Pooping at the playground

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents wait way too long IMO. Using the potty should be a process that starts well before 2 years of age. Start early don't stress the kid out. Where I am from, the practice used to be that kids were potty trained by age 2. My own kids were potty trained before they turned 2. I didn't have to read a book or buy a travel potty or whatever. We never had 1 poop accident. Let's not act like a 2.5 year old is not able to learn to control his bowels. Of course if you bring a potty everywhere, you are not helping him.

You clearly didn’t take your kids out of your yard enough.

What are you talking about. There was about a week where we stayed home when the pull ups came off. That's all. Plus I don't have a yard so we went to the park all the time.

You should have adventured a bit more with your toddlers. It’s so good for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The travel-potty-haters are so suburban! Don’t you guys ever take your little kids out hiking or biking on the beach? What about museums and art galleries where you can set the travel potty on the bathroom floor and not have your kid on a public toilet seat?

Do you haters ever go camping? If so, where to you relieve yourself?!

DH and his sister grew up in South Africa and would spend days camping and tracking with herds of elephants or other animals. Peeing on trees and digging a hole to defecate was a common occurrence. Adults and kids alike. I wanted to raise our kids with his sense of adventure but not pee or poop on land - so we use a travel potty for all of us when camping and always have the little travel potty for our toddler when we spend the day at a park or beach,

I have to laugh at the suburban parents who are so aghast on this thread!

Gosh I don't know, but we managed to survive without ever thinking we should have our own portable toilet. We use public bathroom, gas stations, if we are out there in nature they just pee behind a tree. We usually spend the night somewhere where there is some kind of toilet available, you know, like most people do. So they just go then. I don't see what being suburban has to do with it. Is going to the art gallery with the portable potty really that adventurous? I think it's actually more of a snobby DC mom thing not wanting their kid to use a public bathroom. They would much rather set up the portable potty in the trunk of their SUV. So adventurous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The travel-potty-haters are so suburban! Don’t you guys ever take your little kids out hiking or biking on the beach? What about museums and art galleries where you can set the travel potty on the bathroom floor and not have your kid on a public toilet seat?

Do you haters ever go camping? If so, where to you relieve yourself?!

DH and his sister grew up in South Africa and would spend days camping and tracking with herds of elephants or other animals. Peeing on trees and digging a hole to defecate was a common occurrence. Adults and kids alike. I wanted to raise our kids with his sense of adventure but not pee or poop on land - so we use a travel potty for all of us when camping and always have the little travel potty for our toddler when we spend the day at a park or beach,

I have to laugh at the suburban parents who are so aghast on this thread!

Gosh I don't know, but we managed to survive without ever thinking we should have our own portable toilet. We use public bathroom, gas stations, if we are out there in nature they just pee behind a tree. We usually spend the night somewhere where there is some kind of toilet available, you know, like most people do. So they just go then. I don't see what being suburban has to do with it. Is going to the art gallery with the portable potty really that adventurous? I think it's actually more of a snobby DC mom thing not wanting their kid to use a public bathroom. They would much rather set up the portable potty in the trunk of their SUV. So adventurous.

At least their little kids get out of their yards. NP here and if you have a very active, outdoor lifestyle with young children, the portable potty is essential and so clean!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are people really grossed out by seeing a very young kid use a travel potty outside in the park?!!

Too bad.

Yes. And because this is very rare and I know I have never witnessed it means it's a pretty popular opinion. You're the outlier letting your kid poop in the park like an animal.

No. Those travel potties are fantastic. You’ll have to look away if my toddler needs to poop.

Seriously, these travel potties are among the world’s greatest inventions. I don’t give a flying f what any idiot adult thinks. Those potties are wonderful.

[phone]. There are few things that I don’t give a flying f about and this is definitely one of them. I have the travel potty with me at all times when we’re outside.

Having lived in the back of beyond where there was no gas station for 40+ miles, travel potties made taking toddlers and preschoolers out to town possible. I'm totally okay having a little boy pee out the side of the car into the ditch, but girls dribble down their legs if they try, and I'm *never* trying to have a toddler or preschooler poop while squatting in grass again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The travel-potty-haters are so suburban! Don’t you guys ever take your little kids out hiking or biking on the beach? What about museums and art galleries where you can set the travel potty on the bathroom floor and not have your kid on a public toilet seat?

