boys peeing outside in public - Page 6

[kluella]

Okay, I have read this entire thread, and I am going to agree with the folks who think it's not a big deal. As long as it is in an out of the way place, where no one can see, then let the kid pee. You people need to get over your issues. Clearly, if a clean restroom is nearby that's the best option. But often it is not the case.

And on a similar note, people have mentioned how awful the idea of adults doing this is. Well let me tell you, my dh pees outside a lot. We go camping, fishing, hunting and often there is no bathroom so he goes outside, or if there is a bathroom it is so gross that outside is preferable. Again, out of sight. Or sometimes it's just more convenient. He works in construction, and he could hold it long enough to drive 10 minutes to the gas station, but goes at the site because it's just easier. And no one cares, because it's just pee. We all do it.

[Mommy Piadosa]

Click here to see my opinion.

[EviesMom]

The key differences I think are population density/usage of the park (small urban park with 1000 visitors a day versus national park/camping type park with a few dozen visitors a day); and community norms or standards. Clearly the CA pic is of someone's backyard, not a public playground. So 3 kids pee there, no problem. My neighborhood, though, is 500-1000 children per day. They really can't all pee there. The population density makes it an entirely different ball of wax... or puddle of pee.

Community norms lead to social sanctions, or why the pee-in-the-bushes moms are all hanging out together. The one park I saw a consistent peeing habit in I consider lower class and we don't go there unless a friend has a strong desire to; and we wouldn't set up a playdate with a family that did regularly pee on the playground; etc.

OP-no, you're not the only one who thinks it gross and inappropriate.

[mom2orionplus1]

IMO kids shouldn't be encouraged to potty outside. I have never really even thought to let him go to the bathroom outside. I guess I would if there wasn't a bathroom anywhere close and he couldn't make it to one. But, in the past, I have always searched out a bathroom for him. I feel that if I encouraged that, he would be on the Kindergarten playground unzipping his pants and peeing away, which is not appropriate.

[mom2orionplus1]

Oh and I just clicked on the picture. That is too freakin funny! They are just adorable. So, I guess I'm not offended by it, I just wouldn't encourage my son to do it.

[marisa]

Originally Posted by bettysmom

I suppose she had to see one sometime, but I just wasn't prepared for it (though I guess few parents are prepared for that first big "reveal" of the opposite gender's "parts").

I'm sorry, but I had to at this. I have three kids, and I imagined after my daughter being born gathering my sons around and saying, "THIS, my sons, is a vagina..."

[Panthira]

We went to the park the other day, FIL in tow. I noticed they had put in a porta potty, and I mentioned how I would rather my ds peed behind a bush because the porta potty stunk to high heaven. My FIL said that it was bad for the environment to pee behind a bush.

[erthe_mama]

Originally Posted by samuelsmom

I do not let my ds pee outside in public. We carry an empty plastic water bottle with a cap in our van and car for that purpose. If we are somewhere that he has to go and there's not a place, he stands in the van or car and pees into the bottle. No problem. We just empty at home or into a gutter, clean it out at home and put it back. When dd potty trains, I'm not sure what we'll do, but probably just carry our little potty in the car with us. No public pottying for us.

The potty thing is what my parents did with their four girls. If, on a road trip, we were far, far away from toilets we used it. I only let my son pee in the park once. Ever. It was into a water bottle. Yuck! If children REALLY have to pee, and forgot their water bottle, or what-have-you, then PLEASE make sure to pee waaaaaaay over in the corner of the park on a bush, not a tree, where I might possibly lean against. :P

P.S. What's all this talk about pee being sterile?? It's only "sterile" to the person who's peeing it!

Originally Posted by pixiepunk

also, is it just me, or are public restrooms generally *skank* and an absolute last resort? my kids can't keep their hands off of stuff, especially the 2 yo, and a public restroom is like a nightmare of teeming germs that i can't keep him from touching. even if it looks relatively clean, the thought of how many people have likely used it since the last time it was properly cleaned is enough to encourage me to squat my kid next to a tree any day!

What about all the other (possibly diseased) people who've peed on that tree before your kid? Just sayin. Emergency situation, I guess it's fine... but why not bring something for them to pee into? Just makes more sense to me...

[erthe_mama]

Originally Posted by momtoalex

I don't know if it's the nudity that shocks people or the slight possibility that he may pee/poop.

For me, it's mostly the latter. But that's because most parents don't clean it up!! My son almost stepped in some otehr kid's poop at the beach last summer. Needless to say I was not impressed. Not saying that you don't clean it up...

[pixiepunk]

no private backyards, small public playground/dog run/benches type of parks, few cars, and a building where roughly 800 people live. If you pee in my park, or your kid pees in my park, I will say something, it is not fine and dandy and is not something other people need to "get over their issues with."

