Here's a story that will totally piss off anyone who has tried to potty train a toddler (pun totally intended). Philadelphia mom Caroline Robboy was given both a ticket and a lecture by a police officer this past Sunday evening because her 2-year-old potty-training son, Nathaniel, couldn't hold it.
I kid you not. She told NBC10 that they were in a store with her two other children and elderly in-laws when the toddler said he needed to go. She asked if they could use the restroom, and they were "told no." Upon exiting the store the boy couldn't hold it and ran over to a pole on the sidewalk to get some relief.
When she saw what was happening, she tried to at least get him to move to a grassy patch, but it was too late. A police officer saw it and busted them, issuing her a $50 ticket for public urination.
She told the station, “He said, ‘I’m doing this for your own protection' because God forbid there might have been a pervert out there looking at my son."
Unbelievable, right?
More from The Stir: Mom Kills Son for Potty Training Accident, Then Eats Pizza
When a 2-year-old needs to go, a 2-year-old needs to go, and while outside on a public street isn't ideal, sometimes that's what needs to happen. Dogs do it all the time, so it's not that big of a deal. I wouldn't encourage my son to do so except in an emergency, but there were plenty of times that we had no other choice than to go in a corner of a parking garage or at a park. It happens.
As for any perverts, in the heat of the moment, I'd be pretty willing to take my chances that one didn't just happen to be standing there for the two seconds it takes for a kid to go. Talk about paranoia. Besides, the street seems a lot less sketchy than public restrooms in that regard.
Robboy says she plans to fight the ticket, as she should.
It’s not about the $50. I want a place that feels friendly to me where my children feel safe and have positive experiences with police officers.
Hopefully she'll get some justice. Here she is talking more about the incident.
Do find it outrageous that this mother was ticketed because her 2-year-old peed on the street?
Image via NBC Philadelphia
This Hot Dad Wants to Vacuum Your Rug
This Hot Dad Wants to Do Your Ironing
KStew Refuses to Shower
This Hot Dad Wants to Cook You Dinner
Comments 120
@ Gene Bunt- Are you serious?????? That is a disgusting comment!!!! How can you say something like that? Yes, not all cops are the greatest people in the world, but all in all, they go out every day wearing a bullet proof vest half expecting to get hurt, and they deserve a hell of a lot better than to have death wished upon them by the likes of you! Heartless people like you really make me sick!!! I feel for the poor kid and his mom, those situations are always rough, but I'll admit, my son has peed in public a few times. Always when its an absolute emergency, and i always hide him. but if I was issued a ticket for it, sure I'd be upset, but its still the law, no matter the age, and you just have to suck it up anddeal with it...THAT'S LIFE PEOPLE!
My little ones have done the same thing. Turn around and there is one peeing in the grass or off the front steps or whatever. Kids have to go they can't hold it and you can't control it. She did nothing wrong and she did not humiliate her son. Seriously......Some people shouldn't even comment. And to MOM.....FIGHT THAT TICKET!
Such self righteous perfect people! Wow!!
Come on people how many children in this country get potty trained a year without peeing on things. Part of potty training your child is to teach them to communicate when they have to go, and to hold it for at least a short amount of time. She says this is the first time, but we all know that mother that lets her boy pee outside all the time and has sent a mixed signal. She should pay the ticket and be better prepared next time. Why in the world wouldn't you take your child to the potty after eating at restaurant? If he'd written her a five hundred dollar ticket I would say fight it, but for fifty bucks the officer is trying to make a point and a good one at that.
Christina what are you talking about? This is site for Moms, almost all of us have life experience. Children are potty trained all the time without this happening and once you open the pee outside door it can be hard to close. Not to mention its not a good idea to send your child the message that its okay to expose themselves in public.
This is not a case of bad parenting. If a kid who is new to potty training has to go, they generally have to go NOW. Personally, I'm impressed that, at 2 yrs, he had the foresight to get to the side and pull it out, rather than just letting it run down his leg where he stood. And for those of you who are so grosses out by the chance of accidentally walking through some kid pee because he was bursting, maybe you should just move away from all people and never have to worry about it again.