Do you haters ever go camping? If so, where to you relieve yourself?!

DH and his sister grew up in South Africa and would spend days camping and tracking with herds of elephants or other animals. Peeing on trees and digging a hole to defecate was a common occurrence. Adults and kids alike. I wanted to raise our kids with his sense of adventure but not pee or poop on land - so we use a travel potty for all of us when camping and always have the little travel potty for our toddler when we spend the day at a park or beach,

I have to laugh at the suburban parents who are so aghast on this thread!

Gosh I don't know, but we managed to survive without ever thinking we should have our own portable toilet. We use public bathroom, gas stations, if we are out there in nature they just pee behind a tree. We usually spend the night somewhere where there is some kind of toilet available, you know, like most people do. So they just go then. I don't see what being suburban has to do with it. Is going to the art gallery with the portable potty really that adventurous? I think it's actually more of a snobby DC mom thing not wanting their kid to use a public bathroom. They would much rather set up the portable potty in the trunk of their SUV. So adventurous.

Wait! So peeing under a tree where someone may come and sit in a few minutes is okay but using a hygienic travel potty where the tree and grass stay pristine isn’t okay?! How does that begin to make sense?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m willing to bet at least one of the posters here who purports to being disgusted at a young child using a self-contained portable toilet to defecate at the park also has a dog who poops on the grass and makes you pick it up in a little baggie multiple times a day. Good grief, we are all doing the best we can. Show a little grace.

+1, totally. How dare you allow your child to use a potty on the grass...that dogs poop on all day, every day.

Is it ok for a 10 yo old to do? What about a grown man? Human beings defecate in private. Not public. Stop treating your child like an animal.

So, you see no difference between a toddler and a grown adult?

You’re creepy.

It is all disgusting. Stop treating your child like an animal and maybe he will stop acting like one.

You really are creepy. These are toddlers using a clean travel potty. That you stare at two-year-olds using a travel potty is really beyond creepy.

Human beings should not poop in public. Animals do. Be better.

I mean, human beings DO poop in public before they're potty trained. Like, all the time and at the most inconvenient times (in my experience). In the grocery store, at the playground, on airplanes, in the waiting room at the doctor's office, you name it. This parent is having trouble potty training. So, her kid will likely continue pooping in public until over the hump of potty training. This all sound perfectly developmental normal for a tiny human.

It is not developmentally normal for a grown woman to carry around a potty so her kid can go in front of everyone. Please.

It's not carried, it's on the stroller or in the car...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to get the urge to go every time I went to Barnes and Noble in my 20s. The playground is a poop trigger for your kid OP. Stop taking him for a while as others have suggested. And quit with carting the plastic potty around. Gross.

What is with this anti-plastic potty thing? It's so helpful when they are little and much less gross than having them wear diapers. OP, ignore these fools.

I do think the portable potties are gross for poop. I also think the push to potty train earlier and earlier, and to do it fast so that families can keep going out as much as possible, is what drives their popularity. We never used a portable potty because we stuck close to home when potty training and also didn't rush it -- we were just never in a position where my kid was young and inexperienced enough with potty training that they couldn't make it to a nearby bathroom to go. I didn't really consider her potty trained until she was capable of realizing she needed to go with enough warning for us to get to a bathroom. And yes, that meant that for a while we had to stick to playgrounds at rec centers with toilets, or close to home. It was like 6 months -- not a huge sacrifice.

The upside is that my kid never pooped herself at the playground. YMMV.

Are you kidding? No, the recent push is to wait and stay home, not potty train your kids young.

FWIW, I potty train between 18 and 24 months. My family trained 12 to 18 months. I don't work with kids who are 24 months or older if they're not already trained or I'm not allowed to do it asap.

~nanny

My sense is that you are not from the US. In the US, somewhere between 2 and 3 has been the standard for decades. It was probably younger before disposable diapers became so cheap, but in the last 30 years or so, it has been normal for people to start sometimes after 2 but before 3. Plenty of kids train after 3. And that's not a recent trend. It was how my mom approach potty training in the 70s and 80s, as well as pretty much every mom in our neighborhood.

