Child peeing in supermarket car park

[Daffodil1210]

DH and I were out shopping today and as we were getting DS out of the car and into his buggy, a family returned to their car parked just along from us having been shopping in the supermarket.

Cue one of the boys (around 7 or 8 years old) deciding to have a pee by the side of his car, actively encouraged by his mother as she loads her shopping and the other children into the car.

Is this normal and AIBU for being surprised at this? FWIW there is definitely a loo in the supermarket, and the only thing I can think is that perhaps the mother didn't want to have the hassle of taking him back in to use it.

[Kaekae]

Wouldn't bother me tbh. There could be a hundred and one reasons why he did it. I personally wouldn't allow my 7 year old son to do it in a carpark but that's because I know I would be able to easily get him to the public loo. However, my daughter was desperate for a pee on the way home form school, she's five and was crying that it was hurting her so we found a tree in the park and let her pee. I flushed the pee away with a bottle of water.

[JuJuMun69]

Ive been known to pee outside now and again

[TattyDevine]

Re legality, I believe it is legal to wee on the wheel of your car (tyre I guess) in a car park. I definitely read that somewhere! Not sure why the wheel is okay but presumably not down a drain. And its a bit sexual-discriminatory, as its only boys who can benefit from this (easily anyway, without a she-wee)

[TattyDevine]

Linky bizarrebritain.com/is-urinating-in-public-a-chargeable-offence/

[Fromparistoberlin73]

my (small ish) sons do this, we tell them not to but they just wop it out like bloody dogs and wee

I don't think they would have the gall to do it in a car park though, usually its in park against a tree

I am sure I will get flamed for admitting this, COME ON!

[bimandbam]

I remember back when I was a kid/ypung teen and it wasn't a legal requirement to have publuc toilets at public events.

There was a huuugggeee Sunday market we used to go to occasionally. Not a car boot but only held on Sundays . Anyhow there were no loos so on the way back to the carpark you used to see random people popping out of the bushes looking sheepish. Also we used to ride over to the local pony show and have to disappear behind a bush.

It didn't bother me then and it doesn't bother me now if I see a child having a pee in a public place. Next lot of rain will wash it all away.

Vile in bus stops or doorways though as it stinks after a while as the weather can't do it's thing.

[Nataleejah]

Thats vile. 7-8yo is perfectly capable to at least run to the bushes or behind a tree.

[ceyes03]

DS has problems which are under investigation. If he needs to go he needs to go NOW. We don't all have perfect bladders, maybe her DS is one of those that doesn't.

Then she should take him to the toilet in the supermarket before they leave.

Sorry, this is absolutely disgusting behaviour and there's absolutely no excuse for it.

[TenForward82]

ceyes, this is MN. There's always a disability, or a condition, usually mental health related, that explains why someone is acting like / allowed to act like a berk, be they a child or an adult.

I think it's not great behaviour but for me it would depend where he was aiming and if someone was likely to step in it. Raining or not is irrelevant because I'm betting she lets him do it in the middle of a heatwave too.

[SolidGoldBrass]

Actually, it's reasonably likely that there were reasons other than the mother's 'laziness' in this case, just because various factors that mean a child has less control are fairly common. OP knows nothing about the child or the family and only made an estimate of the child's age.
So the child could have had some sort of SN which meant toilet training was delayed.
The child could have had a bladder condition when meant he wouldn't have been able to wait until his mum had got him back inside the building.
The supermarket toilets could have been closed or out of order (OP makes no mention of having checked this for herself)

And the child could have been misbehaving and weeing despite his mother's disapproval. But once a boy's got it out and started weeing, there's not a great deal anyone else can do about it.

It really isn't a big deal.