Tracie Shroyer

Normally I try to make sure that all of my posts are very practical parenting discussions.  Well today I have less of a discussion and more of a tip.  Especially for parents of little potty trained boys.

Our guest bathroom has the unfortunate designation as our only bathroom on the main floor that the kids can use.  Additionally, it is the bathroom right inside our back door, which makes it the place everyone “goes” when coming in from outside.

I rarely use this bathroom, but when I do, I’ve lately noticed a very distinct “potty” smell.  I’ve scrubbed, I’ve brought in extra lighting to investigate, I’ve used every cleaning product I could think of (never in combination, mind you).  Each time, I thought I’d found the problem and gotten rid of it, but each time the smell came back as soon as the cleaning product smell wore off.

Today was the day.  I have guests coming tonight and even though my husband insisted there was no smell. I knew there was.  I stuck my head in the toilet (hair pulled back), I searched, I scrubbed.  I could not find it.  Finally, in a last ditch effort I concluded that the toilet had to be taken apart as much as I could manage in my  husband’s absence.  I started with the seat.  Flipped up the little thingys covering the screws, and BINGO!  I won’t go into extreme detail here, but let’s just say I can’t believe it didn’t smell even worse!  After I got the seat off (not too tough, but look under the rim part of the toilet to remove the washers or it will never come off) I found even more smelly griminess!  Now I have to tell you, this is not an old toilet, we replaced it maybe two years ago.  You would never have known it by what I found.

So, that’s my cleaning tip for today.  No advice, no soapbox lectures, just some good practical advice!  Oh, and if you don’t find anything under your seat - I’d rather not know.  I prefer to think my house isn’t the only one where toilet seats can be that dirty!

To finish up on cell phones, I will admit that saying no to kids about phones isn’t easy.  A typical kid will tell you that “all of their friends have phones.”  My response to this?  “That is terrific!  Then you’ll always be able to easily find a phone if you need to call me.”
My point here is that, as parents, in many cases we tend to get mixed up when we define necessities versus privileges with our kids. For most kids, a cell phone is a luxury, something to work towards, to earn.  Not a necessity to be given to kids so that they are available to us whenever we want to speak to them.  If you have a great kid who works hard, gets good grades and is appreciative of all you do, that is terrific.  Of course those kids can handle the responsibility and accountability of having a phone.  But if you’re having issues with school work, and in other areas of your kids’ lives, you might want to revisit the cell phone issue.
Oh, and one more thing to think about.  If your child did tell you they were going to “Julie’s” after school but somehow during the day they lost their phone, would you even know how to call Julie’s house?  Would you know where your child was?  Regardless of whether or not you decide a cell phone is the right choice for your child, please don’t rely on it so much that you forget basic safety and security.  Have a back up plan.  The safety of our kids is too important to place all of our trust in a small piece of technology that can be lost, stolen or broken in an instant.