to think that a potty in a trolley is a step too far?

[homeiswheretheginis]

Saw a woman with her two small girls going into the supermarket. She casually told the smallest to pop her potty in the trolley.

I felt sick. I try not to package vegetables etc, but rather put them unwrapped straight into the trolley in a bit to do my tiny bit for the planet. But never again. The idea of residual faeces in the trolley (having landed there when a potty was left there...) ending up on my food repulsed me.

AIBU or is that utterly revolting and unacceptable? Food goes in supermarket trollies, not receptacles for human waste...?

It does sound off putting but maybe the mum had no other choice if she doesn't want to use pull ups, wants to have child led toilet training and didn't have anyone that she could leave the child with while she popped out to the shops.

Was she using a child trolley? if so, that doesn't seem to be as bad as using a normal trolley. After all, child trollies are designed for children and those who may be a little squeamish can avoid them.

Like I've already said, maybe she'd just bought it from a shop other than the supermarket. It was perhaps a brand new potty, never used, fresh from the shop. They're carrying it home, no bag because you pay for them now, they need the supermarket, "put your potty in the trolley DD" so she's not swinging it around. Benefit of the doubt and all that, unless you actually know for a fact it was a used potty.

I've potty trained two children and I've helped potty train three others (CM), I've never taken a potty out with me and I don't know own anyone who does aside from that one mum my friend was a CM for (and even then, my friend never used the potty for the child).

the inappropriateness of a child pissing or shitting in a food shop.

But she wasn't pissing or shitting in the shop. She was carrying a potty, not actually using it.

Not while the OP was there, no.

And you don't know if she did while the OP wasn't there. Carrying it doesn't mean she was going to use it or, if she was going to use it that she'd do so in the middle of the supermarket.

I often carry a little wedge of toilet tissue in my handbag, doesn't mean I'm going to have a shit in the street....

I potty trained all 3 of mine by 20 months. I had to take a potty outside with me, as others have said, I wouldn't have been able to leave the house otherwise. I carried the potty in a plastic bag and it was whipped out in emergencies when no loo was available.

They were all trained within a week or so and then the potty was left at home. I would have put the un-used potty in a plastic bag and then probably let it hang from the hook under the handle, but I might have put it in the trolley. Why wouldn't you put a clean bit of plastic in a trolley? How is that more dirty than a toddler's feet, or even your own handbag which has been sat on a bus' chair or a doctor's waiting room floor?

You all seem to be getting up-tight about what the potty is FOR, rather than how dirty it IS.... (assuming it was washed/disinfected before coming outside). Why get your knickers in a twist about clean plastic in a shopping trolley?

And for those saying you shouldn't toilet train until kids can hold it for long periods of time - it takes a week or so to even get that concept into a 20 month old's head... I would much rather have been without nappies from before 2, than be waiting until 3 or 4 years old.

Hardly the worst problem in the world. If you are such a germ-phobic you really ought to start bagging your veg (though if they are organic they have probably been grown in much worse anyway). There's no evidence that the child had even used the potty, in any case is it really any worse than a child being pushed round in a pooey nappy? A supermarket trolley is never going to be detoxed to within an inch of its life anyway so perhaps you'd better start carrying a cleaning spray with you to make sure it is thoroughly pristine before you put your shopping in.

I find it pretty disgusting. But I don't let me children stand in trolleys which others do.

I'm not a particular germaphobe, some things are just horrid.

No need for potties in trollies. Or at least have it in a carrier bag.

Those of you who seem to be offended by the mere sight of a potty in a trolley, perhaps she had just picked it up in the supermarket to purchase?! I've bought 2 potties and 2 seats from tesco. They all went in the trolley before I paid for them. They were probably dirtier/less hygienic than after DD had used them; after she uses them i clean and disinfect. While new they will have been stored in factories and transported on lorrys. Could be covered in anything.

Devils advocate here: is it urban legend or don't you get more shit on your hands exchanging money than you do from a toilet seat?b

Of course you wash your vegetables, farmers spread their fields with shit! It's every where!

