So ever since my kids were little I never encouraged them to pee in the lake when we go camping. I just felt like if I encouraged this, then what would stop them from doing this in pools/bathtubs/showers and so on. Its not that I'm so much against them peeing in the lake as I have done it myself. (Especially when canoeing) But I just wanted to make sure they were grown enough to distinguish between when you have to do it vs. when there IS a bathroom around.
So on to my story. My oldest daughter (6 almost 7) went camping with my mom and sister a few weeks back and when she got back had told me how she peed in the lake. (My sister has ALWAYS encouraged this to her kids Not because there is not a bathroom but because she did not want to have to take them there.) So my daughter continued to tell me how Grandma & my sister encouraged her to just pee in the lake. I promise you pryer to this, I always took my kids to the bathroom, whether at the lake, Great Wolf Lodge, a friends pool...we always went to the restrooms. So fast forward to last night when I went to help them out of the bathtub and the water looked a little yellow and my daughter admitted she did pee in the bathtub. I just feel that this last trip only encouraged this behavior.
So what do you think, am I not that far off to think my daughter peeing in the bathtub a result of a weekend spent with my ssiter and mom at the lake. Do you let your young kids pee in the lake?
Ha! Yes, no doubt about it, I am placing blame but keep in mind I have not or will not say anything to my sister. I have been to many places with my sister and kids around places with pools. (my house included) And her kids never use the restroom. My kids however, will be in and out throughout the day. I worry this encouraged behavior may have hindered this now.
At almost 7 my daughter should know better but actually came home excited about how she peed in the lake. So i can understand why she thought it was no big deal to pee in the tub also. I did have a talk with her about why she should not do this in the bathtub but I do understand why she couldn't differentiate.
I agree with the person who finds it lazy. I think there is a huge difference of doing it when a bathroom is not available vs doing it just because you don't want to walk up the beach to the restrooms. Ah well...to each their own. :)
*For those that didn't get my point. I do not have an issue with pee being in the lake. I do realize there are worse things in it.....like swimmers itch for one. I just don't want my kids to think because they can pee in a lake that its ok to pee in the pool or bathtub. (And yes, I know I can't be sure they did this before, but I am telling you I've made many trips to the bathroom with my kids to pee while swimming in a pool and I've watched them get out of the tub to pee so I do know they were for the most part using a restroom before.)
My son pees in the ocean. I think it is fine. Way nicer than dragging him to the damp, hot WOMEN's bathroom (sorry - no family restroom at the beaches we go to). Besides - where does everyone think all the fish and whale pee goes?
In reasonably private settings I teach them to pee on the shore or grass. That way they still have to get out but I don't' have to mess with getting them to the bathroom.
Your daughter can tell the difference between not having a bathroom nearby and having a toilet right next to her. Do not misplace the blame on her aunt.
I think you are trying to place blame. Sorry but my kids have always been allowed to pee in lakes. We have a boat, you need to go we stop, you jump in and pee. The lake is the potty for the boat. Very easy concept for even a young child to understand.
My kids have never peed in a pool because of this, or the tub, or anywhere else that was not designated as a potty.
Your daughter peed in the tub because she had to go and didn't feel like getting out.
Now an interesting question would be how many people let their kids poo in lakes or rivers. My ex thought this was perfectly fine I thought it was the most disgusting thing I ever heard. I get animals poo in the lakes but dammit! we are not animals! we can hold it.
I've always encouraged my son to pee in oceans, rivers, lakes.
He ALWAYS gets out of pools and hottubs. He's in and out all the time. Often the only kid who is. Ick.
