Another question got me thinking. Every time that someone posts about whether they need a potty, at least one person says they think it is "gross." I understand why people who don't have kids are grossed out by the potty chair, because they haven't spent the last 14-30 months cleaning up someone else's poop in a diaper. But why parents? It is the same stuff in a different place, and IMO less disgusting than a diaper because it isn't smeared all over their butt.
I never kept mine floating around in the house. the bathroom was the spot for going, but we found it much better because she could be more independent about going, and I could model behavior by going at the same time (the lack of privacy that I currently enjoy is another topic for a different day).
So, those who find potty chairs disgusting... why?
Ok. so this is a feeling that seems to be fairly widespread.
To be clear, I'm not "wow! potties are fun to clean, wish I could have one in every room!" I just never found them grosser than toilets. I guess I used very simple ones though, because I never noticed a lot of nooks and crannies to clean. One simple bowl, she never really missed, a pretty easy dump and wipe to clean. In the early days I was so involved that it wasn't a lot of extra poop-experiencing. And we never used it outside the bathroom, but we have 2 bathrooms and only generally 3 people in the house. If it was "put it right outside, or have the potty training kid wait" I might have rethought the concept. Although I can't imagine putting it in the bedroom or kitchen.
Why I used one? My DD was very small, and started experimenting fairly early We bought the stool/ring concept, but she was so tiny that at first she couldn't get up on a regular toilet easily, even with stool that was uncomfortably tall. I preferred to keep a spray bottle and some paper towels in the bathroom than worrying that she was going to pitch over off the toilet. Also, once she got more confident, she could head into the bathroom and go by herself. She rarely used the toilet insert, because by the time she outgrew the potty she could balance on the regular toilet.
Now she's big enough to get on a regular toilet with no stool, and the potties are all converted to stools or a faint memory. But I don't regret using one.
The idea of dumping and cleaning the bowl is gross for me. I also think it is gross to have a kid sitting on their potty seat watching tv in the living room or something.
I never used one because I don't understand the need for it. Mine just used the little seat you sit on the real toilet so they didn't fall in. By 3.5 years old, the seat was thrown away, and they held themselves up just fine. And I also didn't want to have to clean an extra "potty". Three real toilets are plenty for me. All toilets have a gross/disgusting factor to me though, so I guess cleaning one for kids numerous times each day would just push me over the edge. Ewww. :)
I had a potty chair but it was really gross. In a diaper the potty is contained and there's an element of odor control (an element). In a regular toilet the water absorbs the odor mostly. I don't have to dump out the nasty and then clean the potty and a lot of potty chairs have a lot of nooks and crannies, it never seems clean.
Gross.
Diapers are fairly easy to change, and bums are easy to clean. A few wipes cleans bums, and the diapers roll up.
Chairs, otoh, one has to clean both bums AND the chair each and every single time it's used. Double the work. More, really. And spills inevitably happen. So it's bums, chair, and toilet or floor. As opposed to: Flush.
I don't find cleaning regular toilets gross... I do them once a week. Having to clean it each and every single time someone goes to the bathroom... and no plumbing to keep things from sticking, stinking, and having to reach my hand in EACH and EVERY time? I'd sooner have an outhouse!!!
Not to mention... with potty chairs the little tub is fairly shallow. So pee splashes out, and big poops get poo everywhere.
And being plastic, instead of porcelain, the plastic absorbs odors. So even if you're cleaning it each and every time (and most people get distracted and have to deal with something else at LEAST once for 15minutes/an hour/ or even an entire night, and usually more often)... it starts SMELLING like an outhouse!!!
Nope. Diapers to indoor plumbing!!!
HUGE fan of indoor plumbing. Love. It.
Yes, I am a mother of 4 and I think potty chairs are gross. Why? Because it's just one more thing I have to clean and disinfect and for those who do not disinfect it every time, that is even more disgusting. Who needs that kind of work when there is already so much to do? I potty trained my kiddos on a real toilet with those soft cushy toilet ring insert seats and my first three kiddos were potty trained by their second birthday...the youngest is 8 months old and I intend to potty trained the same way her siblings were...on the toilet.
BTW: I did have a potty chair for my first born (used it a couple of times) so I know what it takes to clean it and God forbid the poop sticks to the bottom of the little bowl and you have to use something to un-stick it. GROSS. Toilet ring for the toilet seat all the way!!
We had 3 potty chairs for my first born, who potty trained at the age of two. One for upstairs, one for downstairs and one for the car. I HATED THEM.
They were always getting peed and pooped on, not in, on. There are so many cracks and crevices on it and there is always urine in there because it splashes.
