WWYD if.......

[MammaB21]

Your DC wet their pants at a public play place/play ground? Today we went to an indoor playplace and one of the kids had had an accident while playing there. The parents seemingly didn't have a change of clothes, but chose to let the child continue to play. I can see not wanting to pull your DC from the fun, especially if you don't live close enough to run home for a change of clothing. But it's not a decision I would have made for my DC and I was just curious what everyone else would do. I see a couple things wrong with allowing the play to continue. 1) It's not sanitary for the rest of the kids. This child was going down slides and such and I saw other parents really freaked out about it. To the point where they were steering their kids away from this child. 2) I'd be afraid my DC would get teased. This did end up happenig today. A few kids were teasing and I heard my DD say to him, "I feel bad for you." I told her afterward that I was glad she didn't join in on the teasing because everyone has accidents and it's not nice to tease.

Other than not wanting my DC to feel 'punished' for having an accident, I can't think of a reason to make the decision not to pull my DC from the play and head home to clean up and change. Would any of you make the same decision these parents did, and if so enlighten me as to why?

S

[earthmama369]

No way. Unsanitary. I don't want to sit or put my hands on someone else's pee, and it was incredibly inconsiderate that the parents thought it was ok for everyone else's children to do so. And that the employees would appreciate having to sanitize the entire play area rather than just the one area where the accident first occurred.

[mamalisa]

Depending on the situation, I'd most likely scurry to the closest McDonald's and blow dry their pants or run over to the closest Target and grab new pants and head back to the happy fun place if it was a "big deal" kind of place to be or far from home.  

[BunnySlippers]

I would take my child home; both for her confort and safety (who wants cold wet pants irritating their skin?), and for teh health and safety of other kids.

I would have engaged the caregeiver/parent in finding a solution that results in no urine being smeared around a playground, where kids touch with thier hands then rub thier eyes or put thier fingers in their mouths. Eew.

[Caneel]

Originally Posted by mamalisa 

Depending on the situation, I'd most likely scurry to the closest McDonald's and blow dry their pants or run over to the closest Target and grab new pants and head back to the happy fun place if it was a "big deal" kind of place to be or far from home.  

It happened to us once and I did what mamalisa describes, I washed his shorts in the sink and dried them with the blower.

Not only must it have been uncomfortable for that child to be urine-soaked, it is completely unacceptable to intentionally let bodily fluids be smeared all over a public play area.

[jeanine123]

We'd go home.  There's no way I'd knowingly allow my child to continue to play if they had wet their pants.  It's disgusting, unsanitary and unfair for the other kids.

[Mama Lo]

I would definately not allow my child to continue playing on the playground with pee-soaked pants, yuck!

I would have either left and went home to change if I didn't have clothes with me or drove the closest cheap place to pick up a new pair of pants.

Just last weekend my dd had an accident in a hardware store and we were on our way to work on our new house, so instead of making the trek back home and I stopped at Dollar General and picked up a cheap outfit and pack on undies. 

[lyterae]

Depending on how far from home we were, we would either a.) find the closest place to buy her a change of clothes or b.) head directly home.

Besides the fact that I would not allow her to continue playing in wet clothes, she would be throwing an absolute fit. She does not enjoy having wet clothes of any kind.

[EdnaMarie]

Unsanitary and unhealthy: who keeps their kid in urine-soaked clothes?  You could get a rash.  Sorry, you have an accident, the consequence is changing clothes and yes you have to leave for a short time.  That's not a punishment, that's life.

We live in a pretty rural area.  I like the idea of picking up a cheap pair of leggings and underwear at the nearest dollar store or whatever.  Or borrowing clothes, even!  I would totally loan extra clothes, if I had them, to a child in need.  Even give them.

Note to self: Doesn't matter if child has not had an accident in years.  Bring a change of clothes.  I really should just keep one in the car.

[limabean]

This happened to me once -- it was awful! I took my DS and two of his friends (who were brothers) miniature golfing for my DS's birthday. All the boys went pee right before we left, and the drive to the mini golf place was 10 minutes. The younger boy (4yo) had an accident on the way there, but I didn't notice his wet shorts until we were playing the first hole of the golf course. I rushed back to the desk and asked if they sold shorts or sweats or something, or if there was a lost and found we could scrounge a pair of shorts from, but they said no. I stood around wondering what to do for a few minutes, and then I checked his shorts again and they were pretty much dry (it was over 100 degrees that day) so we just played on.

I felt terrible, but at least he was standing the whole time so the urine didn't get on any play equipment, and it dried really fast due to the heat. I brought his booster seat inside his parents' house when I dropped him off so they could clean it, and the mom didn't seem surprised at all and mentioned that this sort of thing happens with him all the time -- I was actually pretty annoyed that she didn't warn me and send some extra clothes so that I wouldn't have to deal with that in the middle of my DS's birthday celebration. 

