How to trick the autoflush toilet sensor in public restrooms
This may be the most useful tip you'll get all year. From James:
My son had the bejebus scared out of him by the autoflushing toilet when we were just starting training. I don't blame him, me holding him over the pot trying to keep him from falling in while he did his business. Then out of nowhere WOOSH! Since then, he's been very concerned whenever he has to confront one. I've tried to stand in front of the sensor or hold my hand near it, and it works sometimes, but it needs to work ALL THE TIME! I found that if you drape a length of toilet paper over the sensor (folded over a few times), you can fool the Potty Eye. Then when he's all set we can pull it off and let the flush happen. No more worrying about getting sucked down the pipes and he gets a kick out of fooling the potty!
Even now, both my kids are wary of autoflush toilets. When my son was in preschool and we were stuck in an airport restroom somewhere dealing with a particularly loud self-flushing toilet, he yelled, "Who's the jerk who invented this? Didn't he know that kids have issues?"
Related: What to do with your kid when you're in a public restroom?
A post-it works too, so stick a pack in your bag.
Posted by: adrienne | May 9, 2008 7:19:05 AM
I bet this is where that ingenious painters tape would come in handy as well!
Posted by: Jennifer | May 9, 2008 7:55:36 AM
I have the opposite problem, I need to figure out how to trigger the sensor for urinals.
My son is typically too short to trigger it himself. Then he wants to climb all over the urinal trying to find the manual button, they don't all have one it seems. He doesn't want to leave till it flushes.
Posted by: scauer | May 9, 2008 7:57:51 AM
I use my hand or a wet towel over the sensor. It too a wile to convince my son (yes, several times I stood over the toilet with may and over the sensor, no tell what people though was going on).
Posted by: Greg | May 9, 2008 9:56:09 AM
I have no helpful tips but that may be the best kid quote ever.
Posted by: Meagan | May 9, 2008 10:13:28 AM
My son must be an anomaly, the first time a toilet auto-flushed, he thought it was the coolest thing ever. He loves them.
Posted by: Nancy Talan | May 9, 2008 11:08:23 AM
"Who's the jerk who invented this? Didn't he know that kids have issues?"
OMG, Asha -- your son is now officially on my *Kids I Adore* list.
P.S. Sticky notes...brilliant!
Posted by: Practical Archivist | May 9, 2008 12:53:02 PM
Got any hacks for obnoxious kids who accompany you into the stall and then gleefully WAVE AT THE POTTY EYE so that their Mom winds up with a public restroom enema?
Maybe I should tape them to the inside of the door with that blue painter's tape we all love so much.
Posted by: Jamie | May 9, 2008 1:02:17 PM
I'm sorry Jamie, but that comment had me laughing. I'm sure you don't at the time; but it's a bit funny.
I don't know how to fix it because I am sure if it were my kid, I'd be laughing...which would only encourage him more.
Posted by: Jennifer | May 9, 2008 7:50:27 PM
LOL I do the same thing for my 7 year old girl. Her older sisters think I am nuts but it works. She can go to the bathroom and get the privacy she needs because I don't have to be there to cover the senser with my hand.
Posted by: WickedStepMom | May 10, 2008 5:18:31 AM
This is like a gift from heaven! I can't count the number of times the flusher has scared my daughter, mid-stream, off the pot only to soak herself. THANK YOU!
Posted by: Tiffany | May 10, 2008 8:35:37 AM
Thanks for this tip. My 4-year-old is TERRIFIED of auto-flush toilets. She has been ever since one flushed while she was sitting on it. Now those things are the No. 1 fear in her life.
Posted by: Linda | May 10, 2008 7:10:57 PM
The first time our one-year-old daughter was in a public bathroom and the toilet flushed on its own, she said, "Bless you!" She knew she hadn't flushed anything, so just assumed the thing sneezed.
Posted by: jeff | May 11, 2008 1:19:36 PM
This tip should be in a new mom's manual. It's great!
Posted by: teal | May 12, 2008 5:20:04 AM
Wow, great tip! Thank you.
Posted by: Jane | May 12, 2008 6:11:55 PM
I am seriously LMBO at the comment...my husband's uncle was one of the engineers who invented the autoflush...I'm going to have to pass this onto him! He'll love it! Too freaking funny!!!
Posted by: Heather | May 13, 2008 3:15:37 PM
Oh, how I wish I had read this earlier! I've never seen autoflush toilets here in Sweden where I live, but a visit to NY in january last year set my daugther's toilet training back several months. 16 months later I still have to convince her in every public restroom that she can decide for herself when to flush.
Posted by: Moster Mysko | May 15, 2008 1:34:23 PM