Not only that, but in my house I don't scrub the toliet every day, so why would I want to scrub the kiddy toliet every single time she goes on it? I didn't want to but I did, otherwise the cracks and crevices would start to stink. Also, aside from having to scrub it several times a day, I had to sanitize it everytime because I didn't want other children who regularly came over to touch it and get gross germs. That's why I think they are gross!
By the time I had my other children, the kiddy potty's were long gone (sold at a garage sale) and they did their business on the regular potty. My others all potty trained at two or younger as well, and did just fine on the adult toliet!
I am currently potty training my third child. I bought potty chairs the first two times, and ended up throwing them both away. I hated cleaning the bowl. This time I went straight for the seat that you put on your toilet seat and a step stool. He was not afraid at all and climbed right up there.
because they are gross. We have used them. The diapers, imo, were much easier, because you could throw them away. And the bigger they get the worse it is. You have to get in there and wipe it all up, esp if they are loose and smelly. Someone told me to put toilet paper in there first to catch the poop, but somehow my kids found a way to miss the paper.
I think advertisers have really done a number on The Modern Homemaker. There are a gazillion products to clean, disinfect, deodorize, purify, bleach sparkly white, and make our homes acceptable to some imaginary (or perhaps real, for some of us) judge who'd come in and give our house the white-glove inspection.
Truth is, that except for certain bugs that are indeed highly infectious, we need exposure to a certain amount of "dirt" and microbes in order for our immune system to develop normally and work effectively. It can't defend us against germs we've never encountered before – it takes at least a couple of weeks to learn to identify a new invader and build up T cells that can recognize and attack the invader in adequate numbers to quell an infection. After that encounter, our systems keep a memory on file of that invader so it can mount a quick defense.
Without adequate exposure to Germs of the World, our immune systems can become confused and attack our own bodies, resulting in allergies, asthma, and contributing to auto-immune illness.
I remember being afraid, while I was first pregnant, that I would find diaper-changing disgusting. I was very sensitve to smells at the time. By the time my daughter arrived, diapers were not only no big deal, but sort of a joy, a sign my little girl was alive, eating and functioning correctly. And even back in those ancient days, potty chairs were easy to empty and clean. No big deal.
They are gross because by the time they are three it is like an adult going
on the potty!!!!!!!!! I had a potty seat for my grandson for about a month.
I could not take it anymore. Then he just started using the toilet because
he did not have a choice. I say never again. The 19 month old will never
use a potty.
I find them disgusting!
You have to dump it and clean it out instead of just flushing. I also found them completely unnecessary...all my kids LOVED using the lil' step stool and when you get the little padded seat w/the side handles that fits right over your toilet, it's perfect size and fit for them. Why would anyone ever NOT want to do it that way, is what I don't get? I just never understood it? My kids felt independent using that stuff on the big potty...how could they not?
But that's just me and my opinion....and I think it helped that none of my kids were afraid of the potty and the flushing noise and after being on this site for a couple years I realized I was very lucky to not have encountered that issue.
I had our potty in the living room and trained my son in only days to poop and a couple weeks to pee to the point of zero accidents. I did move it when guests came over though. It was always on a hard surface, never or carpet or rugs. If they thought it was gross, tough.
My MIL once said she thought the litter box in the bathroom was a gross place to keep it (there was nothing in it, only litter) and I was like, what do you think a bathroom is for?? People can be wierd. Everyone poops. Get over it.
Changing my BABY's diaper... not gross at all. By the time my boys were pooping in the potty, they were 3. Three year old poop is gross no matter where it is, but ESPECIALLY in the potty.
yuck.
I grew up on a farm. I'd dealt with much poop and pee well before motherhood. Poop and pee is just poop and pee. Diapers smeared it all over their butt or didn't contain it all, potty chairs can smell, kids can miss the big potty chair, or not make it to the bathroom in time, etc. Cleaning up poop and pee is just part of the deal.
My daughter was potty trained by 26 months, and she used a potty chair in the process, then soon switched to the real toilet. I did move the potty chair into the room she was in sometimes. What is worse, her going in the potty in the family room, or not making it to the bathroom on time and going on the flooror carpet?
My daughter's dad grew up in a house with no indoor toilet just an outhouse. He was potty trained on a coffee can (not kidding). We're so spoiled...
Anybody old enough to remember commodes of days long gone without indoor plumbing? Now that was gross. A potty chair is for one person and then cleaned. Furthermore no child should be using it for long at all before going to the toilet seat and when the potty chair came out I think kids were usually potty trained by 3 or before so they were smaller and sometimes fearful of the big stool. If your child will use the big stool I wouldn't bother with a potty chair either.
i think the ladies nailed it pretty accurately...i would just add that the "ick" factor to me would be having it in ANY other room besides the bathroom.
S., I'm with you. Potty chairs serve a purpose, stay in one room, and aren't around forever.
