Working in restroom breaks...

Hi, I'm new to being a daycare provider, I have three kids that haven't yet started plus my own. I run my daycare in my basement and was just wondering what everyone else does when they have to go to the bathroom. I know it sounds silly :p
But what do ya'll do when ya have to pee? do you lug all the kids upstairs with you, I'm too scared to leave them down there for just a minute. Everything is safe and there's no really reason they could hurt themsleves but it only takes a minute for anything to happen. Please help! :o

I just run up and go. I know the fear is normal but think about it this way. If the daycare was on the main floor and you had to go pee you would just go right even though the children were in a separate room. As long as the room is specific to the childcare and childproofed then it doesn`t matter what level it is on you are still gone the same length of time. Part of the childproofing though is not just the room in general but about what is going on at the time and the ages of the children. Having a playpen to quickly put a young toddler into or temporarily putting up an extra gate or asking the older kids to hand you the scissors till you get back is still necessary. I have thought of putting a commode type chair in the basement mostly for me - getting older and muscles well let's just say I don't think I have any anymore and for potty training kids. It would be a lot cheaper than putting in a full bathroom but then I worry about the handwashing. Accidents happen and even if you are in the room your back is sometimes to a child and you miss a child climbing where they shouldn't. You get to know your kids and know which ones need to be secured or taken up with you.

That's true! You'll get to know which kids are riskier than others, lol, and learn to occupy them appropriately. Babies in the playpen, toddlers gated in a safe room, sharp objects like pencils and scissors taken for the moment. Everyone's gotta go sometime!

I have a mainfloor daycare with a bathroom on this floor and I often wonder how those without a bathroom on the daycare floor handle pottytraining? I refuse to use potties that I have to empty...spilled one too many times, I guess.

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Originally Posted by Emilys4Guppies

I refuse to use potties that I have to empty...spilled one too many times, I guess.

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Same here - and then you have to train them again to use a regular toilet!!!

I have my daycare space both on the main floor and in the basement. No bathroom as of yet in the basement, but should be finished in a years time. When my little one asks to go pee, I tell her to go upstairs, and I grab my little guy and up we go. Now when I have to pee, I make sure I go before I go in the basement. You can thank MY parents on that one for conditioning!!!!

Why not try a "potty book bag" the children can come upstairs with you and sit in the hall each with a book to read. Then if you feel you need a gate, it is easy and inexpensive to put up a gate to keep them in the hallway.
This is what one licensed centre did at one of my practicums. The children all drank and ate at the same time so, when the children who were potty trained had to go, they all went. It just became part of their routine :)

I am the opposite I guess .... I won't leave the children alone and go potty on a schedule. Which is really hard when you have a small weak bladder

I have to potty before my girls leave for school at 8:45 or I have to wait until morning snack at 9:30, I can also use the potty before we go outside to the park at 10:30, then I have free access all of lunch and quiet time until 3:15, and then I have to wait until my girls or my hubby comes home around 3:30-4. I finish at 4:30.

I have had a couple of jobs outside of the home and you don't have free access to the potty so I feel being at home isn't really much different. BUT with the exception that if I really need to go, I can just call morning snack or lunch early ;)

As for potty training in a basement daycare with no bathroom, well I guess it is a little more difficult than if I had a bathroom.

I keep a potty in the daycare for an emergency and then we use the potty on demand. I don't remind children to use the potty nor do I force them. I also expect a little bit of flexibility with the child in the respect that although they may use the potty ring in the bathroom if I can't get all the children upstairs they will have to use the potty in the daycare.

That is very true Tot-Time! I've worked some jobs where you can't always use the restroom, just wanted to know what everyone else does when they have to use the potty :) Thanx for all the positive feedback!

Haha I love that you posted this! I totally wonder the same thing! I have a full washroom in my daycare and still question shutting the door, because that means the kids are fully out of view. If I don't though then it doesn't teach them privacy, which I obviously need and want as an adult! I just take advantage of movie or quiet times or nap etc. But heaven forbid if your going to be more then a minute or so. The anxiety! Hehehe

I don't know if it is like this with all agencies, but when I provided childcare through an agency, the rule with potty breaks was that I had to have direct supervision with every child under the age of 6 yrs old. According to my home visitor I had to either A) take all the children into the bathroom with me so I could still see them or B) line them up against a wall in the hallway just outside the bathroom door and keep the door open.

Now that I am not with an agency I either make sure a family member is able to watch over the children or they are all sitting in their chairs at the table before snack/lunch is served.