The bath? <Rolls eyes> DUDE get OUT OF THE TUB. Well, the bath is hit or miss. Drives me nuts. Which, in no small part, I'm sure... Is why he does it.
woooow lol.
we just got back from a float trip (river, not lake) with our entire family (18 people) which includes two 5 year olds and a freshly pt almost-3-year-old.
at first, the two 5 year olds could NOT BELIEVE that they were allowed to pee in the river (yes, we did encourage it, considering it was a 5 hour float trip with no restrooms or civilization of any kind - the adults did it too, sorry to say). it's just what you do. my son didn't "get" it at first, and i ended up just having him go to the other side of the spot we had stopped at for lunch, and turn his back to us, and pee on the rocks. hard to do with canoes up and down the river - he literally could NOT get out of sight of strangers, but he was having a real hard time peeing in the river (also he kept yelling to me, YOU WANT ME TO PEE MY PANTS!?!?!? hehehe...kinda took away some of the stealth already). with the 2 year old, we didn't go there. his daddy just had him pee on the rocks and he thought he was a rockstar. at TWO they would be too little to know the difference maybe...but 7?
long story short we finally got them to do it, and no, neither of them had ANY trouble understanding that this was a one-time special deal. was it explained to your almost 7 year old that this isn't the same as a bath tub? i don't get why she wouldn't understand that. it seems to me like a 7 year old, trip or no trip, should be plenty responsible enough to know the difference. sounds to me like she just got lazy. maybe heard you nagging about it and figured you'd blame it on grandma and auntie??
i just don't see why a 7 year old couldn't make that distinction.
ps - good point jo. we never EVER poo in rivers/lakes. big no-no!
Of course it is ok to pee in the lake! As long as you tell her what is allowed, then you will be just fine. She is old enough to be taking a shower though. If you are that worried about it, have her take a shower after her bath to rinse off. Really, this is not a big deal in the big picture of things to be worrying about.
haha my daughter and her cousins and friends run to an body of water (lake, river, or ocean) so excited to pee....we must have tons of pictures of them all lined up squatting n the water with the biggest smiles. since they were 2 and potty trained they did this and they all knew not to pee in a closed body of water (tub, pool, hot tub...)
haha I'm with Jo W. on this. I am a person who pees in the lake, but I wouldn't poo in one!!!
I also agree that this doesn't mean they will pee everywhere. My son pees in lakes and he has never peed anywhere else b/c of it. He knows the difference between "clean" and "dirty" water. Heck we go to the river and the dog pees in the water too!
I don't encourage my children to pee in anything that others are known to swim in. :-) I encourage them heartily to get out and use a toilet. But not for nothing, you're already swimming in fish, frog, and other animal urine and feces when you swim in lakes, ponds, oceans, and rivers. It's not clean water by any means.
When my girls have UTI's the pediatrician encourages them to urinate in the bath tub. Part of my middle daughter's maintenance therapy (since she has toileting issues related to her Autism and sensory issues) is to have her bathe once a week in baking soda water and encourage her to urinate in it to help flush out anything that might be building up in there.
When they shower, I let them urinate in there if they want to but they inevitably get out to use the toilet.
It's a freakin' lake. There are worse things in it than pee. Yes.
I don't pee in any body of water other people have to be in, and I appreciate it when other people extend the same respect. Maybe it did encourage the behavior. Now, you have to recondition to her, that she should not pee in the water.
Also...If your daughter's pee turned the bathtub yellow, she needs to drink more water!!
Yes, she was probably testing the limits. Reminders that while tinkling (pee is not my favorite word) in the wild when in the wild is OK, tinkling in the tub when the potty is 2 ft away is not should do the trick!
Sure, if he needs too.
How do you know that your daughter hadn't peed in the bathtub before the lake incident? Are you positive that one resulted in the other? Or were you just looking for the correlation?
I've never taken my kids to the lake but I would let them pee in it. I used to go boating with my family all the time as a kid, and we used to pee in the lake. We were in a boat, in the middle of the lake. Obviously we were not going to drive to the shore, tie up, get out of the boat, go to the restroom, and get back on board. It was so much easier to get in the water and pee.
When we are at Hawaiian Falls, they ask to go to the restroom. When they are in their kiddie pool at home, they get out of the pool and pee in the grass. It's not hard for them to understand the difference, and they are 8 and 5 years old.
I agree with Bug on this that no one should be peeing in any body of water that people swim in. That is a sure way to make people sick and spread disease.
If we were at a lake or stream I would have my daughter use the bathroom or go behind a bush (if one were available). When we go camping we use a waterless toilet that has bags you throw away. They also make portable toilets (with or without water) for boats and RV's.
