[Fluffy Baby]

Well, I am usually only do it when I am out and have no choice. I am usually local to my house, so I go home. I will take him out to a tree away from a building if I can't go home. It I don't let him go on the building. When I go places outside of my town, DH is usually with me, so he takes him in the men's room.

Anyways, I don't let my 3 yr old go into a men's bathroom alone. I sometimes can get him to use a toilet if other people are not in the bathroom flushing.

[My2miracles]

Originally Posted by SueZ

I think it's good to avoid pub restrooms when you can. A boy can pee in a bottle in the car. Kids can go before they leave the house.

hehe. My kids are experts at peeing in small garbage bags even my dd. More for when we can't get to a public restroom than to avoid them though. I kept a roll of cheap garbage bags in my van for emergencies. Now that I don't have a van anymore, we won't be able to do that

[HappyHippy]

Originally Posted by SueZ

No. I mean if you have a boy and he needs to pee you can have him do it in a bottle in the car--at least one way to avoid the public restroom altogether.
Regarding size, I meant that my brother got away with talking me through the male locker room at the pool up to the time I was 10 is that I was small for my age (and also disguised in a bog beach towel. Some of the men might have been uncomfortable being naked in front of a 10 year old girl. In a women's locker room if my son were small for his age I might get away with having him with me more easily.



Yes I meant the kid would look younger.
I think it's good to avoid pub restrooms when you can. A boy can pee in a bottle in the car. Kids can go before they leave the house.

To the first bolded, that's not going to fly with my 4 and almost 2 year old (yes my 21 month old uses the toilet). If I gave them a bottle to pee in, I'd have pee all over my car. No thanks. And why is there a need to avoid public restrooms, is it really such a huge deal?

To the second bolded. I'd rather my kid just pees in a toilet no matter what gender it's for instead of a bottle in the car. And my kids go to the bathroom before we leave, and then about 3 times when we're out for a few hours. They are kids, they have to pee far more times then I do.

[lesliek0211]

Originally Posted by HappyHippy

To the first bolded, that's not going to fly with my 4 and almost 2 year old (yes my 21 month old uses the toilet). If I gave them a bottle to pee in, I'd have pee all over my car. No thanks. And why is there a need to avoid public restrooms, is it really such a huge deal?

To the second bolded. I'd rather my kid just pees in a toilet no matter what gender it's for instead of a bottle in the car. And my kids go to the bathroom before we leave, and then about 3 times when we're out for a few hours. They are kids, they have to pee far more times then I do.

Ditto. I was starting to think I was weird for not being comfortable with my kids peeing in the car. That is just disgusting, and would only be for absolute emergencies, not as a "go to" just to avoid a public restroom.

[plan4fate]

Originally Posted by lesliek0211

Ditto. I was starting to think I was weird for not being comfortable with my kids peeing in the car. That is just disgusting, and would only be for absolute emergencies, not as a "go to" just to avoid a public restroom.

my mom used to carry a potty chair around in the trunk with a bottle of water for rinsing. I had a major fear of peeing if there wasn't a toilet, and since sometimes there isn't.. that was her solution. I'd also refuse to go outside of the car.. so I'd pee in it in the car, and she'd dump and rinse it. But I cannot imagine making my kids pee in a bottle.. though we've come close to having to use a Wendy's cup for DSS since we were stuck in traffic and he announced he had to go (and for him that means "you've got 5 minutes to find me somewhere to go or I'm going right where I am").

I've only ever come across a small handful of bathrooms that weren't fit to pee in in my life, I also do not get the "avoid the public bathrooms" thing.

[HappyHippy]

They make travle potties for kids, and I see that as a good idea for long trips or kids who don't like to use public bathrooms. My kids will pee anywhere (and ds1 loves peeing outside) so we wouldn't need one of those. I have come close to peeing in a pop bottle before on a long trip, but luckily we came to a rest stop.

[fluffycheeks]

I have done the bottle in an emergency, not as my go to solution. I'm guessing the person who said that public restrooms can easily be avoided has not potty trained a child yet. When they need to go, THEY NEED TO GO!! It doesn't matter if they went 10 minutes ago, when they announce the need, you have about 90 seconds before an accident. Some kids continue that for years too, not just through potty training. We ALWAYS use the potty before leaving the house, but 9 times out of 10 when we are out of the house for more than an hour, one of them has to use a public bathroom. They are definitely not my favorite place in the world, but they are neccessary if you have kids.

As for the original question, I'm not ready to let my kids use the public restroom by themselves yet, and my oldest is almost 9. The only exception is if it is a single bathroom, no stalls. I take my almost 6 year old into the women's room with me, and I don't care what strangers think. Also, don't fool yourselves into thinking that because it is a small town or a family oriented place that it is safe. One of my friends, when she was about 9 or 10, used the ladies room at her family's church. A strange guy had wandered in from the street and stepped out of one of the stalls and exposed himself to her. This was in a small church in a small town. Totally freaks me out! I like the idea (Leslie's?) about the whistle. I think I'll be doing that.

[Tammyjh]

Originally Posted by lesliek0211

Ditto. I was starting to think I was weird for not being comfortable with my kids peeing in the car. That is just disgusting, and would only be for absolute emergencies, not as a "go to" just to avoid a public restroom.

Same here.

A little off topic but the statement about peeing in a bottle brought to mind the scene from Dumb and Dumber where Jim Carey peed in the bottle and then got pulled over by the cop.

[K.A.T]

Yeah, I don't go for the bottles too for a go-to solution. Kev just turned 7 and I still bring him in with me if he has to go and daddy isn't there. Just the other day I had to go and so did he, so instead of going with daddy he came right along with me. Most of the places I frequent tend to have family bathrooms so people normally don't bat an eye lash.

[HappyHippy]

Originally Posted by Tammyjh

Same here.

A little off topic but the statement about peeing in a bottle brought to mind the scene from Dumb and Dumber where Jim Carey peed in the bottle and then got pulled over by the cop.

That is what I thought of too

[TammyZ]

Originally Posted by HappyHippy

I really don't care. I think bathrooms should be unisex anyways (family bathrooms, etc). It all depends on the parents and children. A 12 year old girl with a single dad may have disabilities that aren't visable and need help going to the bathroom, vise versa.

This.

[SueZ]

Originally Posted by glasscandie

You let your kid pee outside in the vicinity of other people, so close that you see them giving you dirty looks? I feel like that's unsanitary. If you're on the side of a highway or something I can see that being fine, but like, on the side of a restaurant? Maybe you could clarify here?

I think it can be done in the car with minimus public scrutiny. I have a daughter. I also would not fill her up on pop and other liquids while we are out.

[Baby Girl McD's Mommy]

Originally Posted by SueZ

I think it can be done in the car with minimus public scrutiny. I have a daughter. I also would not fill her up on pop and other liquids while we are out.

So what if you're out for an extended period of time. You just gonna make her suffer with thirst?

[glasscandie]

Originally Posted by SueZ

I think it can be done in the car with minimus public scrutiny. I have a daughter. I also would not fill her up on pop and other liquids while we are out.

I wouldn't fill my kid up with pop, period.

My post was about peeing outside. I didn't mean for it to be misinterpreted by me saying pee IN the car. That would just smell. But yes, I think you could probably pee in the car with minimus public scrutiny, although I wouldn't recommend it.

*ETA: Maybe crackle. I think that's less worse than crack.

[*Jillian*]

Originally Posted by glasscandie

I wouldn't fill my kid up with pop, period.

Word. We win.

[glasscandie]

I like that. But JM knows...I really love it. It's a heart.