To stop and let my child do a wee in a lay by?

[Treegle]

On the way home earlier my DC was desperate for the toilet and so I stopped in a lay by and let them wee there. MIL said I should have carried in until there was a toilet or wait to get home. I knew the route and it would have been at least 20 minutes before there was anywhere where there would have actually been a toilet and was v worried I would get a soaking wet car!!

Was it so terrible of my to let them wee in the lay by? Would you/have you done this??

Layby, fine. Hard shoulder or emergency refuge, not fine.

God no @Mummyoflittledragon she didn't say that. She's actually alright as far as MILs go hence me questioning if I WAS actually in the wrong. She was disgusted by the litter there too I think (there was definitely discarded bottle of piss - I'm guessing someone didn't even make the lay-by!!)

I think she thought a boy could just stand up and get it over and done quickly - she's a mother of boys. Where as with DD it involved a pulling down of trousers and pulling backwards to avoid pissy trews situation which I think she found wholly undignified.

I also think she treats DD older than she is as she's quite tall. Seems to expect a lot from her

Ok that’s good to hear. My dd was always tall for her age atm her friends are catching her up. So I understand what it’s like for your child to be treated as older than your age because of height.

Older than their age even.

I done this you have to as long as it's a safe lay-by . I have 4 young boys so now take juice bottles that if we can't stop they can use, not as easy for girls though.

Slightly off topic but I always have a couple of these handy in the boot - just in case www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00R177BAM/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8

Isn’t that what lay-bys are for?

Didn't we all do this as kids?? I did it myself last year on a trip with my dad to visit family in Pembrokeshire. It was a long way, there were a lot of country roads. Don't see a problem myself!

but germs were different in them days.....

so true!

Everyone needs a scenic wee occasionally, it's good for the soul (and the bladder)

Done this for myself and my DS!

Totally fine.

I actually passed two grown men in a lay-by on a duel carriageway last week both stood peeing in the verge and they were only 10 miles away from an exit. I thought that was a bit grim.
A little girl having to go in a lay-by is totally fine. Your MIL is BVU.

Like your MIL has never had to use a bush

There are quite a lot of laybys and bushes in pub carparks where my children have had to have emergency wees over the years. I'm no stranger to the occasional al fresco piddle myself. No issue and your MIL is nuts.

We have a travel potty. I put it in the tail gate of the car and let DS wee in there, but if he had enough aim I'd go for the layby. Nothing wrong with it at all!

I don't think that it is any worse than dog wee so YANBU. Did it all the time.

My DM took my DD for a walk in the woods without her phone. They got lost and were there for 3 hours wandering around.

The highlight for my DD was that nanny went for a wee in the bushes.

Your MIL is weird.

Lucky your MIL doesn’t live in Australia, there can easily be 100’s of km between loos! Your biggest worry isn’t whether you’ll offend the public, but finding a spot that isn’t inhabited by wildlife who won’t react well to being wee’d on!

My mum took me into a field by the road to wee on a road trip when I was about 5. Nice cleared area, less chance of snakes. Halfway through the wee we realised there was a fully grown bull in the field. It was doing that thing with its hoof that they do in cartoons, preparing to run us down. Mum grabbed me and ran- wee or no wee!

Yanbu I had a wee in lay-by when I was 5 my mother probably did before me. My child probs will do too. Consider it a right of passage in our family

My dad was a long distance lorry driver and sometimes I used to go with him. I loved it they are my fondest childhood memories.

I have pretty much peed at the side of every motorway, A road and B in the country.

Once I peed against the big wheels of dads truck and then it broke down! For years I thought it was my fault

Al fresco wee, fine. I did draw the line when DS (about 3) asked to poo next to a tree in town “like a dog”

Having a perennially weak bladder I regularly stop and have al fresco pees in lay by bushes. I'm in my 60's. When you've got to go, you've got to go. There simply aren't enough public toilets anyway. Who wants to drive for miles hoping to see a handy loo, all the while with an increasing sense of desperation?
Op, you did the right thing.

Not me by the way, I mean my DS!!

Done it my self, as well as the children! Isn't that what they're there for???

there is a lot of pleasure to be had in an al fresco wee... I've been known to do one in the garden if it's dark and quiet and I cba to go indoors. It's only wee! dogs, cats, foxes, badgers, hedgehogs, mice, rats, other small mammal of your choice - they've all weed there already.