To Pee Or No To Pee...

In public.

That, apparently, is the question according to drunks sleeping in doorways and a surprising number of New York parents, if the number of blog posts about public peeing are any indication of a trend.

The doorway sleeping drunks are obviously suffering from impaired judgment, but what excuse do the parents have?

Earlier this week, Miss Heather linked to an incident described by Windsor Terrace blogger Icky In Brooklyn:

Yesterday afternoon, a hipster dad was walking down Prospect Park West with his toddler...
Dad walks the todd over to the curb, yanks down his drawers, and assists him in a street piss. I am totally not kidding...
Dad promptly put the todd on his shoulders and bounced off down the street. Pissing on the Avenue and a ride on Daddy's shoulders ... now that's what I call an afternoon out.

Gives a whole new meaning to the term "fountain of youth," doesn't it?

Via Gowanus Lounge, I learned of another charming public urination vignette offered by a new mother who shares her experiences raising her child naturally on Diaper Free Adventures, a blog which celebrates the "ancient and eastern technique" called "elimination communication" or "EC."   Here's an excerpt:

I took his potty out... put it on my lap and took off his diaper. There he was...my son half naked on the 2 train speeding beneath Brooklyn streets. A far cry from being in at home or in a park. I sat him on the potty and made my cueing sound, "pssssss."

I looked to my right, not one person was looking at us. "Psssssss," I said into his hear.

He leaned forward, bounced his right leg up and down against the potty and after a few minutes did a good sized pee-pee. Again, I looked to see if anyone was looking, but not one person stirred. I later told my hudband that in New York you have to rely on the fact that many people are too self-absorbed to notice you...even if your 5 month old son is peeing in a bright red potty just a few feet away!

Yeah, just like all of those self-absorbed commuters that don't even react to the persistent panhandler or the crazy person right in front of them yelling about invisible persecutors. We are just too damned self-absorbed to notice any of that. Or maybe we are just pretending not to notice in hopes that we can purge the annoying spectacle from our consciousness. I'll wager that if the train lurched and the potty tipped out of her lap on to another passenger's shoes that the cloud of self-absorption would dissipate in one quick hurry.

Will I be prosecuted for child abuse when I refuse to let my toddler heed the call of nature on a city sidewalk? Am I behind the times?

Comments

[Dope on the Slope]

I can relate to the story about the 2 Train as recently my then 2 1/2 year old while potty training

I may change my tune when I get to the potty training stage, but it seems to me that most of us adults got potty trained without having to urinate in public. Of course, it may take a little longer, but who cares? It's not as if anyone will be denied admittance to Harvard because they took longer than their pee-ers to learn to control their bladder. When I was an older toddler, I used to go around bragging to my relatives that according to my daddy my newest pair of rubber pants "would last me through college." The fact that I wet my pants occasionally during the training process didn't ruin me.

Or maybe it did.

I wonder if I can sue my parents for limiting my potential?

[Roosevelt Island 360]

I can relate to the story about the 2 Train as recently my then 2 1/2 year old while potty training (no diaper or pull up on that kid) had to go on the F Train heading back from Kew Gardens towards Roosevelt Island. We put the portable potette on the subway floor (with a bag obviously). She say did her thing. No one seemed to notice. She pulled up her pants. Dad held the bag (#1) until we had to transfer. Nobody smiled. Nobody winced. We just felt we could not let her go in her pants and the train was running express so we could not jump out and do this on a platform. We still are amazed that no one made even dumb jokes to us much less got upset.

[Dope on the Slope]

You may not be prosecuted but there will be a 6 to 12 month period in which your kid pisses in his or her pants quite a few times. Enjoy that.

Ah. A time honored tradition. I look forward to it. That's why you always carry an extra pair of pants and underwear.

[Reluctant City-Living Potty Trainer]

You may not be prosecuted but there will be a 6 to 12 month period in which your kid pisses in his or her pants quite a few times. Enjoy that.

[Annie]

Truly awful. All the froth about good parents and bad parents makes me want to back off and pretend I don't have kids, but THIS...if these parents encourage their children to hawk up when they have a bad cold and spit in the street, they'll be in trouble. I'm pretty sure there's still a law against public expectoration.

[Da Nator]

Appalling.

[rachel DeNys]

If behind the times means taking other people's needs into account, then probably. And I say that's a good thing!