If A Child Pees In The Forest, Does Anybody Care?
Tuesday June 9, 2009
Emilia has been toilet-trained since sometime last year. Which is awesome, because diaper and pull-up-pant changing are a drag. What is less awesome is the need to be constantly on the look-out for a bathroom because your small child can't...
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About Their Bad Mother
Catherine Connors is a mother, writer and recovering academic who traded the lecture hall for the playroom and discovered that university students and preschoolers have much the same attention span. In addition to Bad Mother blogging at Beliefnet, she is, among other things, the author of HerBadMother.com, the moderator of Her Bad Mother’s Basement, the co-founder and co-editor of WeCovet, a contributing writer/editor at MamaPop and BlogHer, and most recently (deep breath) founder of and contributor to Canada Moms Blog. And in her spare time… oh, wait. She doesn’t have spare time. But she’s okay with that.
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Is there an age limit on this technique? Because I always pee on my underwear and am willing to give this method a try the next time I gotta go.
OMG!!! That is too funny!!! This is one skill I, too, have never mastered. It would come in handy, though, when the teenager is hogging the one bathroom in the house....
That is hysterical. Leave it to Tanis.
This almost* makes me want to have a third child and hope it's a girl. And also, I can has girlie standing up peeing skills?
*I said ALMOST.
Leave it to Redneck Mommy. That's awesome. May have to teach my girls this. Because they hate the squatting thing when we go camping.
The picture is great! Skills like that have come in handy over the years! Funny thing is that with boys, you just can't get them to stop peeing all over the place. My youngest has marked the entire yard as his territory!
Great piece! And good job Emilia. I had this up on the computer screen while I left the room to tend to the baby. My own 3 yr old Amelia saw it, liked it, tried it...and peed all over my dining room rug.
Perhaps next time good Auntie Tanis could put a disclaimer that this technique should not be tried at home. Or at the very least, while indoors...
I really am so very proud.
*Wipes away a tear.*
I can't wait to teach her to burp the alphabet.
As I am frequently outdoors with no restrooms around not being shy about "nature hikes" is a definite bonus. I always chuckle at friends who arne't comfortable with it because really, it's not necessary to suffer! Glad she's learned another good skill :)
For an excellant discussion of The Skill and a "how-to" disguised in a great book read "Only Begotten Daughter" by James Morrow in which Julie Katz is born to a celibate Jewish lighthouse keeper.
I think Tanis learned the method from the book.
http://www.amazon.com/Only-Begotten-Daughter-Harvest-Book/dp/0156002434
Awesome!! As I girl, I was quite irritated that I couldn't pee standing up like the boys (older cousins), until my sole older female cousin showed me how. ;)
Damn, I love this stuff!!! My kids are 21 and 22 years old now and I can re-live all this fun stuff through you and RedneckMommy. My son once whipped it out to pee behind a tree at daycare and when told he couldn't do that, he said, "but my Daddy does it all the time." But take it from an old pro....you're gonna miss this....terriby!!
LOL PMSL ...I did my own 2yrs son pee in the park post last week but this is cute = opportunity for all women !
That was awesome to see. I wish I had an Auntie Tanis when I was growing up. Would have saved me a lot in laundry.
That's so awesome I may have my daughter try it outside even if we're by a bathroom next time!
It's too convenient not to perfect.
You know I'm going to have to slip out to the alley way to try that myself now, don't you? 'Cause there always was something about squatting that seemed so damned undignified.
That is the best! Auntie Tanis rocks!
(And that's a nice edit of the pic too. LOL)
Rad. Great photo edit, indeed. ;D
Hysterical! My 4yo son is highly concerned that I don't pee standing up. Every time I go to the bathroom, he asks me again, whether I can pee standing up. I told him, "I can't" to which he asked, "Does anybody not let you?" like it was a question of rules and not anatomy.
One of my dearest friends' admired her older brother and wanted to be just like him. So she ruined many an outfit trying to master the art of peeing standing up. She admitted to me that at one point, she thought the secret was in her belly button, so she pressed it in various ways trying to do it right.
Oh that is hilarious! When I was young I had a pee emergency and needed to go outside without the luxury of stripping down. Squatting or not, without the ability to aim it is hard thing for a girl to do. I peed on my shoe.
That is an awesome pic! Way to go Emilia! :) I know I woulda peed on my foot or something.
very cool. i loved teaching all mine to pee outside. sometimes it was just easier.