But in the last 10 years or so, the push to train earlier and to train via "bootcamp" has really taken off. Oh Crap! was published in 2011, and that's part of it. Before that, parents just kind of assumed potty training was a process that would take at least a few months and up to a year, and there was less pressure to get it done. The main pressure would be from preschools that wouldn't allow kids with diapers, so parents planning to send kids at 3 would want to get it done before then. This pressure is compounded by more childcare workers immigrating from countries where early training and elimination communication are the standard, and encouraging or teaching kids in their charge to train earlier. But in the US, this is a relatively recent phenomenon.

Wrong. Born in ND, raised in MI. Mother's family is MI/IN for the last 5-9 generations, depending on which branch you follow. Father's family was military, all 5 settled in VA, but they trace to late 1700s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to get the urge to go every time I went to Barnes and Noble in my 20s. The playground is a poop trigger for your kid OP. Stop taking him for a while as others have suggested. And quit with carting the plastic potty around. Gross.

What is with this anti-plastic potty thing? It's so helpful when they are little and much less gross than having them wear diapers. OP, ignore these fools.

I do think the portable potties are gross for poop. I also think the push to potty train earlier and earlier, and to do it fast so that families can keep going out as much as possible, is what drives their popularity. We never used a portable potty because we stuck close to home when potty training and also didn't rush it -- we were just never in a position where my kid was young and inexperienced enough with potty training that they couldn't make it to a nearby bathroom to go. I didn't really consider her potty trained until she was capable of realizing she needed to go with enough warning for us to get to a bathroom. And yes, that meant that for a while we had to stick to playgrounds at rec centers with toilets, or close to home. It was like 6 months -- not a huge sacrifice.

The upside is that my kid never pooped herself at the playground. YMMV.

Are you kidding? No, the recent push is to wait and stay home, not potty train your kids young.

FWIW, I potty train between 18 and 24 months. My family trained 12 to 18 months. I don't work with kids who are 24 months or older if they're not already trained or I'm not allowed to do it asap.

~nanny

My sense is that you are not from the US. In the US, somewhere between 2 and 3 has been the standard for decades. It was probably younger before disposable diapers became so cheap, but in the last 30 years or so, it has been normal for people to start sometimes after 2 but before 3. Plenty of kids train after 3. And that's not a recent trend. It was how my mom approach potty training in the 70s and 80s, as well as pretty much every mom in our neighborhood.

But in the last 10 years or so, the push to train earlier and to train via "bootcamp" has really taken off. Oh Crap! was published in 2011, and that's part of it. Before that, parents just kind of assumed potty training was a process that would take at least a few months and up to a year, and there was less pressure to get it done. The main pressure would be from preschools that wouldn't allow kids with diapers, so parents planning to send kids at 3 would want to get it done before then. This pressure is compounded by more childcare workers immigrating from countries where early training and elimination communication are the standard, and encouraging or teaching kids in their charge to train earlier. But in the US, this is a relatively recent phenomenon.

I am the 2nd nanny on this thread and American born and raised. In the higher income world, most kids are now potty trained around two.

My method isn’t boot camp. It’s a very calm modification on Oh Crap and has never taken more than a few weeks - and the vast majority of those days were just routine accidents.

PP nanny, and I'm the same. I don't do harsh anything with babies, toddlers and preschoolers, certainly not sleeping or toileting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The travel-potty-haters are so suburban! Don’t you guys ever take your little kids out hiking or biking on the beach? What about museums and art galleries where you can set the travel potty on the bathroom floor and not have your kid on a public toilet seat?

Do you haters ever go camping? If so, where to you relieve yourself?!

DH and his sister grew up in South Africa and would spend days camping and tracking with herds of elephants or other animals. Peeing on trees and digging a hole to defecate was a common occurrence. Adults and kids alike. I wanted to raise our kids with his sense of adventure but not pee or poop on land - so we use a travel potty for all of us when camping and always have the little travel potty for our toddler when we spend the day at a park or beach,

I have to laugh at the suburban parents who are so aghast on this thread!

Gosh I don't know, but we managed to survive without ever thinking we should have our own portable toilet. We use public bathroom, gas stations, if we are out there in nature they just pee behind a tree. We usually spend the night somewhere where there is some kind of toilet available, you know, like most people do. So they just go then. I don't see what being suburban has to do with it. Is going to the art gallery with the portable potty really that adventurous? I think it's actually more of a snobby DC mom thing not wanting their kid to use a public bathroom. They would much rather set up the portable potty in the trunk of their SUV. So adventurous.

