swipe left for the next trending thread