So... have fun out there in suburbia, but the population density makes it an entirely different ball of wax... or puddle of pee.

when i lived in the middle of a very densely populated city neighborhood and had no yard, everyone at the neighborhood park with PL'ing aged kids took them into the trees to pee. no one thought anything of it, and no one that i know of even considered walking the 3 blocks to the nearest business location or to their apartment/home to take their PL'ing aged child to a toilet.

i'm certainly happy to now be living far from that city where play areas and public parks are measured in acres instead of square feet, and where most parks i frequent have clean and easily accessible restrooms. i'm sure that would be most peoples' preference (the clean, easily accessible restrooms, not living far from the city...).

[shershine]

I think it's kind of (I want to say gross but I think gross it a little too strong of a word....maybe icky?) It's not the nudity thing, I find nothing shameful about the naked body, it's more the pee. I am a little squeemish about bodily fluids unless they come from my own kids.: Just a little though, I'm no where near a germ phobe!!! Though it does bother me a bit, I do understand it if there are no bathrooms close by. No child should have to pee their pants or be in pain because they can't get to a restroom fast enough. I do appreciate when the parent takes the child to the perimeter of the park or something so it isn't right where everyone is playing. I've been aquainted with mom's who would have their kids go right where he had our blanket laid out, about a foot away. I wouldn't be comfortable with that, but to each their own! So, I'm not judging, but I might be cringing inside a bit. I can't help it!

[MtBikeLover]

Haven't read all the replies, but this wouldn't bother me. If we go somewhere that doesn't have a bathroom, then I tell the kids they can pee outside, but I direct them to a place that is a little more private than a big tree that everyone can see.

And I let them pee outside sometimes at home because I am too lazy to gather both kids up, run around to the front of the house, and run them upstairs to the bathroom. But we have lots of bushes so no one sees them but me.

[cee3]

Originally Posted by EviesMom

Community norms lead to social sanctions, or why the pee-in-the-bushes moms are all hanging out together. The one park I saw a consistent peeing habit in I consider lower class and we don't go there unless a friend has a strong desire to; and we wouldn't set up a playdate with a family that did regularly pee on the playground; etc.

Wow, if this is your edited version, I'd hate to see how offensive your original post was. So now little kids not being able to hold it is a class issue?

[EviesMom]

Err.. no. Kids not being able to hold it is understandable. Adults encouraging them to pee in the bushes as a regular standard practice, however, is in my opinion, tacky, low-class, and disgusting. I was being rude about the inability of people on this thread to comprehend the difference between their backyards and public parks. I changed that.

The playground that had smoking adults not really watching their children on the playground, adults without children (who are not by law supposed to be in an enclosed playground here), litter and broken glass, and adults encouraging children to pee around the few trees that existed rather than carrying a portable potty, leaving a non-fully potty trained child in diapers/pullups, or using the actually fairly clean public restroom 20 feet away... yeah, that would be the park we don't go to. And I think of it as a place frequented by lower class.

[Mommy Piadosa]

Originally Posted by EviesMom

tacky, low-class, and disgusting. And I think of it as a place frequented by lower class.

What exactly is meant by Low Class? In sociology I was taught it meant a group of people with less opportunities for education and less money. So when the word "low class" are used as an insult- I find it to be demeaning and classist.

[delphiniumpansy]

I am soooooo glad I have girls.

[hipumpkins]

Our rule is you must use the toilet if one is available, however you don't pee outside for the fun of it. you can do it in an emergency that goes for DS and DD.

[thismama]

Originally Posted by yellowpansy

I am soooooo glad I have girls.

What, do your girls never have to go pee when there is no bathroom around?

Coz, mine does!

I am not seeing how this is in any way a 'boys' issue.

[pdxmomazon]

Originally Posted by EviesMom

It is not a good citizen practice to have your child pee on the playground, whether on trees at the playground or on playground equipment...If it's a one time emergency, then fine.

:

Although it hasn't come up yet for us, I have seen little boys gleefully peeing in the park. I think of it as a matter of manners. Spitting, picking your nose, and masturbating are natural too, but I will teach my child that we do those things in private, not in the park. Sure, in an emergency, find a secluded spot and pee. But because you don't want to walk to a washroom or interrupt your child's play? Rude.

[beka1977]

Originally Posted by ThreeBeans

It's completely inappropriate unless it's an emergency. We've had to let DS go a few times in that case...once when he was just training and we were twenty miles from the nearest building, and he needed to go. We pulled over, hid behind some bushes and watered a tree.

Parents should absolutely not be encouraging their children to whip it out at a playground for no good reason. And if an emergency situation exists, a courteous parent will make some effort to shield the child from view.

Yes! I hate the peeing in the park, isn't it cute thing. ARGH!