Boymom and the Toilet

It’s Boymom Week on the blog, and beginning today through the end of next week, our super-heroic moms of all boys are talking all things BOY! Jennifer kicks things off for us with a boymom topic that just has to be addressed….

As a mother of two boys, being a boymom is one of my biggest identities. Much of my life is consumed by the tasks that revolve around raising my boys. These tasks are highly different than those of mothers with only girls – and even slightly different from moms of mixed genders. I really enjoy my role as boymom, embracing the cars, dirt, Legos, and lack of hair accessories. I do think God knew what He was doing when He gave me boys. On the flip side, there are a few aspects of being a boymom that either absolutely scare me or just plain gross me out. Namely, bathroom habits.

Now, a bit of backstory about me: I grew up the oldest of three sisters. No brothers. Even our dog was a girl. My poor dad. So, from this seemingly gender biased beginning, I feel lucky that I did not come out a little prissy princess girly girl. Don’t get me wrong, I grew up having a pretty good handle (pictures will surely prove me wrong) on all things hair and nails and drama. But, quite frankly, I try to avoid most of that now that I am grown. That being said, I feel like both of my parents did a good job of incorporating non-girly things in our day-to-day lives, so I consider myself to have a fair amount of tomboy personality as well.

Since my dad is what I would call a considerate gentleman, I evolved into an adult without knowledge of all the burping and farting and disgusting bathroom habits. They were foreign to me. No, they were extra-terrestrial when I ventured out into the “real world.” Wow, what a wake up call I had when I was first out of the house. Needless to say, one of my biggest goals, besides teaching my boys to be Christ-followers, is to be considerate gentlemen, like my dad.

After failing at teaching my boys to aim while peeing, clean up after themselves, and put the toilet seat down, I was lamenting my bathroom dilemma to a well-respected friend of mine. He told me that just because you can stand to pee doesn’t mean you should. He opened my eyes to the science behind how nasty the “spray” can be and how far the particles can reach. After he told me this, I remembered that a good friend once told me her husband sat down to pee, and I remember being slightly shocked because he, along with my friend who had just enlightened me, were what I consider very masculine men. I broached this topic with my dad and found out that he confirmed this spray information and also that he did not choose to stand when peeing. Uh… all these years, I never knew.

So, for the past month, I have implemented the “Sit Down to Pee” rule at my house. My eight-year-old was not too happy with me, put up quite the fight, and was downright embarrassed at first. The four-year-old seemed to care less. It was probably quite positive for him because it gave him an excuse to strip down to naked. (Why? He’s a boy.) I have got to say, though, wow! I am SO pleased with the results of this new rule. The seat is always down, there is no pee all over the floor, toilet, or the surrounding nine feet (Yep, true!), AND even my oldest has seen the light and admitted it is not too bad – and, in fact, so much cleaner.

I still may never see the humor in the belches and farts that seem to be plentiful around my house these days, but be sure that I will be teaching them to be respectful about it around ladies. I’d like to think their future wives will thank me for this later.