[neetling]

 We were at an outdoor park the summer before last and this little boy just whipped it out and peed down a slide.  In my OCDish horror I shouted "Hey!  He's peeing down the slide" to his adult.  They didn't bother to walk to the restroom 20 feet away and try to clean it up.  They just left.  I found a maintenance worker and told them and warned other near parents not to let their kids slide in the pee puddle. Then we left,   An accident I would have understood, but I saw this kid doing it on purpose.  I was more angry with his adults than him because he seemed young, though clearly older than a toddler.  And he was playing with his urine stream, clearly not having an accident.

If it happened to one of my kids, I'd either go home or stop and get them an inexpensive replacement.  I'd also try to clean it up.

[tabrizia]

We've actually gotten to the playground before and I realized DS' diaper wasn't put on quite right so he peed his pants.  Which since I didn't have a change of pants for him meant we went home.  I felt bad about it for him, but he isn't going to play in peed in pants.  Not sanitary for him or the other kids.  That being said, I normally try to have an extra change of clothes in the car for both DS and DD, just in case.

I would never just let him or DD continue to play after peeing their pants.  It sucks for them especially since it was just an accident, but it happens.

[Latte Mama]

Those parents were very inconsiderate.  I would have talked to an employee there.  If it happened to my DS I would either take him home, get him a new pair of pants, or do the wash in the sink/dryer deal.  No way would I let him run around in pee soaked clothes.

[Youngfrankenstein]

So I probably shouldn't tell all of you about the time my ds, age three at the time, took off his poopy underwear and left it in the play place.  I found out later when I asked him where his underpants were.  Fun times....

[waiting2bemommy]

ok I would never intentionally allow my kid to continue to play wet. But when ds was newly potty trained a couple of times he did wet himself at the mcdonalds playplace. I usually took him into the bathroom, rinsed the underwear out and wrung them out for later washing, then blow dried the pants and put him back in them commando to play. This is very embarrassing to admit but we didn't have a car at that time, I had no moeny to buy new clothes and the mcdonalds was a 3 mile walk from my house.

once he actually pooped in the tunnel and one of the other kids told me. I had to crawl into the tunnel myself to retrieve the poop and throw it out, then crawl in a second time to sanitize it. I probably could have insisted that one of the employees do it, but I didn't think would be fair. It was really, really embarrassing though.

[MusicianDad]

For my child I would take them home so they can change pants and be clean and dry again. Before leaving though, I would alert the staff that my child had an accident and for health and safety reasons they should clean up.

[St. Margaret]

EW.  I would have said something to the employees pretty quickly, and demanded they do something.  And I might expect a pass for a free time to come back, if something like that went on for very long unaddressed. 

We were actually at a play place this weekend and our friends' kid had an accident.  They just dashed to the store right there to get her clean leggings.  I told them when I heard that I always have a change for DD in our backpack and they could always ask for it.  We might be getting to the point before long (esp as we add baby #2 and his diapers) where we'll leave it in the trunk of the car all the time, instead, because she is 3.5 and she's been pretty good for a while.  I would never stay-- I like the tip about washing them out and drying in the bathroom!  That's life sometimes.  If it were something REALLY important where you NEEDED to be at a store or post office or whatever, for not just a regular errand, I might push through if the pee were contained to just my kid, and hope they were not too uncomfy or got a rash, but I would never do what they did in the OP.  CRAZY inconsiderate all around.

[Super~Single~Mama]

Originally Posted by Youngfrankenstein 

So I probably shouldn't tell all of you about the time my ds, age three at the time, took off his poopy underwear and left it in the play place.  I found out later when I asked him where his underpants were.  Fun times....

This just made me laugh out loud - literally!!  Kids do the darndest things.  Seriously, sometimes I just don't get it!

[colleen2851]

I wouldn't sped to the nearest store - with my cold - to get a new pair of pants.

[cappuccinosmom]

None of my kids would keep playing with wet pants.  They'd come to me wanting to go home (or to the car for fresh clothes, if I had them).

My middle kid taught me to keep clean clothes that were seasonally appropriate and properly sized in the car.  We were at a fall festival at a farm.  He told me he had to pee, but too late, and he soaked himself right down to his shoes and socks.  I did have clean clothes in the car, but they were shorts, and it was November.  So he looked a little funny in his jacket, boots, and shorts.  But he didn't want to leave and we stayed until he was too cold.

I think it would be unfair to the child in question, and unfair to the other children playing (and their parents) to let the kid continue playing in pee-soaked pants.  Yes, urine is sterile when it comes out, but it doesn't *stay* sterile.  And it can't be enjoyable playing in wet pants.