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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:
jacks365 · 27/08/2014 12:59

I potty trained my eldest 18 years ago and then my nearest town had 3 lots of public toilets so always somewhere to go. I have just potty trained my youngest and all those public toilets are closed and locked up due to cuts. Where would you suggest I take my youngest if she needs or would you prefer me to use a grid instead as I have seen people do all my life.

SilveryMoon · 27/08/2014 13:07

I took a travel-potty with us when I was training ds1 and 2. We've also used them in shops if I thought we wouldn't make it to the toilet as I figure a quick wee in a potty in the middle of a shop is better than a puddle of wee on the floor

TalcumPowder · 27/08/2014 13:13

Well, you'd better avoid the East Midlands for the next few weeks if the 'wrongness' (moral? aesthetic?) of this really kills you. I'm starting to toilet-train my son, and I guarantee there will be open-air interludes before he gets the hang of things, because we're not quarantining ourselves indoors in case someone's pearls are rattled by the sight of a toddler weeing in public.

twofingerstoGideon · 27/08/2014 13:14

Wow, Mintyy, you're a bit tetchy. There actually are mentions of shops on this thread but i don't see the need for the hysterical capitalisation in your post. Take a chill pill FGS.
FWIW I grew up in West London and there were certainly not public toilets in our high street. We had to be dragged up to the third floor of Bentalls department store.

FannyFifer · 27/08/2014 13:15

Bringing a potty everywhere with you is not toilet training ffs.

twofingerstoGideon · 27/08/2014 13:17

Exactly FannyFifer. And not wanting to see a small person defecating in public is not particularly 'pearl-clutchy' either.

Mintyy · 27/08/2014 13:19

All the mentions of shops on the thread were that it was not reasonable to use a potty in a shop. Yes, I did find your post extremely annoying with its "we were so much better in my young day" overtone. And you hadn't even bothered to read the thread properly. Tetchy-making, indeed.

Mintyy · 27/08/2014 13:21

Define toilet training then Fanny? Are you going to say you should never go out until your child can wait 15/20 minutes to get to a toilet?

ikeaismylocal · 27/08/2014 13:21

I don't think you can actually see much when a child is sitting on a potty ( unless it's a transparent potty) I see lots of things I would rather not see whilst walking downtthe street, dogs pooing, drunk people, litter I just look the other way.

Mintyy · 27/08/2014 13:24

Oh dear, you'd not find Ellaroo's river of sweetcorn thread very funny either!

I will try and find it for those who have a soh about the trials and tribulations of potty training.

IShallCallYouSquishy · 27/08/2014 13:24

I've just gone through potty training with my DD.

When we've been out for a few hours I've brought the potty. However we went and found an actual toilet cubicle to use it. And we only took potty as she is a bit nervous of the big loo still. Agree that if they can't wait then they aren't ready. I don't want to see anyone wee/poo toddler or not. (Own child excepted obviously)

It's along the same lines of my friends who happily let their child wee in their potty in my kitchen, when the loo is in the hallway 10 metres away. Where DD's potty is Hmm

Wailywailywaily · 27/08/2014 13:25

Babies and toddlers defecate in public all the time, its just that if they are wearing a nappy you wouldn't really notice.

I see no problem with taking a potty out in public, especially in the early days of training.

BarbarianMum · 27/08/2014 13:26

Umm, yes it is. It's part of that early stage when you are trying to get them to notice that feeling in their bladder/bowels that means something is going to happen. To begin with you get a lot of "3 second warnings" and having a potty to hand is a lot better than the alternative.

And if you never got this, well bully for you, your child has a superior bladder. But it's normal, and the sight of small children being rushed to potties, gutters and hedges whilst out and about is as old as the hills. If anything I bet it was more common in the olden days cause they tended to start training earlier.

Notso · 27/08/2014 13:27

The vast majority of the potties I've seen used are the regular type which are then slopped out on grass or down a drain. Not much different to going down a drain or near a bush anyway. It seems pointless.

Talcum I don't think anyone is suggesting you stay in for weeks but surely everyone stays at home or very close to home for a couple of days at least at first.

Hakluyt · 27/08/2014 13:27

If you need to use a potty on a regular basis in the street, then your child isn't ready- go back to to nappies for a month and try again.

Any unexpected emergencies are what drain gratings and those patches of weeds in the corners of car parks are for.........

hollie84 · 27/08/2014 13:28

I do find travel potties/carting a potty around with you very weird to be honest.

Surely you stay at home for the first week, and then once they have the hang of it you start going out?

Emergency wees in the gutter/against a tree are fine though. Have had to do that once or twice with DS1.

SaucyJack · 27/08/2014 13:28

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say yes, getting a child to go on a potty instead of in their nappy IS (at least part of) toilet training.

Very few children wake up one morning with full bladder control and decide from henceforth onwards they shall always use the water closet. and most of those who do have been left too long in nappies by their lazy parents It's perfectly usual to have at least a few days crossover with a potty to hand for immediate use.

CookieB · 27/08/2014 13:28

Can't see how whipping a potty out every time your dc needs to go will help in the long run. Seems like it would just take them longer to learn to control their bladder til it was more convenient to get to an actual toilet surely?

Corygal · 27/08/2014 13:29

Using a potty in the open is rank and certainly isn't toilet training.

Mintyy · 27/08/2014 13:29

Found it ellaroo's river of sweetcorn

hollie84 · 27/08/2014 13:30

Mintyy - you don't have to wait until they can go 15/20 minutes, but surely if they can't wait 30 seconds then they're not ready to be potty trained?

Go to the toilet before you leave. Go to the toilet as soon as you arrive. Shouldn't be any need for potties in the street/shops.

hollie84 · 27/08/2014 13:31

Saucy - the few days crossover with a potty at hand is done at home though isn't it?

Viviennemary · 27/08/2014 13:31

I'm afraid I agree that carrying a potty around and whipping it out every time it's needed isn't toilet training as I understand it. If a child can't wait any time at all then he/she should still be in nappies and try again in a few weeks.

Mintyy · 27/08/2014 13:32

Why is it better to do an emergency wee in a gutter, against a tree, on a patch of weeds, than on a potty?

My two dc were toilet trained really quickly, no problems at all. But we did take the potty out with us for a little while and had to use it occasionally.

No fucking way was I going to stay in for a week for potty training Shock. We'd have been climbing the walls.

BarbarianMum · 27/08/2014 13:33

With my first, we stayed at home for a week and "did" potty training. With the second there were annoying things like the twice daily preschool run to contend with. That took half an hour so the potty came too. And both mine took several weeks, rather than a couple of days to get past the "3 second warning" stage.

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