The folks who say how gross they are should get a grip. If they someday have to care for an aging or ill adult, they will be cleaning out potty chairs too, only adult-sized ones. I bet they didn't want to hear that, but it's a fact of life they may have to face, and they should put their very delicate sensibilities aside or be prepared to hire 24-hour help. I've been there and I know.
Makes a toddler's potty chair sound pretty easy, right?
I never said it made sense. I don't know. There's just something about having someone pee in a bowl, then me picking up that bowl, dumping it out, washing it, bleaching the area (I would feel compelled to). It just seems gross to me.
I realize rationally that all of it's gross, but it gives me an extra case of the willies. So do urine samples and drool and spitting. That last one kicks in my gag reflex along with people who really need to clear their throat.
In short, it's not a potty thing, it's a me thing.
They're only gross to me when they are filled. Potty poop is not my favorite to clean, but I prefer it to cleaning up an accident.
Like you, ours moves around the house. I probably ick people out by having our potty in an accessible location (usually the hall outside the bathroom) because we have a teenager and it's easier to put it there for DD's convenience than keep SD's stuff up and away. We are working on a better arrangement for her stuff since DD is getting used to the toilet, but the potty chair gets rinsed out if not washed after every use so it's cleaner than the toilet. I have also only had one bad miss. Ours is a Bjorn and very simple configuration. Not a lot of crevices to clean. Easy for DD to use. Saved us a few times on long car trips. DD does use the insert, too, or the regular toilet, but she's petite and the small potty is easier for her sometimes.
I know when I was ready to potty train, I was done cleaning up poop! So, I decided against a potty chair because I still had to clean out the poop. A friend of mine's daughter LOVED to help transfer the pee/poop to the big potty and it would just be a bigger mess. I just want to flush:)
Well, I've never gone around talking about how disgusting they are, but my kids never used one. They trained at around their third birthday to the real toilet. In changing diapers, the mess is contained. Where does one clean the potty? In the sink where you wash dishes? In the tub where you bathe? Not accusing or judging, just wondering in my own head.
Because it is pee and poop that could easily be flushed, rather than manually cleaned multiple times a day. And seriously, diapers are gross too. And the older the child gets and the more solid food they eat the more disgusting it is. Which is a big part of why I wonder who these people are who wait until their kids are 3 or 4 years old to potty train.
Well, I've never had the reaction you are mentioning, I guess to me it just comes with the territory. I don't mind cleaning up after my son whether its diapers or potty because I love him. That said, had I put much forethought into it before potty training, I would have just skipped the potty and gone right to the toilet-cover seat. We started using the floor potty thinking that was the natural evolution. The very first poop he made in there I thought, oh my, this is not going to be fun to clean! In fact it took me a few minutes to figure out how to clean it up without making a much worse mess!
But I got wise, and ever since then I fill it with about an inch of water at all times. This cuts the clean up majorly! Even still, I have never done so much disinfecting in my life. I'm not a germ-freak or one to use a lot of harsh chemicals or disinfectants in my house, but I have gone through a can of Ajax pretty quickly on the potty in the past 6 months!
I don't have a problem with potty chairs. I keep one in the bathroom for him and one in his room, logistics in our home requires it. We have 2 bathrooms, 8 adults, 2 children, and with my Dad starting hospice tomorrow and the nurses requiring one bathroom, my little guy can't be expected to always wait until a bathroom is free. He's also working on night training and getting up to go on his own, thus, a potty in the bedroom is a necessity.
We dump whatever as soon as we can, rinse and clean the pot, I keep spray bottles of anti-bacterial (bleach) cleaner in each room, and I haven't had a problem with the bowl being too small as someone suggested, we have F/P Froggy Pottys and the front is nice and high to prevent any pee spillovers and even with big poops there's plenty of room left.
Sorry, diapers are something I am SO glad to be done with, cleaning pottys is a breath of fresh air comparably, lol : )
No offense to anyone, but poop is gross no matter how you look at it or where it goes.
My kids had potty chairs but never used them except for dragging around the house and hiding things in them.
They both learned on the big potty and had step stools my dad made for them.
My kids thought potty chairs were toys and had no interest in them beyond that.
They work for some people and when it comes to potty training, hey....whatever works.
Just my opinion.
They are not fun to clean all the time but not that much different from diapers. And it seems like with potty training there is always something to clean up. We have both a smaller ring for the toilet and the separate potty and both need extensive cleaning at times. There is no real way to win until you get past that stage I suppose.
They have their place.
I used one for our 1st because we only have one bathroom-upstairs.
I probably won't get it out again.
Why did I find it disgusting?
Because it was something the dog wouldn't leave alone.
And because a few times DD dumped the contents on the floor before I had emptied it.
Runny, nasty poop all over my carpet that the dog managed to get into before I could corral her.
I think I cried that day.
That was several years ago. I'm still traumatized. ;)
