Search Results for: blog strange potty breaks

School Potty Break Problems

My second grader’s teacher had surgery and was out of school for a few weeks. In her absence, the students were left with a very nice substitute. A very nice substitute who had strict rules regarding bathroom breaks. I won’t get into the gory details. However, I will share that more than a few children (including my own) struggled to control their bodily functions exactly the way the sub demanded. Needless to say, an unusually high number of “accidents” were reported in the course of the sub’s two-and-a-half week stint. I use the word “accident” very loosely, and I get … Continue reading →

Public Potty Scares

I avoid porta-potties like the plague. That goes double when I am traveling with young children. Whereas the portable johns housed in bright blue closet-like structures may seem like convenient places to relieve oneself I would and have elected to pee in an alley rather than do my duty in the nomadic bastions of filth. Granted, I was running the Chicago Marathon at the time, but still… What’s more, there is no way on Earth that I would allow my young child to go number one or two in a porta-potty. Forget it. I will happily stick to the other … Continue reading →

Weirdest Place Your Kid Has Gone Potty

I promise; this will be my last potty-themed blog (for a while anyway). In my previous post I shared my young daughter’s fear of going potty in public restrooms that feature automatic-flushing toilets. What I neglected to reveal in that blog is the myriad of non-traditional places that she’s gone number one, on the occasions when she absolutely wouldn’t relieve herself on “strange” potties. Let’s see… she’s gone in the tall grass that borders a rural highway in Wisconsin, in an opening between rocks at a secluded beach in Hawaii, in a dirt hole I dug in the far corner … Continue reading →

Strange Potty Breaks

My 5-year-old is not big on using “strange” potties. And by strange I mean public. Automatic-flush toilets freak her out, and wouldn’t you know that nearly every public restroom we’ve ever had to use featured these high-tech commodes. Whereas I appreciate not having to see the remnants of a previous user’s bowels in a public toilet, clearly the designers of automatic-flush potties were not thinking of how scary it would be for a child to sit on a device that sounds as though it could suck them down whole if he or she takes too long going number one (or … Continue reading →

The Great Changing Debate

I will be the first to admit that my child has relieved herself in some very unconventional places. Many of these incidents took place prior to her procuring a paralyzing fear of automatic-flushing toilets. In fact, much earlier.  As in diaper early. While I am quite thankful for the convenience afforded by disposable diapers, changing a soiled Pamper in public is not always easy. Accidents happen, emergencies need to be dealt with.  As a parent, you likely know this very well and take measures to cope accordingly. Unfortunately, you can’t always predict when uncomfortable situations may occur. Just ask the … Continue reading →

Learning When to Zip It

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve spilled a lot about my kid on this blog. A. Lot. Perhaps too much. Whereas it may not seem like it, I really do filter the information I share with the world about my child. For every one thing I reveal here, there are hundreds of personal tidbits I would never dream of publicizing, and as my daughter gets older, I plan to zip it even more. Even if she becomes an Olympic gold medalist. Ahem. Especially, if she becomes an Olympic gold medalist. You have to wonder if swimming superstar Ryan … Continue reading →

The Buck Stops Here

(That was then) I’ve shared a lot about my daughter on this blog: Ladies and gentlemen: Exhibit A Exhibit B Exhibit C Exhibit D Exhibit E Heck, I could go through the entire alphabet twice with the number of anecdotes I’ve posted detailing the trials and tribulations of raising a child in the 21st century. My precious peanut was barely two years old when I started writing here. She’s seven now… going on 17. (This is now) I’ve rarely censored myself while serving up slices of our suburban life. I didn’t really need to. After all, I never saw the … Continue reading →

Hope for Parents of Bed-Wetters

My daughter is going to kill me for sharing this… However, in the spirit of helping others… My name is Michele and I used to parent a child who wet her bed well after she was potty trained. I silently cursed having to change soaked bed sheets in the middle of the night, and then again in the morning. I was peeved that my school-aged child couldn’t control her bladder. I worried that she would be forced to have surgery. I wondered what I was doing wrong. Then, after months of nagging suspicions and misdiagnosis after misdiagnosis, we finally met … Continue reading →

Pee Patrol

How many bathroom breaks are felons allowed in a minimum-security prison? I’m guessing it’s more than once every five hours. Compare that to Evergreen Park High School in Illinois. According to students there, they are being treated worse than criminals when it comes to using the restroom. Currently, the school has a policy which allows teachers to limit students to three bathroom breaks per semester. Se.mes.ter. That’s roughly five months. What’s more, students who go above the limit are required to stay after school to make up missed class time. The school’s principal says he instituted the policy following numerous … Continue reading →

United We Stand

Imagine your child coming home from school with more than just a backpack full of books and homework assignments. Say she walked in the front door with, oh, say, a urinary tract infection caused by a teacher who wouldn’t allow her to go to the restroom. Sound familiar? In a previous blog I ranted about an unfortunate “accident” my daughter experienced at school that left me seething. Apparently, my post resonated with others. Recently, I received an email from a fellow mom who assured me that I was not alone in my anger, concern and frustration. The sympathetic reader not … Continue reading →