Wait! So peeing under a tree where someone may come and sit in a few minutes is okay but using a hygienic travel potty where the tree and grass stay pristine isn’t okay?! How does that begin to make sense?

Do you all pretend not to have any common sense? Of course I'm not making my kids pee under a tree where people sit. I'm making them go somewhere that's not easily accessible, into the bushes or something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The travel-potty-haters are so suburban! Don’t you guys ever take your little kids out hiking or biking on the beach? What about museums and art galleries where you can set the travel potty on the bathroom floor and not have your kid on a public toilet seat?

Do you haters ever go camping? If so, where to you relieve yourself?!

DH and his sister grew up in South Africa and would spend days camping and tracking with herds of elephants or other animals. Peeing on trees and digging a hole to defecate was a common occurrence. Adults and kids alike. I wanted to raise our kids with his sense of adventure but not pee or poop on land - so we use a travel potty for all of us when camping and always have the little travel potty for our toddler when we spend the day at a park or beach,

I have to laugh at the suburban parents who are so aghast on this thread!

Gosh I don't know, but we managed to survive without ever thinking we should have our own portable toilet. We use public bathroom, gas stations, if we are out there in nature they just pee behind a tree. We usually spend the night somewhere where there is some kind of toilet available, you know, like most people do. So they just go then. I don't see what being suburban has to do with it. Is going to the art gallery with the portable potty really that adventurous? I think it's actually more of a snobby DC mom thing not wanting their kid to use a public bathroom. They would much rather set up the portable potty in the trunk of their SUV. So adventurous.

Wait! So peeing under a tree where someone may come and sit in a few minutes is okay but using a hygienic travel potty where the tree and grass stay pristine isn’t okay?! How does that begin to make sense?

Do you all pretend not to have any common sense? Of course I'm not making my kids pee under a tree where people sit. I'm making them go somewhere that's not easily accessible, into the bushes or something.

But that's better than a potty?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to get the urge to go every time I went to Barnes and Noble in my 20s. The playground is a poop trigger for your kid OP. Stop taking him for a while as others have suggested. And quit with carting the plastic potty around. Gross.

What is with this anti-plastic potty thing? It's so helpful when they are little and much less gross than having them wear diapers. OP, ignore these fools.

I do think the portable potties are gross for poop. I also think the push to potty train earlier and earlier, and to do it fast so that families can keep going out as much as possible, is what drives their popularity. We never used a portable potty because we stuck close to home when potty training and also didn't rush it -- we were just never in a position where my kid was young and inexperienced enough with potty training that they couldn't make it to a nearby bathroom to go. I didn't really consider her potty trained until she was capable of realizing she needed to go with enough warning for us to get to a bathroom. And yes, that meant that for a while we had to stick to playgrounds at rec centers with toilets, or close to home. It was like 6 months -- not a huge sacrifice.

The upside is that my kid never pooped herself at the playground. YMMV.

Are you kidding? No, the recent push is to wait and stay home, not potty train your kids young.

FWIW, I potty train between 18 and 24 months. My family trained 12 to 18 months. I don't work with kids who are 24 months or older if they're not already trained or I'm not allowed to do it asap.

~nanny

My sense is that you are not from the US. In the US, somewhere between 2 and 3 has been the standard for decades. It was probably younger before disposable diapers became so cheap, but in the last 30 years or so, it has been normal for people to start sometimes after 2 but before 3. Plenty of kids train after 3. And that's not a recent trend. It was how my mom approach potty training in the 70s and 80s, as well as pretty much every mom in our neighborhood.

But in the last 10 years or so, the push to train earlier and to train via "bootcamp" has really taken off. Oh Crap! was published in 2011, and that's part of it. Before that, parents just kind of assumed potty training was a process that would take at least a few months and up to a year, and there was less pressure to get it done. The main pressure would be from preschools that wouldn't allow kids with diapers, so parents planning to send kids at 3 would want to get it done before then. This pressure is compounded by more childcare workers immigrating from countries where early training and elimination communication are the standard, and encouraging or teaching kids in their charge to train earlier. But in the US, this is a relatively recent phenomenon.

Wrong. Born in ND, raised in MI. Mother's family is MI/IN for the last 5-9 generations, depending on which branch you follow. Father's family was military, all 5 settled in VA, but they trace to late 1700s.

