John Curley


Too much? Mom potty trains kids in restaurant

BY Josh Kerns  on September 6, 2012 @ 6:38 am (Updated: 11:16 am - 10/3/12 )

pottytrain.jpg
This picture of a mom potty training her child in the middle of a restaurant has set off an Internet firestorm. (Image courtesy KSL TV)
Most parents are pretty tolerant when it comes to others struggles with their own kids. But a Utah mom who spotted another mom potty training her children in the middle of a restaurant says this case is just too much.

"She had two twins, two little girls about two-and-a-half years old, sitting on what I thought were booster seats,' Kimberly Decker told KSL TV in Salt Lake City.

They weren't. After doing a double-take, Decker says she realized the kids were sitting on portable toilets.

"She had to undo the jumpsuits, and take them all the way down so they were completely nude, with the jumpsuits down to their ankles just eating their chicken nuggets, sitting on little toddler potties," Decker said.

A firestorm ensued after Decker posted pictures of the unidentified woman on her Facebook page.

"The more you thought about it, the more unappetizing everything looked around me," Decker said. "I was like 'This is not OK, we're eating.' There was a business meeting with about five or six businessmen going on right next to me."

Decker says she's a parent of three herself and can relate, but this was just too much.

But KIRO host John Curley says we should cut the woman some slack.

"It's so extra hard to be a mom with twins that you almost feel like, you know what I need to operate on a different set of standards than anyone else."

While he's never potty trained his kids in a restaurant, Curley admits to traveling with portable toilets in his own car in case one of his own young children had to go.

"I'd have a red one and a blue one in the car. So they would sit on it and just do their business. And I was always praying it was number one not number two," Curley recounts.

Curley says he would then dump the portable toilet out of his car, then run it over to destroy the evidence.

"Let me say this. It's a little tiny kid, so it's not that much number two."

Josh Kerns, MyNorthwest.com Reporter
Josh Kerns is co-host of KIRO Radio's Seattle Sounds (Saturday nights 7-8) and a digital content producer for MyNorthwest.com.
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Comments (32)


  • Add A Comment

  • Citizen of Krazy Town wrote...
    No shoes, no shirt....
    September 6, 2012 11:05 am
    No service
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Jeff Schroeder wrote...
    No shoes...
    September 6, 2012 1:21 pm
    no sheeit, no service...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Jeff Schroeder wrote...
    Unfathomable
    September 6, 2012 1:08 pm
    ...That know one told the "Mom" how inappropriate she was and to kindly go to the bathroom....
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • William Lawn wrote...
    Those zany Mormons
    September 6, 2012 1:11 pm
    I love southern Utah. Capital Reef, Canyonlands, the Arches, Byce, Moab. Some of the zaniest people on earth though.

    Especially interesting are the "wives". Vans of women dressed and coiffed right our of the 1870's.

    Fairly common.

    Very strange.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • thatgirl wrote...
    potty training
    September 6, 2012 1:20 pm
    Part of parenting and potty training is teaching your kids what is appropriate. This was way over the line, these poor little girls aren't going to be able to function in society because they haven't been taught the difference between what is ok behavior and what is not.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • hpygolkyone wrote...
    Holy Crap!...........
    September 6, 2012 2:30 pm
    ......The End.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • darthclown wrote...
    It's a good thing that the Health Department wasn't there
    September 6, 2012 3:29 pm
    or the restaurant would have been shut down on the spot. As for me, I would have had some words for the manager because I don't normally expect to take my meals in the restroom.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • soo purletiv wrote...
    Hate to be in the restaurant
    September 6, 2012 3:48 pm
    when she teaches the birds and the bees.... :-{
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Snout wrote...
    "...I need to operate on a different set of standards than anyone else."
    September 6, 2012 3:58 pm
    Yeah, you do. It's a higher standard. It's called being a mother. You don't have the freedom to hang out at restaurants or movie theaters with screaming, pooping little kids. Many people go out to avoid their own kids once in a while. They hire a sitter and enjoy a little break. They don't need your little stinky crumb snatchers ruining their evening. Hire a sitter, lady.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • nwskiergirl wrote...
    Epic
    September 6, 2012 4:40 pm
    FAIL!!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • scallywag wrote...
    Define tasteless
    September 6, 2012 5:13 pm
    Interesting. What’s the expression? Different strokes for different folks. But seriously maybe training your kids to do that stuff amongst strangers who are also eating isn’t probably going to win you the best behavior award. After all who wants to be reminded about something so personal at the dinner table and by kids who you know are probably making a mess of it too? Makes you wonder what else goes on at home never mind in public. http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2012/09/is-potty-training-your-toddler-in-a-restaurant-a-good-idea/
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }