[Shay]

What has been your most embarrassing moment as a parent? I have seen some examples on another thread. Anyone have any that we could all learn by and keep watch out for?

I haven't had that yet as Daria is still a little young. Well I say that and I guess she could have a major "blowout" at the wrong time.

I would love to hear about yours

[hjdeth]

Being a single mom who had only raised daughters, I was unaware that "bathroom etiquiet" is different in the boys' room than the girls.

Most embarrassing when the teacher called me in to tell me my son was embarrassing the other boys...seems he did not know that urinals were single person, non-socializing places! Unfortunately, neither did I...urinals are not standard issue in the women's room!

[Shay]

Hannah that was good!!!

[sak9645]

Actually, socializing in the bathroom is common in preschool and day care, and your son may have learned the habit there -- not necessarily in your single parent/girls-only home.

I am a single Mom, too. My daughter went to a preschool with a mixed age class of 2-4 year olds. She started there when she was about 2.75 years old. There was a big unisex bathroom next to the classroom, with toilets, urinals, potties, and changing tables.

The kids were allowed to be at any stage in toilet training, from totally untrained to a fully competent bathroom user, and there was no pressure on any child from the teachers, in terms of urging him/her to use the toilet.

All the kids would wander in and out of the bathroom. Children in diapers quickly learned to tell their teacher when they needed to be changed, if the teacher wasn't alerted by odors.

The boys would have long conversations, sometimes with other boys and occasionally with girls, as they stood at the urinals. Boys and girls would chat as they used the potties or toilets; the potties were out in the open, and the toilet doors didn't lock.

Surprisingly, I think that the boys were the biggest socializers in the bathroom. The teachers often had to come in and break up the gabfests, because it was time for some activity.

One big advantage of this arrangement was that all of the non-toilet trained kids tended to train very quickly, just from watching other children. It took my daughter about two weeks to ask for her underwear -- and she had exactly one daytime accident afterwards, when we were on a trip and she was off schedule.

As a single Mom, I found that there was another advantage, as well. Since there were no men or boys in our house, I wasn't sure that my daughter knew much about the physical differences between males and females. And I wasn't quite sure how I should raise the subject with her before she made some embarrassing, loud announcement in a public place.

When my daughter started preschool, I thought I might get some questions from her, as she was using the unisex bathroom, but I never did. So one day, being as casual as possible, I said, "I saw that your school bathroom has urinals. Do you know why the boys use them?"

My daughter looked at me as if I was as dumb as a doorknob. "Well, boys have a penis," she said. "So it's easier." Whew! She not only knew that there were differences, but she knew the correct word! And she wasn't the least bit embarrassed or silly about the whole thing.

Of course, silliness and embarrassment have arrived with time, despite all of my efforts to be matter-of-fact about things concerning the body. But the good news is that Becca DOES come to me when she has serious questions pertaining to the body, reproduction, and so on. And she HASN'T asked any embarrassing questions in a public place.

Sharon

[ndoscoptec]

It looks like this post has turned to "potty" but my embarrassing moment was at teh Drs. office for my younger sons 18 month check up. I had the 18 month old and his big brother the 6 year old. He is shy, didn't say a word the whole time. My DR. is very direct and I had asked how to get my son to eat better. She told me cut back on juice. No drink with his meals. Eating only in the high chair. No cup when he wakes up at night. At this point my quiet 6 year old says "Mommy, you're a bad parent!"

MLH