To be shocked by what I saw

[Todayistuesday]

Last night, having a meal at 7 in a nice pub and a parent got their child to use the potty by their table. This isn't normal, is it?!

Was it a poo, OP? I can see everyone assumes it was, but you didn't say. Maybe it wouldn't have been possible to go to the loo, maybe there wouldn't be time. They didn't pee in your meal. Live and let live and all that.

Absolutely disgusting!!

Grim - what did they do about emptying it? Would think if you had to walk to the toilet to empty it then that's pointless. In terms of hygiene that's unacceptable in a restaurant, and again in terms of hygiene no different from you going in the middle of a restaurant! Grim!

Lazy parenting! I would have vomited!

Errr that's gross! Hope it didn't put you off your meal too much! 🤢

Absolutely not. Thats like me going in and shitting in their dining room while they are eating! Utterly gross behaviour!

It's not pointless, if the potty is at yhe tabke you don't have to sprint to the toilet with your child, having recieved your 5 second warning.

This le only beginning of an excuse I could think of is if the child had special needs and couldn't hold any length of time.
But if that would be me I would probably apologize and try to be as discrete as possible - doesn't sound like this was the case here

Argh I meant I was was the mum

I have potty trained three kids in the recent past so I am aware of the perils but this is absolutely not ok under any circumstances.

Utterly gross - would have put me off my meal. No excuse.

Did you mention it to the staff or management? That's what I would have done to be honest. This type of dirty, unhygienic behaviour needs to be called out every single time. It's anti social and plain dirty, the parent could have got the kid to use the potty in the loo. I've seen it done many times and have done similar with my dc.

That's so crazy that I honestly started giggling reading this.

Selfish, unhygienic and entitled.

Oh good something else to deal with in my shop in the summer!!!

My daughter once wee'd in the middle of the opticians - I was getting my glasses fitted she was playing on the floor and my son in the Pram. I had a potty as she was tiny and hated being held on the toilet. She didn't tell me she needed it and just got it and whipped down her pants and went - just a wee! I was mortified but the lovely optician even said here I'll take that and wash it for you. Bless her!!

I wouldn't have given her the potty tho if she's had asked (well I would have done but asked to use the toilet)

This has been observed on a previous thread along exactly the same lines and a few (admittedly a small minority) said "YES...AND ? HAVE YOU GOT KIDS? EH ? EH?" in the way that only someone entitled can do...

Totally wrong!!

Definitely take the potty to the toilet for the child to use there. I kept the potty on our toilet when toilet training my 3 kids. Made a natural progression to using the toilet much easier. Potty in restaurant seems to be the next lowering in personal standards. Wonder what would have happened if the child needed a poo!

Me and hubby took the opportunity to have lunch at Wetherspoons last week (I know, I know - We were starving and Wetherspoons was the nearest venue). Throughout our meal we were "entertained" by a group of 5-6 year olds running around the tables and jumping down 4 steps. The grand finale was when one of the family's (of the marauding children) pulled out a potty and clapped and cheered when their toddler did a poo in the aisle - in full view of people eating! Lovely! I will never darken the doors of Wetherspoons ever again! Bleurgh!

YANBU but....
I work In a restaurant, and I think it's unfair to complain to the staff in such instances. You would be putting them in the unfair situation of having to tell the guest. Same goes with kids play areas. Your kids, so your responsibility to supervise them.

Years ago when I worked in retail a woman whipped out a potty and sat her child on it in the corner of my shop. I told her where the nearest toilets were and said it was unappropriate to be doing it there, but she refused to move and said it was urgent. The kid (about 4/5 years old) just sat there for ages doing nothing at all, I even offered to let her use the staff toilets which is against company policy but thought it better than the alternative. She still stayed there while her child said 'It's not coming', told him to keep trying and wait it out. She ended up leaving while I was away from the shop (talking to security staff) and when I came back two of my sales staff were trying to soak the wee up from the floor, she'd tipped the potty up and scarpered. There was a horrendous smell, that we couldn't find the source of, until later that shift we found a fully formed poo had been kicked under a display case near where she'd been. So disgusting!

Can there really be people that vile?

"These are the type of parents who still have 3.5 year olds in nappies. "

Oh do fuck off with that, why be gratuitously offensive for the hell of it? I had a 3.5yo in nappies because he just wasn't getting it despite months and months of trying and of me washing 5+ sets of clothes a day. My other two children were out of nappies by just after 2. So easy to be smug but actually your kids' continence has pretty much bugger all to do with your parenting abilities, it's just the luck of the draw.

Oh my god!