How very funny! Conversely, taking seriously the notion that in approaching potty training we should allow our kids to see us pee, I squatted in our back yard and pointed out to him what I was doing. He now squats and tells me he's "peeing," though in fact he's not (but, eh, if you can make "cookie icecream" out of sand, why not "pee" ?
To my husband's horror, I have encouraged my daughter to pee outside on several occasions. She was gonna wet her pants anyway, so what's the big deal? Now I can use the excuse that it's an important life skill. I mean, someday my little girl will be at a keg party and she's going to need to know how to relive herself in the grass, with grace and style.
My mom loves to tell the story about one year, I was about 6 years old- we went to see Fireworks for the Fourth of July and when we were in the car and leaving I had to go- BAD.
We were in the car and waiting to get out the parking lot. You know- all at the same time as other people. My mom asked if I could hold it and I said, NO I CAN'T- I HAVE TO GO NUMBER TWO!
So she hands me a cup. A BIG GULP cup.
When I was done I handed it back to her.
She freaked out when she saw more than yellow in the cup!
I had to laugh about this because we just had an "incident" yesterday in which I was trying to get my kid (boy) to the bathroom in time and we didn't make it. We were in the park and I could see we weren't going to make it and I dragged him over to a big shrub, yanked his britches down all the while thinking "good gravy someone is going to call the police or DHS on me, but I didn't bring an extra change of clothes!!!"
Unfortunately it didn't help. He peed all over his clothes anyway. LOL. Well, I'll get better at this eventually!
On a recent hiking trip, my 6-year-old daughter had to pee. I sent my husband into the woods with her because I was still eating my lunch. He had her lean back against a rock for some reason which effectively pointed the stream straight out and she managed to pee all over his feet from a foot or so away. After I stopped laughing, all I could say was "Dude, you've been married for 14 years. At this point, you really should understand the equipment."
This brought up a vivid memory for me. About 45 yrs. ago I had my first squattin' in the woods experience and I cried while my mom and her friend sat in the car and laughed. They thought I would be able to pee if they gave me some privacy. :) The best way to break in to the outside squat is to drink plenty of beer. Modesty goes right out the window!
This is awesome. Your blog is great! If ever I were to have the urge to become a mother (not likely, but just in case), I'd have to be a Bad Mother. Or at least an Imperfect one, because that's me.
And about the outdoor peeing: an invaluable skill for hiking and camping. Pretty much any wilderness expeditions.
As the mother of a 4 year old girl who can pee standing up I now have more respect for her talent. I don't think she can squat without peeing on her clothes.
Thank you for the perspective.
Next step, learning to write her name in the snow. I knew a girl once who could do it, and her name was Misty, so you know that took some skillz. Seriously, though...as a chick who takes pride in her woods-peeing skills, mad props to Emilia! :D
well, i guess it worked although leaning back slightly and shooting straight out would be easier, although being male is alot easier... go girl
Thanks, in advance, for this tip. Will definitely store it in a safe place in the back of my head (HA!) for when the situation arises.
Now, do you have one for when the two of you are out together (alone), in a restaurant, with your food on the table, and she decides she has to go? I tell you, a definite rock and a hard place for me.
I found out how it's possible for girls to pee standing, even aim, and even go through a fly zip like a boy, on the Internet. How awesome the 'net is! :D
http://neptune729.deviantart.com/art/Peeing-Standing-Up-for-girls-112663453
You might find this useful, as might you, Shona. If your girls are interested in peeing standing up you both might as well go the whole way and teach them to pee as little boys do? :D It makes things convenienent and it'd be fun for them, plus it'd make car trips easier... if your kid starts tingling in funny places at the most inappropriate time on a car trip, just hand her an empty soda bottle and instead of getting in awkward positions with this page she can just unzip her shorts and... aah! instant relief!
It's well worth checking out.
Girls all over the world, stand up!
Andromeda
what do you plain on doing when she wants to go poop in the woods too do you plain on teaching her that too ?
My daughter is 6, and a complete nut at times, but being a family that likes to go camping and exploring we have had plenty of instinces where the forest is the bathroom of choice haha. actually if the porta-potties are to gross then we actually prefer the woods. I love your blof and i think you have a good thing going on keep thye good work up. lol. I can relate to alot of it.
am i the only one who finds some one taking a picture of a little girl going disturbing.
Can i see the full image of this girl peeing? i'm 24
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