There are many stories about those helpful strangers who are always popping up in Facebook stories. I think I need one.
Not a singing cashier. I need this lady. The one in a Kansas McDonald’s who overheard mother Tiffany Miller begging her 3-year-old to pee before they got back into the car. Well, the 3-year-old was hesitant to do so because she was scared of the toilet flushing while she was on it. (Full disclaimer: I loathe those self-flushing toilets too. I mean, who wants to go to the bathroom while getting sprayed with toilet bowl water?! So I get it, little girl, I get it.)
The mom said she would block the sensor — but this 3-year-old wasn’t convinced. Cue kind stranger. In an open letter to the woman on Facebook, the mom said, “You told her you would give her a bracelet if she would go potty for Mommy. She perked up and agreed. I turned to quickly put her on the potty (before she changed her mind). You told her the bracelet would be waiting outside the stall for her. I turned to say thank you, but you were already gone. Outside the stall was a bracelet and a mini Snickers bar.”
How much do you love this stranger? She’s compassionate, gives away a bracelet plus candy and doesn’t even want credit? And when can she show up at my house? My 3-year-old, who is about 85 percent potty trained (that’s my own unscientific data), is constantly peeing in his car seat. Does he not care? Does the car seat feel like a toilet? Does he forget that my minivan, constantly trashed by a multitude of children, doesn’t need to also smell like pee? I try to get him to pee before we leave the house, but he’s always more interested in the flushing mechanism in the back part of the toilet and whether he can get his fingers caught in the heavy lid.
I don’t know why he then decides it’s A-OK to pee in the car. I’ve discussed it with him many times, and he doesn’t really share his reasoning. So, kind stranger, come to my house each time we are gearing up for a car ride and please reason with my son. He’s not that into bracelets but the promise of a new Matchbox car or stuffed animal might just do the trick.