Well your experience is narrow if you think the current trend is for later potty training. Everyone I know wanted to be done by 26 months at the latest. Meanwhile our moms are like “they aren’t ready! Put them in diapers!” And the boot camp style training is definitely a fad that is driving earlier training because the theory is that starting sooner makes faster training possible because kids are more compliant when under 2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to get the urge to go every time I went to Barnes and Noble in my 20s. The playground is a poop trigger for your kid OP. Stop taking him for a while as others have suggested. And quit with carting the plastic potty around. Gross.

What is with this anti-plastic potty thing? It's so helpful when they are little and much less gross than having them wear diapers. OP, ignore these fools.

I do think the portable potties are gross for poop. I also think the push to potty train earlier and earlier, and to do it fast so that families can keep going out as much as possible, is what drives their popularity. We never used a portable potty because we stuck close to home when potty training and also didn't rush it -- we were just never in a position where my kid was young and inexperienced enough with potty training that they couldn't make it to a nearby bathroom to go. I didn't really consider her potty trained until she was capable of realizing she needed to go with enough warning for us to get to a bathroom. And yes, that meant that for a while we had to stick to playgrounds at rec centers with toilets, or close to home. It was like 6 months -- not a huge sacrifice.

The upside is that my kid never pooped herself at the playground. YMMV.

Are you kidding? No, the recent push is to wait and stay home, not potty train your kids young.

FWIW, I potty train between 18 and 24 months. My family trained 12 to 18 months. I don't work with kids who are 24 months or older if they're not already trained or I'm not allowed to do it asap.

~nanny

My sense is that you are not from the US. In the US, somewhere between 2 and 3 has been the standard for decades. It was probably younger before disposable diapers became so cheap, but in the last 30 years or so, it has been normal for people to start sometimes after 2 but before 3. Plenty of kids train after 3. And that's not a recent trend. It was how my mom approach potty training in the 70s and 80s, as well as pretty much every mom in our neighborhood.

But in the last 10 years or so, the push to train earlier and to train via "bootcamp" has really taken off. Oh Crap! was published in 2011, and that's part of it. Before that, parents just kind of assumed potty training was a process that would take at least a few months and up to a year, and there was less pressure to get it done. The main pressure would be from preschools that wouldn't allow kids with diapers, so parents planning to send kids at 3 would want to get it done before then. This pressure is compounded by more childcare workers immigrating from countries where early training and elimination communication are the standard, and encouraging or teaching kids in their charge to train earlier. But in the US, this is a relatively recent phenomenon.

Wrong. Born in ND, raised in MI. Mother's family is MI/IN for the last 5-9 generations, depending on which branch you follow. Father's family was military, all 5 settled in VA, but they trace to late 1700s.

Well your experience is narrow if you think the current trend is for later potty training. Everyone I know wanted to be done by 26 months at the latest. Meanwhile our moms are like “they aren’t ready! Put them in diapers!” And the boot camp style training is definitely a fad that is driving earlier training because the theory is that starting sooner makes faster training possible because kids are more compliant when under 2.

As I said before, the more recent trend is to go later. NONE of my mother's crowd waited for 2. None. I train between 18 and 24 months because it's easier for me, not because earlier isn't possible. I just find that children communicate when they have to go better if I delay until 18 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The travel-potty-haters are so suburban! Don’t you guys ever take your little kids out hiking or biking on the beach? What about museums and art galleries where you can set the travel potty on the bathroom floor and not have your kid on a public toilet seat?

Do you haters ever go camping? If so, where to you relieve yourself?!

DH and his sister grew up in South Africa and would spend days camping and tracking with herds of elephants or other animals. Peeing on trees and digging a hole to defecate was a common occurrence. Adults and kids alike. I wanted to raise our kids with his sense of adventure but not pee or poop on land - so we use a travel potty for all of us when camping and always have the little travel potty for our toddler when we spend the day at a park or beach,

I have to laugh at the suburban parents who are so aghast on this thread!

Gosh I don't know, but we managed to survive without ever thinking we should have our own portable toilet. We use public bathroom, gas stations, if we are out there in nature they just pee behind a tree. We usually spend the night somewhere where there is some kind of toilet available, you know, like most people do. So they just go then. I don't see what being suburban has to do with it. Is going to the art gallery with the portable potty really that adventurous? I think it's actually more of a snobby DC mom thing not wanting their kid to use a public bathroom. They would much rather set up the portable potty in the trunk of their SUV. So adventurous.

