Bathroom Etiquette – Respect Yourself And Others
Here are a few things to do out of consideration for the next person who will be using the bathroom. Each one of these takes only seconds and will leave the bathroom neat and tidy for the next person. Make them habits.
- Remove all dirty clothes or place them in a hamper as you leave.
- Hang up used towels.
- Put up the bathmat. I lay a 100% cotton rug on the floor beside my tub, where is stays all the time so there is one less thing for my family to worry about.
- Rinse the hair out of the tub or sink. Keep a plastic glass or container in the corner of the tub to use for this. If you have a shower head on a hose, that’s even better yet.
- Use a dampened piece of toilet paper to clean hairs off of counters.
- Put away toiletries— make up, hair products, toothpaste and toothbrush, etc. Time yourself. Once you have the bathroom clean this should take 30 seconds or less to do.
- Teach all male members of the family to wipe drips off of toilets. When you start potty training little boys teach them this. Better yet, teach them to wipe before the drip happens. Guys, be considerate of your wives and daughters. It’s the little things they appreciate!
I have a little saying for my grandsons that cracks them up. It goes:
If you sprinkle when you tinkle,
Be a sweetie, wipe the seatie.
If you are saying, “There is no way I have time to do all these things,” think again. All these things take a total of only 2 minutes. Cut that 30 minute shower or the 30 minutes you spend on your hair and make-up down to 28 minutes and there is your extra time.
You will also find that you will be saving time because you aren’t stumbling over everyone’s dirty clothes or pawing through the counter trying to find the toothpaste, lipstick or brush. Even the seconds it takes you to push things aside to find a place to lay your curling iron could have been used to put those same things away the day before and you would have saved time today.
Most importantly, you are teaching your family respect and consideration for someone else. How do you think people really learn to give respect and, in turn, gain respect? It is by making it a habit daily to be considerate of others in millions of little things that they do– always thinking, “How do I want to be treated?” and, in turn, treating others that same way. It’s an old fashioned truth from the Bible called the golden rule.
We have got to start loving and caring more for our own family members and treating them with consideration. You or your kids don’t need to sit down and read another book about How to gain Self Esteem and Respect. Just start cleaning up the bathroom after yourselves!
-Jill
photo by: joanna8555
I may just print this post up, frame it and hang it in the bathroom! Heehee!
I was thinking the same thing!!
Commercial cleaning has taught me that men seldom hit what they’re aiming at. It’s a miracle that the human race ever reproduces itself!
I’ve developed the tactic of referring to the miscreant as “Miss (given name) to his buddies or family. They inevitably ask why, and I tell them that he misses the toilet, and that I’ll call him Miss until he learns better. There are few slow learners under this program.
In our house ALL the males sit while using the bathroom no matter the job. I learned this from my husband and our 3 boys have followed suit. I am sooo very thankful that we took the time to train them this way after cleaning in other people’s homes.
Mommy, I wonder if your three boys do this when with their friends. My son, and one of my grandsons, was born with a hypospadias. That is where the (personal parts) opening is on the underside, and dr.’s recommend surgically correcting this. One point the dr. made was that otherwise they have sit to pee-pee, and it is extremely hard on a teen’s self esteem. Also, they will probably be sterile and not able to have children. My son had one surgery, but my grandson had two. Anyway, your comment made me think of our “dilemma”. My husband will sit or stand, depending on how tired he is.
(note from Tawra: I had to edit the correct term because if I didn’t we would have some “not so great” ads on the site. The ads come up by keywords.)
Hats off to Mommy! I wish I would have done this years ago. Now I am called a nag when I get disgusted about the bathroom situation.
Don’t even get me started on the ill manners in bathrooms. Especially public ones. Women can be the worst offenders too, believe it or not. Women “squat” and out sprinkle and tinkle ANY MAN. You should see the “LADIES” rooms (HA-HA) at work. Women can be so disgusting. Also, in stores and restaurants you feel like you need a bio-hazard suit to even use the bathroom. Ladies PLEASE remember others have to use the bathroom AFTER you, and don’t want to look at, OR clean up your messes. Flush the toilet and please wipe it down, if you sprinkle all over it. It is a health hazard and disgusting.
Wasn’t thinking about that Tawra. I have explained this rare problem to so many people, I have my speech all ready.
LOL! Don’t worry, we talk about our parts all the time around here. It’s a running joke in the family because my then 6 yr. old would yell at an extended family dinner “MY P***** HURTS MOM!!” Of course my purdish (sp) bother just about died! I was just laughing!
Yes daughter of mine but that isn’t near as bad as the time during the Christmas service when right at a moment of silence your oldest (then about 4) who was sitting on his great grandma’s lap at the time yells out loud my p***** is itching. If there was silence before he said that I am not sure how to describe the really “dead” silence which came afterwards. What a crack up and never a dull moment with little kids around.
I never dreamed just talking about bathroom etiquette would lead in such interesting directions.
