When you're home alone with young kids and you run to the bathroom, do you lock the door? Do you even CLOSE the door? We only have one bathroom in a single level house, and if I'm alone with the kids, I almost always leave the door open, I guess to keep an ear on what's going on while I'm in there. When I take a shower, I always leave the door unlocked because 1-what if I slip and hurt myself? We have a sliding bolt lock on the bathroom door (old, crappy house) and you would have to literally break in to get me out. 2- Being as it's the only bathroom, I don't mind if the older girls have to pee while I'm showering, or if my guy needs to come in to brush his teeth or whatever.
My fiance always locks the door. When he's going to the bathroom, I don't mind... at all. When he's in the shower, it kind of bothers me that he locks it because there have been time's when the girls almost peed on themselves because he takes so freaking long in there! I'm all for privacy, but I also understand that little kids are a breed of their own and often wait until the last second to pee sometimes ;)
So if you're using the bathroom/showering, do you close or lock the door?
If I locked the door I would have someone trying to pry it open and asking why the door is locked. If it's closed it just gets opened anyway.
Ha ha - I wish I could lock it sometimes but no, I don't. My LO likes to visit with me and since I realized a while back that her teachers get to see more of her than I do, then I want to leave myself open for her when I can =)
The bathroom door is never locked, hardly ever closed. Once you have kids, especially toddlers, bathroom time seems to be a group activity.
I don't think our door has EVER been closed. Not even sure why there is a door...
We don't even to shut the door, much less lock it. It's often a convention in there (like you, single bathroom home).
Shower curtains are for privacy. Kids get first dibs on bathrooms. If you're going to masturbate, it needs to NOT be in a room kids use, imho. (not saying that's what *he's* doing, but it's the only thing *I* would care about kids seeing)
I haven't closed a bathroom door at home in decades! Except when company is over, but then I almost forget...
I would talk with your fiance about your girls' needs. Maybe he could speed up the showers a bit.
HaHa - my son is 14 and I still don't get to close and lock the doors to my half bath which is off *my* bedroom. I pull all the doors almost shut and that's as good as it gets in my house. Invariably, he stands in the hallway outside my bedroom and talks to me. Between him and the cats I have not had full privacy in the bathrooms in over 14 years.
But, I can get where your fiance' may not be comfortable with little girls in the bathroom while he is in the shower. Although I was raised in an open door house, my Father always got to close and lock the bathroom door - he was the only "boy" and it was his special privilege. :) Tho' he usually had a cat follow him in and stay there.
God Bless
We have a policy of never locking the bathroom door. If someone fell or slipped, how would we get in?
When you have only one bathroom, you need to have access for the other members of the family.
My son is 15. I respect his privacy. I would never just go in and out of the bathroom while he's in there. But, if he's in the shower, I might need to pee or maybe I left my glasses in there. Same thing for him. He doesn't just barge in our out, but if I'm in the shower and he needs to get something or use the bathroom, I let him. You can't see through our shower curtains so the person in the shower is completely covered.
When I was married, we went from 3 bathrooms to 1 when we had to move into our rental house after people destroyed it. My husband would lock the door and stay in forever while showering, etc. My daughter and I peed outside more than we peed in. I finally convinced him to add another bathroom in a bid to save the family, for heaven's sakes.
When a family has only one bathroom, you have to find a way to share and even though a person has a right to privacy, you still have to consider every one else as well. It might not seem like that big a deal for a guy to go whiz in the yard now and then, but I grew quite tired of squatting out the back door and holding my daughter up so she wouldn't be in the mud. Pee is one thing, but sometimes it's more serious. Because my husband worked and I stayed home, he believed he had dibs on the bathroom in the morning but I thought it was ridiculous that once he locked the door, I couldn't even get our hair brushes or anything to get my daughter ready for school.
One-bathroom families definitely have to find ways to share and compromise.
I personally prefer the one potty per fanny rule of thumb. Sometimes that just isn't feasible.
Best wishes.
If I'm home alone with our son (and he's awake), I leave the door open. I generally don't shower when he's awake (if I'm alone) b/c I'm just not comfortable with it. I grew-up in a house with four girls, so we couldn't lock ourselves into the bathrooms- just got used to "traffic" during my toilette time!
My husband ALWAYS shuts and locks the door when he uses the bathroom, but doesn't lock it when he showers. He likes his privacy on the potty, but shares a bathroom with our "trying to potty train" toddler, so he can't lock the door when he showers! The hubs and I don't share a bathroom- I have the bathroom in our master and he shares the hall bath with our son. I think it's a big part of our successful marriage... I just don't need to be part of his "business"!
If I shower or use the toilet, the door is closed, but generally not locked. Once in a while I have locked the door while using the toilet because otherwise sometimes my daughter has a tendency to want to barge in (she is 3) and I just want that one moment of privacy without being bothered (and sometimes one of the dogs decides to pop in too).