Wait! So peeing under a tree where someone may come and sit in a few minutes is okay but using a hygienic travel potty where the tree and grass stay pristine isn’t okay?! How does that begin to make sense?

Do you all pretend not to have any common sense? Of course I'm not making my kids pee under a tree where people sit. I'm making them go somewhere that's not easily accessible, into the bushes or something.

But that's better than a potty?

Hell yeah. I'm not carrying a potty around. What do you do after they pee in the potty? Don't you have to dump it somewhere and clean stuff up? It seems much easier to go pee in the wood and shake the last drop. It happens only a couple of times a year that they have to pee in nature.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The travel-potty-haters are so suburban! Don’t you guys ever take your little kids out hiking or biking on the beach? What about museums and art galleries where you can set the travel potty on the bathroom floor and not have your kid on a public toilet seat?

Do you haters ever go camping? If so, where to you relieve yourself?!

DH and his sister grew up in South Africa and would spend days camping and tracking with herds of elephants or other animals. Peeing on trees and digging a hole to defecate was a common occurrence. Adults and kids alike. I wanted to raise our kids with his sense of adventure but not pee or poop on land - so we use a travel potty for all of us when camping and always have the little travel potty for our toddler when we spend the day at a park or beach,

I have to laugh at the suburban parents who are so aghast on this thread!

Gosh I don't know, but we managed to survive without ever thinking we should have our own portable toilet. We use public bathroom, gas stations, if we are out there in nature they just pee behind a tree. We usually spend the night somewhere where there is some kind of toilet available, you know, like most people do. So they just go then. I don't see what being suburban has to do with it. Is going to the art gallery with the portable potty really that adventurous? I think it's actually more of a snobby DC mom thing not wanting their kid to use a public bathroom. They would much rather set up the portable potty in the trunk of their SUV. So adventurous.

Wait! So peeing under a tree where someone may come and sit in a few minutes is okay but using a hygienic travel potty where the tree and grass stay pristine isn’t okay?! How does that begin to make sense?

Do you all pretend not to have any common sense? Of course I'm not making my kids pee under a tree where people sit. I'm making them go somewhere that's not easily accessible, into the bushes or something.

Where is your common sense?! How is peeing on foliage in a public park better than peeing in a travel potty?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The travel-potty-haters are so suburban! Don’t you guys ever take your little kids out hiking or biking on the beach? What about museums and art galleries where you can set the travel potty on the bathroom floor and not have your kid on a public toilet seat?

Do you haters ever go camping? If so, where to you relieve yourself?!

DH and his sister grew up in South Africa and would spend days camping and tracking with herds of elephants or other animals. Peeing on trees and digging a hole to defecate was a common occurrence. Adults and kids alike. I wanted to raise our kids with his sense of adventure but not pee or poop on land - so we use a travel potty for all of us when camping and always have the little travel potty for our toddler when we spend the day at a park or beach,

I have to laugh at the suburban parents who are so aghast on this thread!

Gosh I don't know, but we managed to survive without ever thinking we should have our own portable toilet. We use public bathroom, gas stations, if we are out there in nature they just pee behind a tree. We usually spend the night somewhere where there is some kind of toilet available, you know, like most people do. So they just go then. I don't see what being suburban has to do with it. Is going to the art gallery with the portable potty really that adventurous? I think it's actually more of a snobby DC mom thing not wanting their kid to use a public bathroom. They would much rather set up the portable potty in the trunk of their SUV. So adventurous.

Wait! So peeing under a tree where someone may come and sit in a few minutes is okay but using a hygienic travel potty where the tree and grass stay pristine isn’t okay?! How does that begin to make sense?

Do you all pretend not to have any common sense? Of course I'm not making my kids pee under a tree where people sit. I'm making them go somewhere that's not easily accessible, into the bushes or something.

But that's better than a potty?

Hell yeah. I'm not carrying a potty around. What do you do after they pee in the potty? Don't you have to dump it somewhere and clean stuff up? It seems much easier to go pee in the wood and shake the last drop. It happens only a couple of times a year that they have to pee in nature.

It’s a bag liner you just tie and dispose when you get to a trash can. The travel potties fold and fit easily into a backpack. Peeing in the woods for boys is easier but not recommended by park rangers.