To think that a potty in any room besides the bathroom is gross?

[concernedforthefuture]

With the exception of the very early days of potty training (i.e the first couple of weeks when you get zero warning that they need it now ), AIBU to think that it's gross and unnecessary to have potties in living rooms / kitchens / bedrooms ?
Surely once your child is trained, they can hold it long enough to walk to the bathroom to use the potty ? It never occurred to me to have one anywhere else in the house besides alongside the loo when my DC trained, but having recently visited several friends and family with toddlers (who have been trained for months), it seems it's now the norm to have your small child do their toilet in the family rooms. Even worse, the parents don't rush to empty it either . (I can see that if you're busy feeding a newborn it might be easier for the toddler to use the potty nearby, but none of these families had small babies).

Apparently my mum used to take the potty for me to use on the bus

Thankfully I do not remember this.

And I didn't repeat that with my children.

I’m 5’1” @easternlord and my toddler’s steps have been a revelation as my feet don’t properly reach the floor without them. The same is true of most chairs.

@WorraLiberty nope. We've only ever had one (upstairs) toilet. So yes, I took my toddlers up the stairs to use the toilet / potty. Surely if your only toilet was upstairs then you'd have to go up there to empty the potty anyway

@Mumski45 - both my children were very small for their age so struggled with the toilet for the first couple of months (when they'd just turned two). But I agree that it's much better to switch to the toilet ASAP.

@KateyKube yes I agree with the nappy thing too but was too scared to write that. I genuinely think it helped with toilet training as the DC associated changing with using the bathroom so it made sense when it came to using the potty / toilet.

I kept mine in a couple of different rooms for a while with mine. The first born found potty training a challenge and it took him a few years to get the hang of not just pissing himself. They all got it eventually. And understand it's not "representative of the real world", as someone else laughingly put. Who cares?

Yes you would have to go upstairs to empty/wash potty, but you can do it in your own time, not rushing with a toddler who needs to go right now.

Well I cared that it wasn't representative of the real world so we went straight to the toilet. That was my feelings about it and it worked for us, so others might want to give it a go and see if it works for them.
Just sharing my experiences. Neither of my children are called Ptolemy or Tarquin either.

Because I didn't think sitting on a potty watching TV in the living room or carrying it about with you was preparation for real life.

DS2 would beg to differ with you if he could! He had tantrums because I wouldn't allow him to sit on his potty watching TV and eating chocolate. I was cruel and made him use it in the bathroom, otherwise he'd probably still be sitting there now, 4 years later

A 'friend' used to bring a travel potty everywhere and whip it out every 20 mins or so for her DD to 'have a try'. No matter where we were. So grim.

That's exactly what I wanted to avoid Roomba eating on the potty in front of the telly we would never have moved on!

A lot of people are so SO FREAKED OUT by bodily functions

I'm really not. I just don't enjoy watching TV or drinking my cup of tea while a red faced grunting toddler tries to push one out next to me. And my visitors don't always appreciate it either. Sure, I've grabbed the potty and taken it to my DC if they were caught short and really couldn't make it upstairs in time. But my house isn't that big, it's not a massive deal to walk to the bathroom and do it on most occasions.

I just don't enjoy watching TV or drinking my cup of tea while a red faced grunting toddler tries to push one out next to me.

But if you keep your toddler in nappies longer (in order to reach the age when holding for long enough to walk to the bathroom etc is doable), then they will still go red in the face and push one out in the living room--they'll just be doing it in a nappy instead of a potty.

Nappies are, like potties, receptacles for containing bodily wastes--is one really more freaky than the other?

I am not sure that's a comparison. The poo is contained in the nappy and you can take them elsewhere to change it. It isn't sitting in the potty next to you where you can see it.

But they are still 'a red faced grunting toddler trying to push one out' next to you while you are trying to enjoy your tea or TV. Then you still have to disrupt what you're doing to dispose of the soiled nappy and clean them up. So you'll see it then and arguably in a more unpleasant form.

And other people’s life’s impact on you exactly how?

It would impact on you if you called round for a cuppa and someone's toddler was using the potty in the living room if that's where you were sat.

As long as people are teaching their kids then I dont really mind how they so it. It doesn't impact me at all.

I’m not really fussed about the potty in the lounge etc but I did squirm once when I saw someone tip the wee down the kitchen sink where there were clean cups on the draining board. I politely said no to a cup of tea

We are all different.

We have no downstairs toilet, so for a good 6 months or so after potty training we had a potty on a folded towel in the hallway so she could take herself for a wee. We still had stair gates at that time as I didn’t want her climbing the stairs unsupervised. I think if we’d had a downstairs loo I probably would liked to have got rid of the potty altogether after the first couple of weeks. However we don’t have a downstairs loo so it’s the best solution we could come up with.

Well if we’re raising the stakes - M&S food hall anyone? Yes, really. 🤮. I have no idea what the mother was going to do with the contents as mercifully, a member of staff intervened (quite forcefully 😄) before the child had a chance to perform.

Luckily the staff member was concerned that having a child use the potty in the food hall would actually impact on the customers.

LavaLampLover I'm sorry that the thread hit a nerve for you but I can see it both ways.

My oldest has special needs and toilet trained for years. I chose not to stress myself by potty training my youngest at the same time. However, when she was 2 years and 2 months (so quite late), I took off her nappy. She was obviously ready. She used the toilet that day, never wore a nappy again and has never ever had an accident. I did put a nappy on her at night for a week afterwards and it was dry each morning.

It's amazing what people will pass judgement on. When my youngest toilet trained he wasent able to climb the stairs confidently alone, the toilet was upstairs. I also had another child with disabilities which meant she couldn't be left unsupervised. So I had a potty for the youngest. Judge away if you like but it was tbe only solution. Funnily enough he is now 10 and has been using the toiled indecently for 7 years so no harm done.

Potties we’re just a fact of life for all adults just a couple of generations ago, though. It’s odd and a bit childish to be as squeamish about normal bodily functions as some people on this thread.