I would talk to your daughter about how a lake is different than a pool or bathtub. I would also make her clean the tub if she peed in it. That is gross for her - and for her sibling in the tub. I would re-wash them if I discovered pee in the bath water, no matter who did it.
While I don't as a rule encourage kids to pee in the lake, when we were out tubing and were far from land, yes, DH did tell the kids to just jump in and pee before them re-entered the boat. Oceans and lakes are full of animal pee and whoknowswhatelse, so it's not the same as a pool and your DD needs to understand the difference.
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I would talk to your daughter about how a lake is different than a pool or bathtub. I would also make her clean the tub if she peed in it. That is gross for her - and for her sibling in the tub. I would re-wash them if I discovered pee in the bath water, no matter who did it.
While I don't as a rule encourage kids to pee in the lake, when we were out tubing and were far from land, yes, DH did tell the kids to just jump in and pee before them re-entered the boat. Oceans and lakes are full of animal pee and whoknowswhatelse, so it's not the same as a pool and your DD needs to understand the difference.
I don't encourage my kids to pee in bodies of water. Here, its mostly ocean or pools. Pools have bathrooms. The ocean/beaches here, do not always have bathrooms. So in that case, the kids pee in the ocean or behind a bush. The thing is with oceans/beaches, there is water current and the water is always moving and circulating from shoreline to deep sea, not stagnating like in a lake.
At home, per tubs... my kids do not pee in it. Because they are in it. They will however, if in a shower, pee there, but down the drain. Not just peeing anywhere. They aim for the drain. I rather have them do that than to step out of the shower, all wet, to go to the toilet and trailing water puddles behind them on the bathroom floor, as they walk to the toilet.
At 6-7 years old, per your daughter, I would think that by that age, a kid will know the difference between peeing in a lake and peeing in their own bathtub. My son is 5, and he knows not to pee in the tub. It is gross. And the water will not be clean if he pees in it. He knows. By this age, a kid should know that.
Your daughter peeing in the lake with the prompting of her Aunt/Grandma, it was done out of convenience, for them. Your daughter is almost 7, and she should have known that that was for "convenience." And not just a general rule, of peeing in any body of water. So, although her Aunt/Grandma told her to do this, I would think that by now, she would know that this is not the usual normal thing to do.
And, all you do to "correct" this in your daughter, if you want to do so, is to simply tell your daughter, peeing in the bathtub is gross and not appropriate. The lake, was different, and it was for her Aunt's/Grandmas convenience.
You're confusing your daughter. And blaming your mom and sister. What's fair here?
Why not tell your daughter to go pee PRIOR to getting in the tub? Or before going in the lake, make a trip to the restroom. Start her NOW on the proper procedure and there shouldn't be a problem later. It happens that the need hits at inconvenient times, lake or bathtub.
I would rinse her off if I saw/she admitted to pee in the tub water. That's simple.
But I think it's out of line to place the blame on your mom and sister. You've done it yourself in wrong places. That's out of convenience and options. But you can't make the rules as you go along, and if no one else knows what they are you can't expect them to be followed.
Definitely sounds like this trip encouraged the behavior!! I would definitely stress to my daughter that we DO NOT pee in the bathtub, pool, etc. BUT the lake is ok IF she can't get to the bathroom!
I wouldn't make a big deal about it with your sister and mom; they're not going to change plus, it might make it very uncomfortable on your daughter to spend time with them in the future if you do.
In my opinion, it's not something drastic enough to rock the boat!!
Good luck!
No, not in the lake... but behind a tree if no clean public restrooms are readily available? Sure.
Well, if she wasn't doing it before and she's doing it now sounds like the trip gave her this bright idea. Tell your sis I said, "Thanks". Lol. I'm joking. I can imagine your annoyance though.
I've never encouraged my kids to pee in a lake and don't plan to. Seems like an unrefined way of doing things. I'm sure there's far worse in lakes than urine, but I would not encourage my child to do that unless it was under extreme circumstances. I mean if nothing else, go pee behind a tree or some bushes. If on a boat, balance your bottom off the side if you have to or pee in an empty container. Just don't pee in the lake out of sheer laziness.
Heavens no-keep a coffee can in the canoe-and dump it out on land-what's next-throwing chicken bones on the floor in a restaurant?
