What were they thinking???

Ok. So, I have a big gripe with public restrooms. Why is it so hard to keep a bathroom clean, in good repair and accessible? The obvious gripe is always finding dirty bathrooms, without toilet seat covers, no toilet paper or unidentifiable gross stuff on the floor. Can we not just have clean bathrooms?

Aside from that, men MUST be designing these things. I was shopping the other day with Brooklynn who is about 20 months old and McKenna who is 4 1/2. Of course, McKenna has to go to the bathroom, she always does no matter how many times we have been already. So off I head to the nearest restroom and look for the handicap accessible one so I can lug in the big shopping cart with the toddler strapped in so I can assist the 4 1/12 year old. The first hurdle was maneuvering the cart through the ridiculous maze to even get into the bathroom in the first place. Now, maybe they don't want the carts in there in the first place, but what am I supposed to do with my cart-bound children while I'm in there? Not to mention the patrons in wheelchairs. Next, I find that there is only enough space between the wall and the stalls for the cart to barely fit through. Once I finally get to the stall marked "handicapped" I realize that the only thing that separates the regular stalls from the handicapped stalls is about 12 inches in depth. It is at this point that my bladder senses that we are near a toilet and after 4 kids, there is no option but to succumb to the urge. So there I am with no choice but to leave Brooklynn in the cart outside the door, push McKenna into her own stall and pee really fast before someone steals my kids. Of course there are no toilet seat covers!

So here is the big complaint. What do people in wheelchairs do? I can't believe this stall could pass for handicapped accessible. There is no way on this earth unless you were elastigirl, someone in a wheelchair could possibly use this bathroom!!! I was in another restroom, in a hospital no less, that I had Brooklynn in the stroller and needed to use the restroom. Again, I found the handicapped one and literally could not get into the stall with the stroller. Because it was just one bathroom in a hallway, I couldn't leave her in the stroller so I was forced to hold her while I used the bathroom. I really think it is cruel to call some of these restrooms "handicap accessible". For me, it is an inconvenience at most, and an amusing story to relate later at least, but for someone in a wheelchair, this could be a really sad situation.

My nephews girlfriend wrote about having to be confined to a wheelchair for two hours during the day for one of her classes at school. It was a touching post and one that I can relate to as I have a handicapped sister who uses a wheelchair. While I have more sympathy and understanding, it reminded me that I need to be more helpful instead of just sympathetic.

Well, enough griping. I am on a quest to bring down all the public restrooms on earth and make sure they really can accommodate wheelchairs, and while I'm at it, adding those little seats hooked to the wall for babies and toddlers. Although, they won't really be necessary as long as shopping carts and strollers will fit.

Ciao