Okay. Here's tough one. We have a recurring problem in Casa del G. The Mrs. and I are perplexed, and can't figure out what we ought to do next. It's something very simple, yet the answer has eluded us for several years now. We are pretty much out of ideas, and figured we could turn to the collective mighty wisdom of the internet for help with our problem:
How the hell do we get our kids to remember to flush the damn toilet?
Seriously, it's nasty. Sometimes they'll go an entire day without flushing - which, as you can imagine, leads to all kinds of issues. I have no sense of smell, so it doesn't bother me; it appears that the children are immune to the stench; however, poor long-suffering Mrs. G. has to deal with the top floor of the house smelling like a cesspool. Every time we walk into a bathroom and find an unflushed toilet we round up the usual suspects and grill them as to who left without finishing; we've even taken to having them take turns scrubbing the bowl (because we're mean and evil parents of course) because of the mess they make.
If this keeps up, I will have to investigate putting an outhouse in the backyard and they can use that...
That is all.
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21 comments:
I bet you're glad you can't smell anything.
We have the same problem with the six- and nine-year-old.
I've started making the nine-year-old clean the potty.
If she's the perp. it drives the message home. If she's not, she leans on her little brother.
Jay G.
Try a different approach -- make them announce when they have to go before they head in.
Tell them because of their behavior - not remembering to flush- they have to announce before they go and then report back afterward that they flushed.
Give praise when they report (correctly) when they flush and make them march back if they don't.
Kids want to go through the least hassle possible so they will learn if they start flushing, they don't have to report.
We got lucky, the Newt flushes.
At first it was weird for DD and I to be in another room and hear the toilet flush.
Now, if he'd go more than once a week, I wouldn't be plunging the toilet so often...
Alan,
Yes, yes I am.
CalvinsMom,
That's the direction we're taking right now. We find an unflushed toilet, one of the kids has to clean it.
We figure if they don't start flushing soon, they'll have to clean more and more of the bathroom...
Bob S.,
That's not a bad idea right there; the only problem is that we have to be right on top of them all the time.
A lot of the issue comes from when they get up in the middle of the night to use the toilet. I don't want them coming in to wake me up...
Sal,
That's excellent. Both kids started that way; I think they just lose the novelty of flushing the toilet and get lazy...
I'll be paying close attention to this thread. 6-year-old doesn't flush, and 4-yr-olds are starting to pick up on the habit.
At least 6-year-old has gotten past the wait-long-enough-that-the-result-clogs-the-toilet phase, now if only he'd figure out what that roll of paper is for.
I'm not a parent, so I won't offer any advice. I just wanted to point out that this may be better than the opposite problem, where they continuously flush all sorts of things down the toilet to see what would happen. I know a few people who had a relapse of that particular behavior in college, :P.
This is actually becoming a problem for some adults to. More and more office buildings and public places have toilets and urinals that auto flush, so we are getting out of the habit of needing (or even being able to) flush.
Suggestion: Tackle the problem from another angle. Buy an automatic toilet flusher that senses when someone sat at the toilet. It does not fix the kids, but it may solve the problem.
www.willitflush.com, eh?
Hey Jay,
I have an 8 and a 3, and they both flush (though the 3 was terrified at first because I have a pressurized toilet that sounds like a freight train and could easily flush a full-grown anaconda with little effort).
What we did, since we couldn't supervise every minute of the day, was to make sure that at bedtime the toilet is the last room they see before the bedroom, and we reminded them to flush if we didn't hear it. Then first thing in the morning we marched them first thing to the bathroom for their morning ... er ... stuff. And again, made sure they did it.
That little bit of repetition was all it took and they took to it fine. Every kid is different though, so you can always try a stun gun if something more gentle doesn't work.
Jay.. I never had the problem but I like CalvinsMom's approach. Kinda like a GI shower but less rough. It is an opportunity for the older kid's to teach the younger kids :)
And since another Patrick posted...
Wire the toilet to the door so that the door won't open until the toilet has been flushed...
For my now 13 year old boy/girl twins, when they were 8 we had to resort to every time we found an unflushed toilet we sent our son in to clean it. After about three times of doing this he started pounding on his sister for not flushing the toilet. Opps, we had the wrong kid.
I had no idea this was such a problem sweeping the nation. Jeebus.
My suggestion is to print out a sign that says in the largest letters possible: "DID YOU FLUSH?" Tape it to the back of the door. Every few days, made the sign say something else, like "If it's brown, flush it down." or "If you don't flush, we don't feed you." Change the location of the sign as well, maybe taped to the mirror or the faucets or above the toilet paper.
After a few weeks, they should be back into the habit of flushing.
What, no one has suggested rubbing their noses in it? (I JEST, sheesh.)
Agree with Bob S, we did that and it worked... Yeah, we got woke up a few times, but when the oldest had to clean the toilet a few times, it took...
Lock the bathroom doors. Invest heavily in these things.
Explain that since they want to behave like animals, they will be treated as such, until they learn to flush or scratch at the door when it's time to go out.
What?
No, I don't have kids. Why?
Lol Jay, we have the same problem ... not sure which of the suggestions I'll be trying but I'll let you know if any work.
My last chief mate was the same way.
Two words: WiFi camera. Don't tell DSS.
Trade them in for a couple of cats. At least they bury it.
Simple....
if they are older than 10 you put a big sign on the front lawn....
trust me this works.
If they are younger then you put a lock on the bathroom door and they have to come get the key and return it.
I am and have been the worlds most evil dad.
When my daughter came home with a C i took everything out of her room and stocked it with army surplus bedding.
All she had in the room was her schoolbooks, 1 pair of shoes and 1 pair of clothing per day fo the week.
My daughter is now at the top of her class.
Evil is good
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