The Toilet Effect

You know what it is: a child that is not yet potty trained is, nevertheless, fascinated with the commode. Especially ones that are not in your house. Like the gross one at the gas station. Or the crowded one at Walmart. And every time she sees one she says she has to go.

And you, as the person who has observed this child nearly every moment from birth and is the undisputed World Expert on said child, are thinking "yeah, right." But what if she does have to go, and you don't let her? What kind of message are you sending?

So you hang up your coat and purse. You pull off her hat, her gloves, and her coat. You leave on the boots and pants, taking off the diaper with difficulty. And then you kneel before the porcelain throne, holding on to your princess so she doesn't fall in and create a royal flush.

And then it happens.

tinkle tinkle tinkle

And there is much rejoicing! People outside the bathroom hear your shrill, sing-song voice reverberating off the tile in gushing adulations. "Good girl! You did it! I'm so proud of you!" Intermixed with your child's piping shouts of "I peed! I peed in the potty!"

Ahem. You reaffix the still-dry diaper (yay!) and sterilyze both of you thoroughly, bouyed up by the euphoria.

You know you'd feel the same.