Strange Potty Breaks

by Michele Cheplic | More from this Blogger

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 two).

And that's not saying anything about how the parent reacts.

I think I screamed just as loud as my daughter the first time she used an automatic-flush toilet at our local Olive Garden.

When your child has to go, you don't spend a ton of time looking at the features of a public loo. I don't anyway. So when my then 3-year-old said she had to go potty "RIGHT NOW, MOMMY!" the last thing I was thinking when I entered Olive Garden's restroom was whether or not the toilet would flush while my child was still emptying her bladder.

The noise alone is enough to startle the most Zen-like creatures. Seriously, the decibel level of an automatic-flush toilet has got to rival that of a commercial jet airliner during take-off. Couple that with the spontaneity of the flush and you've got a recipe for toddler nightmares... or in my case, a child with a bladder infection brought on by holding her urine because she refuses to use a public potty.

Would it be too much to ask for a flush countdown? Maybe a little chime could ring three seconds prior to power flush commencing? Just something that would give a parent enough time to lift an unsuspecting child off the toilet seat before she is scarred for life.

For more than a year after the Olive Garden potty incident I was forced to hold my daughter slightly above the toilet seat at all public restrooms while she did her deed. Basically, she hovered with assistance. These days she will sit, but only if I stay in the stall with her. I'm there to help her balance should she have to jump off mid-flush.

I'm sure things will improve over time, but for now my daughter makes sure she goes to the bathroom several times before we leave the house, so she doesn't have to use a "strange" potty. On the bright side she no longer asks for Big Gulp-sized drinks at restaurants.

Are your kids afraid of automatic-flushing toilets?

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Learn more about Michele Cheplic

Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism.

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