Potty in pub

[Mammyloveswine]

Went out for lunch with a friend today, went to a family friendly pub for lunch as has a new baby and i have a toddler.

A group were sat on the next table with older toddlers who were pottering around a little play area.

Anyway one of the toddlers went over to their mum and said she needed a wee. The mother then got a potty out from under the pram and popped it on the floor where the toddler promptly sat on it and had a wee! We were eating at the time!

I couldn't help myself saying "you know there's a toilet right there and they have a little seat for toddlers?" She looked at me and said "oh do they? Well I've got this as this is what she is used to!". I wish I'd said something about people eating but I was just astounded! She then went to the toilet to empty the potty!

I'm just shocked that someone would let their child use a potty where people are eating!! No one else in the group batted an eyelid!

Is this a thing? When I potty trained my eldest we stayed in a few days until he could hold it in enough to make it to an actual toilet! I certainly never carted a potty round with me!

I could understand taking a potty to use in the actual toilets but to use it in the middle of the pub!!

Anyone else experienced this? I wouldn't change a nappy in the middle of a pub so definitely wouldn't let my child use a potty!

ffs why didn't she just take the potty into the toilet?

@unlikelytobe

but you would think that a poster saying 'don't shit where you eat' is merely stating something that no normal person would do

Disgusting behaviour. I’d have been very rude indeed. You were very restrained, OP.

Ooh I'm the only one who's going to disagree (slightly) here! For most of a child's life I'd agree with you it's unnecessary - they will either be in a nappy or can be taken to the toilet.

But for both of mine there was a week or two during potty training where you have to bite the bullet and take them out and about without a nappy (otherwise they just keep weeing in the nappy). But at that stage, when they say they need a wee, they need it NOW. During that time I also had a potty under the pram. It was a choice between wee in potty (wherever we were) or wee on floor! The stage only lasted a couple of weeks but it was tricky!

Once during this short stage, I was with DD (aged about 2.5) and we were in the foyer of the local museum (very child friendly, pretty much only people with toddlers there during weekdays). I had a bit of a battle with DD about going to toilet as she was refusing. We were just getting her in the buggy and she said she needed a wee so I whipped out the potty. The young man staffing the museum told me off and I felt awful! I couldn't explain that, yes I could have taken her to the toilet instead, but there would definitely have been a wee on the floor!

I'm with the young man at the museum

That's revolting

Absolutely ridiculous behaviour. I never used a potty with any of my three children, just went straight to the toilet.

Yuck. Utterly skanky. People have no idea how to behave. 🙄

I'm with the young man at the museum

So am I.

But when they’re in that ‘very short stage’ surely you just stick close to home? You said yourself it’s a couple of weeks - surely you can give The Harvester / Tate a miss for that long?

Thankfully I've never encountered the potty thing but have been in a pub where a family changed their baby's shitty nappy on a table in the middle of the restaurant. Not content with that, they decided to change their other kids into their pyjamas. No idea why anyone would want to choose to have their kids naked like that in a public setting when there's a baby change 5 seconds walk away.

Beyond revolting,I would have complained to the Staff.

What about washing hands!!!!

Just yuck.

It's disgusting and I'd have told them so. I've got a thing (I think it's some sort of weird undiagnosed phobia) about table manners and I couldn't have continued eating. If that's how they do things in a restaurant, I dread to think how they behave at home.

If they can't hold on long enough to make it to a nearby toilet then they need to be in those extra thick pants that catch leaks.

My son was a nightmare to toilet train, as a result apart from going to nursery we essentially didn’t leave the flat for three weeks.

Anyone who allows their child to use a potty in public is disgusting. They would probably be the first to moan if an adult decided to do exactly the same.

Gross. I hope you complained to bar staff. They should have been asked to leave.

It’s horrible but people go seriously weird over potty training. I have a friend who thought it was completely acceptable to whip the potty out in the fruit & veg aisle of the supermarket!

Where's PixieDustt with her Polite Method of Telling People that Pooing/Peeing in Public is Not Good™️ when you need her?
She could have coached the museum man in ways of telling people things they don't want to hear but actually need to, and all would have been well.

It wouldn’t particularly bother me to be honest, I feel it should bother me but it doesn’t.
I personally would take my toddler to the toilet though as she is a person and I feel she deserves her privacy. Who knows who was in the pub watching anyway!

It’s on a par with someone changes a baby’s nappy on a cafe table. Never acceptable.

A friend of mine did this, except her child was doing a poo.

Literally the most embarrassing thing ever, it was vile and I cannot believe people think this is ok. She now has the audacity to criticise me because I don’t want to use a potty to toilet train DS. Like fuck off!

I was in China few years back and one of the woman had her small child and suddenly she unbuttoned his bottoms and held him in a squat position whilst he had a poo - all over the pavement! My relative who lived there at the time said it was normal shock

A friend of mine spent 2 years in China, mostly in rural areas. He said he never got over the shock of seeing adults shitting in the street!

YANBU, OP. I would have said something too.

Ugh, vile.

I think you were extraordinarily polite in the circumstances OP.

I haven’t potty trained mine yet so maybe I shouldn’t judge but I think it’s disgusting and I would have felt put off my food too.

We were in a cafe a couple of weeks ago where a couple changed their baby's nappy on the table next to us. There was a toilet with baby change 10 feet away, there were two of them with no other kids to think about and there were no other customers in the cafe but still they chose to do it on the next table.