To put my 2 year old on his potty in a restaurant?

[Volodya]

I took 2yo ds and 7mo dd up to town yesterday. We're on week 2 of potty training ds. It's going fine but I still carry a potty everywhere I go.

I was planning to get us sandwiches for lunch and sit outside but it was raining so we ended up in a museum cafe at lunchtime. Of course I tried to put ds on the potty before we went in and of course he declined to do anything.

When we were about 15 minutes into the meal, both children in high chairs, everything liberally smeared with pasta bolognese and spinach puree, dd's buggy piled high with all her lunch detritus (cool bag, bits of rice cake, muslin, blah blah), ds announced that he needed his potty. That tends to mean that he needs it NOW.

So rather than clearing everything out of the buggy, strapping in spinach-covered dd, packing everything up, picking up bolognese-covered ds, and heading off to find out where the loos were, I simply whisked the potty under the table between ds's high chair and the buggy and popped him on, crouching down in front of him so that (I hoped) he was virtually hidden from view. (It was not a busy cafe and we weren't very close to any other tables).

Within about a minute and a half I was approached by the waiter asking if we could "transfer your son to the toilets", citing health and safety and saying that he'd already had a couple of complaints from other customers! I said that I didn't see how this could be done, with dd, buggy etc and ds already on the potty...! The waiter was v sympathetic and said he completely understood but that he was in a difficult position because of other customers' complaining. Fortunately the situation was resolved at that point by ds standing up to reveal a clean potty...

So WIBU to put him in the potty in the restaurant in that situation? (WIBU to leave my house on week 2 of potty training?!) How would you have handled this differently?

"wibu?"

er, yes

we're all agreed then

was replying to chipry girl

have already said OP was BU

Volo is this a joke?

{gag]

I am in shock that you are even asking this question. Good god.

gross.do you really need to ask opinions on a child defecating in restaurant.i would complain as a diner

Yes, YWBU!

If I had been the waiter I would have you to leave.

There are threads where breastfeeding mums say that quite understandly they do not want to feed their babies in the toilet. Prehaps other diners don't want to see your child urinating.

Potty training is difficult but I think if you are in the early stages you should limit outings. If your child is ready then he will potty train in a week. Otherwise go back to nappies.

{gingernutlover, but did you announce to all your parenty friends that '* is just going to do a poo and then we can feed the ducks' in overly load voice so everyone turns and stares at poor * sitting humiliated next to the swings on his potty? No? well, I'll let you of then!)

off

lol i know chirpy girl, i had no qualms about it, just made me wonder when i saw your comment about it being cruel.

No harm done, dd much happier to do alfresco weeing than to wet herself - she gets really stressed out by this.

am amazed at how fast this thread got so big

I would have handled this differently by not expecting to sit in a cafe on week 2 of potty training with a DS who would need the potty NOW! There was a similar thread to this where someone changed a nappy on a bench, i supported that, but a potty in a resturant - ?? What were you trying to prove?

I'm not at the potty training stage yet so can't comment on the difficulties of that, but if I was eating in a restaurant and someone did that I would be revolted, and I would have had a problem with the staff if they hadn't approached you to sort the situation out.

I am potty training at the moment but would never ever put a child on the pot in a restaurant/cafe. Scoop up children and valuables and run to toilet facilities please! DS is still in early stages so I do actually use dreaded pull ups when out and about so if we don't get to toilet in time not a huge fuss.

I have seen someone do this and I was totally gobsmacked . it is foul all you need to do is grab both kids with potty and run to loos. Nobody would steal a half eaten puree and a piled high pram.
The other day i had to let ds wee in his potty when we were parked on the top floor of a dingy multi story nobody was around but i felt really uncomfortable doing it(dh had car key so could not leave car until he got back)

Utterly disgusting!

now you see this is why pull ups were invented!!

yes, yes, they are frowned on on MN but they work in this very situation

with both of mine we did:

couple of days in the house clearing up pi$$ and poo

then outings with pull ups on

no confusion with either of them v doing it in nappies/knickers

OR you say to friendly person on nearby table "can you watch my stuff, will be back, thanks"

no to potty in food area!!!!

Surely troll, no?

What is with all the 'don't leave the house'

I suppose we were just lucky but didn't try too hard. One day he just got up on the loo and that was that, really good ever since.

I think children train themselves at some point, not sure when though and it can cost a bit extra in nappies if you leave them to learn in their own time.

Maybe this next child won't be so easy!

Fwiw yabu though.

THIS IS DISGUSTING..... i hope to farking god its a troll

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you can go wherever you want then, just do toilet stops as and when so they go to the toilet, but you don't have that ohhhhhhh ffs we are stuck in traffic/in a queue moment

ive toilet trained 3 children of my own and many others in my capacity as a nursery nurse and i would NEVER do that.

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Holy Christ I hope this is a wind up.

If not then bloody hell, sorry but I would have been beyond disgusted if I had been at the restaurant.

HEY, EVERYONE, STOP!............

...she said she gets the message.

Volodya, yes it was pretty revolting but no-one got killed so don't beat yourself up about it.

Hope the potty training goes well!