Seat covers in public toilets--a must for children?

[Cadmum]

My SIL was disgusted to see our DD (7) use the toilet without placing loo-roll on the seat. Am I a bad mother for having never taught her this 'trick'? I was under the impression that infection is not spread from toilet seats and that the most important part of public toilet hygiene is washing hands and avoiding touching the flushing mechanism, the tap, and the door handle once your hands are clean.

(If there are seat covers available then I encourage her to use them but I thought that the bacteria just went through the loo roll.)

No I can't believe you typed it either !!

EEEEEeeeeeeewwwwww !!

omg chaps - a million mumsnetters all peeing in the shower tomorrow morning

am i the only one who knew the three finger technique? what kind of outdoor sportspeople are you lot?!

best practiced next to a friendly bush or hedge in teh middle of nowhere w/your friends giggling a few feet away.

norah, I washed my hands first.
I learned about this whwen I did adventure racing....

expat, glad your here to back me up... thought i had been dreaming about it for a minute...

another reason to have antibacterial gel in your handbag

Did no one see Paula Radcliffe do the three finger wotsit on TV?

Can't remember which race it was, but she definately did it in front of millions.

eeww. no way! peeing and doing your business outside MUCH cleaner than most rank public loos w/those people.

daisy1999 that would sting!!!!!!

rofl (I think she means to wash your hands with afterwards chapsmum, not to wash your bits with!!!!)

thanks miaow
Chaps!!!!

Never heard of the 3 finger thing before, you could always use something called a weemate. Do a search they have them at festival to let you pee like a man and its quicker but only once you have the nack but i didnt feel empty after.

Thanks for the responses.

I think that DD is a bit young for the 3 finger method, no?

Is the Shewee disposable or do you have to keep washing it? Can't really imagine having one in the nappy bag.

DD is not tall enough to 'hover' and DD2 certainly won't be until she is well beyond the toilet-training days...

As a child, I used to sit on my hands instead of directly on the seat but surely this must be worse. Now I hover or use a seat cover if there is one provided.

I know the 3 fingers technique! I think all of these unnatural positions aren't great if you do them all the time, but surely once in a while won't hurt...

.... I think poor Paula had tummy trouble of a different kind

Just sit down! Honestly! Hovering risks getting your own pee everywhere, and putting loo roll all over the seat is a pointless waste of paper. For hygiene the important thing is to wash your hands well with soap. I've never seen infection control notices that say anything about loo seats. If the loo is horrible go somewhere else!

I'm alone in holding the girls up over the toilet then?

I do find some people to be extreme. I can imagine spreading paper all over the seat for DS but by the time he climbed on, half would be on the floor and the other half down the pan apart from one piece which would be inside his pants. I just know it. You only need to wash your hands.

Can get the spreading the lips bit but am not sure how the aiming the urethra works....

oh FGS at this thread

im wiht nooka
you are aso prissy

I was lurking outside the gents waiting for ds2 the other day, and heard a delightfully distinguished voice saying "Excuse me young man, but have you washed your hands?" ROFL

Do all your kids really wash their hands every time? My boys are dreadful - I've taught them, reminded them, instructed them, nagged them from an early age. But they still never wash their hands unless reminded

roisin: mine are compulsive hand washers; they all have dry skin rashes on their hands from soap and that is not because they do the washing up!

Orinoco: I used to hold them over the loo as well but 60 lbs is a bit heavy (especially with a newborn in my arms as well).

Bozza: your loo roll description made me laugh. That about sums up what would happen to us as well.

This is very useful \link{http://www.thebabycatalogue.co.uk/products.asp?dept=58&pagenumber=2&sort_on=&sort_by=\toodle loo} Use it all the time with dd.

Roisin DS does generally "wash" his hands - but this seems to involve holding them in the vague vicinity of the cold tap rather than the traditional notion of handwashing as you and I would recognise it. Despite the fact that every morning after breakfast I take him to the bathroom and make him wash them properly, water, soap, fronts, backs, between the fingers etc.

Actually I was thinking about you and the scenario of hanging around gents toilets the other day. I was in a pub in the Dales with my two sisters, my nephew, DS and DD. DS decided to take himself off to the gents toilets and I let him - quiet Dales pub on a Tuesday lunchtime. DH wasn't sure I should have done. Neither was I when he left DD's comfort teapot (don't ask) in there and had to be sent back.