Look at the bright side. Good vocabulary for a 4 year old. HA HA. Not dumb, for sure.
That’s for sure. Tawra’s kids are not the least bit shy or embarrassed about such things. I have fun too because all my grandkids think nothing about popping up with some really good questions to ask “Nan”. I thought the parents were suppose to answer all “those” questions. HA!HA!
I’m not sure how it happened because I wasn’t a “prude” when raising my kids but I ended up with two extreme opposites. Tawra’s are “free to be me” and my son is just the opposite. It makes for lively family togethers because Tawra loves to torment and embarrass her brother and her kids without realizing it ask U. Dave some very embarrassing questions too which Tawra loves even more.
In a way it’s nice that a man is “modest” when it comes to intimate words and thoughts. The world needs more of that. I think the world can be too open about things at times. The saying “too much info” is true on a lot of levels. A daughter especially needs a modest father. It is nice when he is decent and delicate about intimacy.
That is true Bea and a very sweet way to put it.
my 4 year old son was in a small store and turned fast catching his on one of those shelves that hold candy. He yelped and whipped it out and said “kiss it better mommy”
not my greatest moment but funny after the fact. The looks on peoples faces was priceless.
Cat sent that partial post.
both my sons sit down almost all the time.
they say it gives them more time to read. I toilet trained both of them by using books.
Bad move when husband and both sons read in the bathroom and there is only one in the house.
my youngest son called me laughing. His new wife had walked in on him in the bathroom and he was sitting down. She said she didn’t know men could sit down and pee.
My little daughter is nearing the end of her potty training. We’re fine tuning all the details with straightening her clothes, hand-washing and moving her step stool out of the way. One of the biggest ones I am working on is her checking for any drips she leaves behind when she hops of the seat. She isn’t aware that she has a drip on her bottom that she should wipe away. But slowing that energetic preschooler down to get EVERYTHING checked before she tears out the door is a challenge. What a whirlwind!
Anyway, this post sure points out that potty training is far beyond point the parts in the potty, climbing off, pulling up clothes and washing hands. Leaving the bathroom reading for the next person is a big part of using the potty.
Dineen as I was reading your post I had to laugh. When I wrote the bathroom article I had forgotten when I was doing my training for counseling on of the books I had to read the author said potty train is one of the most important times in a person’s life emotionally. I laughed at that when I read it but your post reminded me of that. Not only is potty training important for the emotions but practically too.
My poor little grandsons got blamed often for little “drips” when it was really their sisters or girl cousins doing it. Poor things.
I have been spending so much time – you know how a computer sucks your time away in a matter of minutes (LOL), reading and learning and catching up, I haven’t been putting time into digging out from under this clutter that’s sucking the life out of me! Good idea about the bathroom etiquette! I ran into a good idea at a patient’s house while doing a home health visit this week. Solves my dilemma of having to wipe “dust” off the tank lid of the commode so often. She folded a hand towel in half lengthwise and laid it on the lid! I did that tonight! I’m buried alive in papers and magazines!
Yep, that’s what I do. Then if I not feeling good and it’s dusty I turn it the other direction. hehehe
I keep a basket of my hand towels and washcloths on the toilet tank.
It keeps them neat I roll the towels and square fold the wash cloths. Anyone in there can see them easily plus they are nice and bright so they brighten the bathroom decor.
It keeps the dust off the lid and also for me keeps the cats from jumping up and then using any back of someone sitting on the toilet as a bouncing spot to get into the open cupboard.
killed 2 birds with one stone. or one idea any way.
My cat would just shove it off there (she tends to object to movable objects on flat surfaces).:)
Grandma, I do the same thing with my washcloths. I have a basket full of inexpensive colorful cloths I bought at the Goodwill. They were so cheap I can grab one for drying off the counter or edge of the tub and not feel guilty about using them for other kinds of clean up. When they get worn out I just toss them. I think they cost me a nickel each.
It definitely saves time if you do it as you go, too. When I’m heating up my hair straightener, it takes a couple of minutes, so I use that time to tidy.
I think I may have to print this out and hang it in my teenagers bathroom…lol
I am the mother of three grown sons. Throughout the years I have received many funny, cute, and sweet cards. But the best one ever is a Mother’s Day card sent to me. The photo on the front shows a small child holding on tight while sitting on a full size commode. The caption reads,”Hey Mom! Thanks for teaching me so many wonderful things over the years. Inside the card continues with–“Especially that potty training thing! (I can’t tell you how many times that has come in handy.”) My thirty-seven year old son sent this one.
How funny Penny. That is a good one.
Just reading through different articles you have on here…they’re all so good! On the subject of teaching male household members to wipe drips when using the toilet, I’ve got one better…all of mine (husband and four sons) have learned to sit down and tuck down (TMI – sorry)to go #1 when they are at home or at someone else’s home. In public they still stand up. I’ll tell you what, my toilets are way cleaner now, as is the surrounding area since there is no splatter happening…YAY!!