Comments on: 8 Reasons Public Restrooms are a Parent’s Worst Nightmare

By: Jenny @ Unremarkable Files

Jenny @ Unremarkable Files — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 16:18:24 +0000

In reply to Becca. The Japanese and their toilets... when I went to Japan like 15 years ago, I loved how many of the public toilets had all kinds of buttons so you could play different sounds/music (and no one would know you were doing your business.)

By: Katelyn Fagan

Katelyn Fagan — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 14:11:08 +0000

In reply to Becca. The Walmart incident is so sad. :( And I agree about those little baby seats! It means that *I* can use the restroom and not have to worry about leaving a baby with a) my older children alone, or b) by herself in a cart. Neither of those is my favorite. I have to say though, if you ever get the chance to go to a Buckee's, they do bathrooms right and they have everything you could need in those stalls! ha. Some places really do them right and others screw them up so bad and neglect them majorly. I think it would be great to be able to send my children to the bathrooms by themselves, but because of many of the things I listed in the post, they can't physically use it by themselves. It's lame.

By: Becca

Becca — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 09:40:19 +0000

We’re fortunate in that most of the places we shop have either family toilets or individual rooms (e.g. not stalls, just a room with a toilet and a sink). Once, in Hawaii, I took my son to the toilet in Wal-Mart and was called a pedophile by a woman who was obviously mentally disturbed, who told me she was going to call the cops on me. That was a miserable experience. She actually started yelling out after me, “You’re a pedophile! You’re disgusting! That’s not your son! You’re a pedophile!” We’re in Japan this week and the public toilets are great – incredibly clean and the toilets do everything for you (love those seat warmers!) Most stalls even have a little seat where you can put your baby while you’re using the toilet. I would’ve killed for that when my kids were babies! It’s so safe here, I’ve noticed very small children, like 3 and 4, going into public toilets unaccompanied. As in every Asian country we’ve ever visited, everyone loves kids, so they go to great lengths to accommodate your little ones in public spaces. (The ‘symbol’ for police is a little child talking to a grown man who is bent over with his hands on his knees listening.) There are so many ways public toilets can be made better for families. It’s a shame that so many of them fall so very, very short of the mark.