Well this thread has put me off using trolleys, i mean seriously rat piss????

Op wdnbu, a used potty whether wiped or not, should not be near food and those of you that think its ok, do you store your potty in your fridge or next to your plates because unless you do why is a potty in a trolley ok??

Letting your child sit or stand in a trolley is rank, saw a 10 yr old a few days ago and wanted to say something to the mum but didnt.

There's no need to dramatically envisage potty-training in the fruit and veg aisle.

I was taking a potty and then a special portable toilet seat with me for years. Even though, throughout that time, my children only ever used the potty within toilets. Why? Because I had small kids who were trained early and who were (rightly) terrified of falling down the toilet.

I don't judge older children in trolleys unless they're acting in an unsafe manner such as leaning right over the sides. DS is 6yo and can get overwhelmed at the supermarket - running, touching things, wandering off, lying down, fiddling with things he shouldn't be touching - the easiest way to put an end to it is to put him in the trolley and give him the ipod and headphones. He's too big for the seat so he goes and sits in the big part. Our local Asda have started doing trolleys with a big seat for older children which most welcome but they only have two at the minute so if they're in use I do as I've described.

Because I had small kids who were trained early and who were (rightly) terrified of falling down the toilet.

Whenever my DD had to go to a public toilet, I was there to hold her. At home she had a special seat to help her. Never ever have I carried a portable potty. It was nappies to a toilet.

I had 2 kids who were out of nappies at 2. Never took a potty to a supermarket, they were held onto the toilet by either me or DH.

I saw a family take a toddler toilet seat (not in a bag) on to a plane as hand luggage last week. I couldn't be doing with that, plane toilets are grim at the best of times, and I did wonder where they were going to store it especially once it was used.

lol at the people disgusted by this. i took my DD's potty in the trolly at Asda Waitrose the other day, we only used it in the toilets at said supermarket but the car is a long way away from the store so although DD has reasonably good bladder control, I don't know if she'd have held it from back of store- far side of car park- back into the toilets. It was clean and I really don't see what the issue is.

Gross.

If people truly can't see why putting a portable toilet in a shopping trolley is rude and disgusting, there is no hope.

Put her in pull-ups or a nappy if you're that unsure, Fevertree.

The issue is that nobody wants to see your child's poo receptacle in the same place they put their food shopping.

The issue is that nobody wants to see your child's poo receptacle in the same place they put their food shopping.

That's it in a nutshell.

Hah! I feel slightly mollified to find that I'm not the only one that found this utterly utterly vile. As LeaLeander and many others have said, if your child can't wait long enough to get to the nearest loo then they're not ready for training. Stick to nappies rather than being so stomach-churning.

Basic hygiene is sometimes completely ignored isn't it? How hard is it to realise that human waste and food shouldn't be in the same place? I remember once having a lunch party and a mum changing a pooey nappy on the floor by he dining table...just as I was walking into the room with plates of the first course. What's wrong with people and why haven't they all expired of cholera yet?! This is what Darwinism is for isn't it?

I've just started toilet training my 2 yo. I'm pretty clueless about the whole thing but I don't think this would have offended me unless the child actually pooed or weed in it in the middle of the supermarket.

I've just bought a travel potty because my dd is tiny and I'm not yet sure if she will let me hold her onto a public loo. Ideally I'd prefer that method but I have a feeling my very independent dd will tell me to let her do it on her own which would mean I'd need a potty because she wouldn't balance on a big toilet!

As I said, I haven't got that far yet so we'll see. I'm still putting her in nappies out of the house and just letting her walk around naked at home and so far that's working (although she did wee on my sofa about half an hour ago...ah well)

I waited for DD to want to potty train and then spent about 5 days at home in the garden with her stripped bare from the waist down. After that the potette plus went everywhere with us, and I'm afraid she did need to use it at an Aldi. She had a skirt on and I used a very secluded corner away from any food. Was all over very quickly and the bag of wee just went back under the buggy. We antibac-ed hands and went on with our day. I've since found that staff in most stores without public toilets will let small children use the staff ones which has saved us quite a few times, but I didn't know that at the time.