I wanted my kids to learn how to advocate for their own bodily privacy, so I modeled that early on- 14 months old. I said mommy had to take a bathroom break and closed the door. I kept a folder of coloring pages and crayons outside door and said they could slide colored pictures under door. It worked.

Anonymous wrote:I’m a mom and my adult son is 42 and he still watches me pee and poop it will never end

I’m 42 and that’s disturbing.

Anonymous wrote:How did you do it?
My daughter is 13 months and gets upset if I'm out of sight even for me to go potty.
I bring in with me, but I realize as she is becoming more mobile this isn't practical.
I have a pack n play but she hated it.
So what do you do with your crying toddlers when you need to use the bathroom?

You go potty and let them cry, it’s separation anxiety and the best way past it is through it. Leaving and coming back over and over and over. Now at 3 I mostly get to use the bathroom by myself

I’m a mom and my 43 year old son lives at home with me and has a disability I have to help him with some things like useing the bathroom when he gets done when I have to go to the bathroom he always wants to be wheeled to the bathroom with me so he can hear me use the bathroom

Anonymous wrote:How did you do it?
My daughter is 13 months and gets upset if I'm out of sight even for me to go potty.
I bring in with me, but I realize as she is becoming more mobile this isn't practical.
I have a pack n play but she hated it.
So what do you do with your crying toddlers when you need to use the bathroom?

Good lord, I never did. They can sit outside the door and cry.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here, I want to avoid the whole open doors thing. I've toilet trained plenty of kids as never used the toilet in front of them so I don't think that's a requirement.

I think op is right I have to get comfortable with her being upset
I rush to soothe her over any fussing. DH has pointed this out to me

get her used to amusing herself now. Even just for 5 mins to start.

+1

I don’t care if my kids follow me into the bathroom (girl 3 and boy 4.5) and I do think it helped with potty training and my son knows all about periods and pads and tampons which is a good thing. Also think it makes sense to want some privacy.

But you do need yo be able to walk away from your kid without her freaking out and that’s something to work on. We started with a structured independent playtime, starting with just 10 mins daily, in a crib or playpen out of sight of parents. Yeah, at first they cry. Set a timer so they know that that’s when you reappear NOT when they cry enough. Eventually they realize you will predictably come back, crying is boring and toys are fun and they get into it. We started younger (about 6 or 7 months) but my kids could do 10 mins reliably without tears within a month and by a year would do 30 mins. It’s a lifesaver for parents and a valuable life skill for children.

Anonymous wrote:At that age I peed with the door open. Around 3 we started working on knocking on a closed door before entering. By age 5 I would respond to knocks with “can it wait a few minutes until I’m out of the bathroom?” Reader, it always could.

This. They need to see you pee and poop to potty-train. After that, you can slowly introduce privacy.

This has never bothered me, OP. Privacy is not important to me in this regard. I have no secrets from my kids, and they choose the amount of privacy they need for themselves. When I'm in the bathroom, my teen son doesn't barge in unless it's an emergency (he started being more aware in late elementary), but my teen daughter goes in and out as she needs. I reciprocate by not barging in on my son, since he's clearly uncomfortable with it, but my teen daughter doesn't mind, so if I need something, I will enter and get it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a mom and my adult son is 42 and he still watches me pee and poop it will never end

Is this from a weird movie or is this your actual life?

it’s my actual life

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a mom and my adult son is 42 and he still watches me pee and poop it will never end

Is this from a weird movie or is this your actual life?

this is my actual life

Anonymous wrote:My kids still come running into the bathroom while I’m using it to ask me questions or show me something. Oldest is 12 years old so......I have no idea when it will stop.

I agree with the previous poster that during potty training and leading up to potty training it helps for them to watch.

Anonymous wrote:How did you do it?
My daughter is 13 months and gets upset if I'm out of sight even for me to go potty.
I bring in with me, but I realize as she is becoming more mobile this isn't practical.
I have a pack n play but she hated it.
So what do you do with your crying toddlers when you need to use the bathroom?

You’re a parent… it’s part of your job to teach your child how to use the toilet. The way that happens is that they need to observe and learn over time.

Also 13 months old is the perfect time for this.

We had our daughter daytime potty trained by age 2.5 because she wanted to “go potty like mommy.” It’s a great way to start saving money on diapers, lol


Understandable that you want private space (let’s be honest I definitely use the bathroom as a hideout space for 10 - 15 minutes when I’m just totally mommed out for whatever reason— but it’s only when I have my husband or mother / in laws around to help)

Having kids basically means zero privacy

Anonymous wrote:My daughters are 10 and 12 and still come in the bathroom with me and vice versa. I still do the same with my mom and sister. My son is 4 so I expect it will stop in the next year or two with him. Dh has wanted privacy from the girls since around 12 mos but he will still shower with ds. It’s really what you and they are comfortable with.

Re "and vice versa"
Just as long as you respect their wishes when they don't want you to come in. My mom used to get annoyed with me when I refused to let her in the bathroom when I was an adult and that was not ok. my daughter is 3 and she comes in all the time. Not sure when I will stop allowing it.

Anonymous wrote:I’m a mom and my adult son is 42 and he still watches me pee and poop it will never end

Is this from a weird movie or is this your actual life?

Anonymous wrote:By age 4 they can be trained to give you some space. Start by keeping the door open but telling them not to come in. I told them that poop and pee smells are harmful to breathe in. Then let the door get closer and closer to being fully closed.

Mind you, they will still stand right outside and tell you all the inane stuff they have to tell you.

What a weird thing to lie about.

Regarding OP's question, I stopped letting my kids come in the bathroom around 15 months. There were some tears at first, but they all got used to it within a week or so.