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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think its wrong to use potty out in the open

159 replies

Edinburghmummy12 · 27/08/2014 12:08

Walked past a women and her child sat down in a potty useing it on a very busy street . What do you all think cos part of mes thinking fair enough but the other parts thinking no

OP posts:
MrsWinnibago · 27/08/2014 12:10

Some people lose all grasp of reality. They think "MY CHILD'S TRAINING IS ALL IMPORTANT" and bugger the child's privacy and other people's sensibilities.

badtime · 27/08/2014 12:12

Well, as long as you can use it in the soft furnishings section of John Lewis. They do sell potties in store, after all.

WhyBeHappyWhenYouCouldBeNormal · 27/08/2014 12:14

depends on how far away public toilets are? I've had to do it a few times, normally we find a hedge or a small alley to hide in though - we don't have a car and sometimes have to walk quite far, with no public toilets for half hour walk or something (or 1 hr journey on a train with no toilets on it). Toddlers can't wait that long - particularly as they normally don't realise they need a wee until they are desperate anyway.

It's not a modern thing -our mothers would have got us to wee in the drains and alleyways and hedges, it's just we now have travel potty's to make it a bit nicer.

bronya · 27/08/2014 12:18

In an emergency, so long as you're not in a shop, then you gotta do what you gotta do. Would tuck them as much out of sight as possible though!

What's worse?

  1. grab child and run, leaving a trail of wee behind (and possibly little balls of poo depending on what they're wearing and the nature of the emergency). OR
  2. Potty outside, as shielded as possible from passers-by. Products bagged up, street left clean, child dry and clean.

Obviously, everyone tries to avoid emergencies as much as possible though!

zippey · 27/08/2014 12:20

There are lots of things which are wrong. Bullying, Murder, Assault are all universally accepted as wrong. I dont think letting achild use a potty in the street is wrong. A child may be unable to hold it in for any length of time. I think it would be worse to to see to a childs needs as quickly as you could.

Id let this pass. Im sure neither the child or mother would have done this out of choice.

KatherinaMinola · 27/08/2014 12:22

I can't get worked up about it. Man urinating in a busy street, yes.

PamBagnallsGotACollage · 27/08/2014 12:23

I have a travel pottete that is easy to whip out wherever we are and the contents are easy to dispose of. If we're near a loo I'll head there but if I'm in the middle of the street and I know my son is desperate having given me know previous warning i have to get it out. He doesn't mind. Everyone else can sod off. We find a quiet corner and I shield him as much as possible.

At the start of potty training it really can be difficult to make it to a toilet in time if you're out and about.

Mintyy · 27/08/2014 12:31

I think using a potty out on the street is perfectly fine. Potty training children would continually have accidents if they had to wait to get to a toilet in the average town centre. We do not have a public loo at all on our busy High Street.

Legionofboom · 27/08/2014 12:32

Once, about 20 years ago now, I was in Boots at the pharmacy counter. This woman was wandering around the shop with her toddler son. Suddenly a potty was whipped out, a toddler sits and takes a dump in the middle of Boots Shock

The mother then proceeded to bring the potty up to the pharmacy counter and attempted to hand the full potty to the woman serving me, saying
'I need you to dispose of this in your toilet'. The woman serving refused and the mother got very irate and could honestly not see why the assistant had a problem with it. In the end the manager had to come and there was some confusion as to whether the potty was hers or she'd just swiped it off the shelf.

All this while poop filled potty was being wafted around the store.

Mintyy · 27/08/2014 12:33

But as you are on the fence with this one, op, I think your thread title is actually misleading.

ikeaismylocal · 27/08/2014 12:35

My opinion is that if it's ok for dogs to crap/piss there then it's ok for toddlers to do the same, so in a public street I think it's fine, in a cafe not so much.

SaucyJack · 27/08/2014 12:38

I did it with my eldest the first few times I took her out in big girl pants. Meh.

I'd only bother to have an opinion if there were other factors and I knew the parent was just being lazy.

Viviennemary · 27/08/2014 12:40

I am amazed that anyone in their right mind could think this is acceptable. People managed for years without resorting to potties in the middle of the street.

DancingDinosaur · 27/08/2014 12:40

I'm finding it difficult to get worked up about this one. If its outside then who cares really Confused. Theres much better things to worry about than a child having a poop on a potty.

Poofus · 27/08/2014 12:41

Can't see what's wrong with it. If the child can't wait, then there will be piss in the street anyway surely? Better to catch it in the potty!

BarbarianMum · 27/08/2014 12:41

I think in the street is fine in those early months of potty training. Better than in their pants. In a shop - no. Certainly not in a cafe/restaurant. But in the fresh air, why not? Would you feel better if they squatted on the pavement like a dog and their mum shovelled it up?

mumofboyo · 27/08/2014 12:42

If we're far away from the toilets and ds isn't going to make it - it's hard trying to run quickly with toddler + buggy + shopping, especially if dd has been walking as well - I take him to a quiet corner and get him to use the potette there. I wouldn't bat an eyelid if I saw someone else doing the same thing; when a toddler gets the urge there's pretty much nothing you can do about it.

BarbarianMum · 27/08/2014 12:42

Really, which years were these? And in which country? And what did people do instead?

Mintyy · 27/08/2014 12:42

Lots of us not in our right mind on this thread then Vivienne! You'd better run, we might be dangerous ...

Sixgeese · 27/08/2014 12:44

I have done it with all of mine, when they were desperate and we weren't near a toilet, I always thought it was better than letting them soil themselves or leave a puddle of wee. I used a pottete and threw the knotted bag into the nearest bin. I would never use it in a shop and tried to shelter the child as much as possible, but in the early days sometimes it was needed (and we still have one in the back of the car for very long car journeys and emergencies)

twofingerstoGideon · 27/08/2014 12:44

I agree with Vivienne. I'm pretty ancient and I have NEVER seen this, so obviously several generations of mothers found ways around this without using potties in streets, shops, whatever.

It is really unnecessary.

I love the hilarious notion above that potties are some kind of new invention!

Notso · 27/08/2014 12:44

I think if the child cannot give enough warning or hold on to get to a toilet they probably aren't ready for pants.
I've got three out of my four in pants and have never carried a potty around with us.
Obviously in the middle of the woods etc sometimes calls for a 'nature' wee but they are a rarity.

Viviennemary · 27/08/2014 12:46

I have never seen anyone use a potty in the middle of a busy street. Can't think what the world is coming to. Clutches pearls and hoiks up judgey pants at same time. Grin

TeWiSavesTheDay · 27/08/2014 12:47

It's not great but there's not a lot of options sometimes!

I have got the potty out in the quietest sidestreet I could speedily find for a toddler who'd eaten something dodgy at lunch... Definitely preferable to leaving a trail of poo down the street.

Mintyy · 27/08/2014 12:50

Oh don't be such a great big silly billy TwoFingers.

I am pretty ancient (born 1962) and I remember my potty coming with us on trips. However, when I was a child there were public loos in every town and on every small High Street, which there just aren't any more.

NO ONE BUT NO ONE HAS SAID ANYTHING ABOUT IT BEING OK TO USE THEM INDOORS, OK?

And no one has said they are a new invention either Hmm.

How about reading the actual words on the thread, rather than spinning your own version to get worked up about?