Ha Ha I am so used to keeping the door open to hear my little one that I leave it open when my teenagers are home and they always tell me to shut the door.
When the kids were little we hardly ever closed the door - although there were times my husband was stinking up the place and I closed it. ;o) My kids are teens/pre-teens now and only my tween son closes and locks the door any times he's in the bathroom. It's a little annoying - but he's entitled to not have us bursting in on him - we do have another bathroom.
This is a really funny post and really funny answers! I have got so used to not even closing the bathroom door that I'll sometimes forget to close it when my 10 year old has friends over and I have to leap off the toilet in a hurry when I hear them running up the stairs!
No, I don't. It seems like whenever I'm in the shower, the kids want to come and talk to me. I see nothing wrong with that. If I need a little privacy, I just ask them for it.
We have 3 full bathrooms in our house, btw.
If I were you, I would tell the girls that they need to go to the bathroom before your fiance gets in the shower. I would also ask him to not lock the door (in case of emergency).
I think it's different with my own child. With the stepkids, even when they were young, I never left the door open. Our main bathroom door doesn't lock. However, with DD and I home alone, I often do what you do - run in with the door open, although I've been closing it more often and reminding her to knock so she doesn't try to barge in on her sister.
My 17 month old son will wander in and lean only legs and just start "chatting" with me while I go. During my shower when he is awake I leave the door open but at night that door is shut so tight! I love it when my bathroom feels like a sauna when I shower.
As you do, I keep it open when it is just me and the kids. Mine are both under 4. But, I close it if my husband is home to watch the kids or we have guests over. I only lock it if we have guests over.
My husband will close it for bathroom and shower. He used to lock before my oldest was potty trained. We're a pretty open family.
nope.
the bathroom in my bedroom doesn't even have a door!
:) khairete
S.
Nope, we pretty much have an open door policy in our house. My husband came from a bathroom locking, very prudish household...I did not. But he's adjusted to a more open system, particularity having a toddler around. The bathroom is pretty much a community space, though it does help that we have two and one is rather large. We use shower time often to talk about our day, my son likes to get in the shower with my husband and I'll sit in the bathroom and talk to him about his day while they shower. He is usually thoughtful enough to let me shower without company so I can have 5 minutes in peace at the end of a long day.
I like that we are a relaxed household, but sometimes I think it would be nice to have my toilet time without a toddler and a cat crawling on my lap.
I try to :)
Most of the time I take a shower with my baby girl in a bouncy chair that hangs from the doorway & my two year old running around the apartment.
Or if the whole family is home...I try to be alone. But again my two year old comes in, says something, then runs out while leaving the door open.
IF i do lock the door, my son will sit there for a good 10min tryin to open the door by banging on it.
My husband tries really hard to keep the kids out when I'm taking a shower or bath on the weekends.
So that is probably the only time i actually try to keep the door shut. key word TRY :)
i do this two different ways depending on who is in my house. when it is my fiance, my daughter and i, i only close the door when i poop and shower, but usually i at least leave it cracked for teh shower in case my daughter needs me. however, when we have his sons on their weekends, the door gets closed, and i'm starting to lock it, because his 4 year old will walk in on me, and my fiance isn't comfortable with that. it honestly doesn't bother me, but, i want to respect my fiance's wishes.
If I'm using the bathroom I close and lock the door, because I like my privacy. If I'm showering, I leave the door ajar. When I'm alone in the house with the kids I want them to be able to get in the bathroom if they need me.
I always keep our door unlocked because my 5 yo loves to come in and visit with me. He will want to hug me while I am on the toilet and read me a story. My guy on the will not lock the door if he is taking a #1 but if he is taking a #2 he locks the door. He said when he was in the army he had to take a #2 in front of everyone since there were no stalls, so he now has this funny thing about having privacy when #2 is going on (which I can completely understand).
I never shut the bathroom door let alone lock it! I never have. My husband does shut the door. We have a 2 year old daughter and he doesn't feel comfortable with her seeing him naked and I can understand that.
If we are going number 2 (lol) or otherwise NEED privacy (like to change feminine hygiene products), we'll at least close the door. Other than that, if it's just the 3 of us at home, no, not really.
I don't close the door.
I don't lock the door.
Its the "what if"..... and if I am in there, what if the kids need me. And likewise, whatever I am doing in there, I can HEAR them, if the door is open.
I do it for safety and keeping my ears open and they can get me or yell for me. Or, if I need to call them and am stuck for some reason.
My Husband, likes to close the door. But he does not lock it.
But if he is home alone with them and I am not there, he also will leave the bathroom door open and unlocked.
bathroom doors are always shut in our house you dont walk in when someone is in there. It has always been that way but there has always been at least two bathrooms in my house if not more.
I always left it unlocked and/or open when we lived in an apartment and the kids were smaller. Now, we have 2 bathrooms and we are living with my FIL, so I lock it.
