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Crib note: Is potty training on-the-go a no-no?

Potty training is often considered one of the most stressful, least pleasant jobs every parent must endure. It’s hard enough when you’re at home and only have to worry about accidents on your own floors. But, when you have to go out and worry about finding a public restroom in time, it becomes the kind of frenzied, high-stakes action normally only seen on a Wall Street trading floor.One mom, a
Multi-tasking: A child potty trains while having lunch in a restaurant.
Multi-tasking: A child potty trains while having lunch in a restaurant.Today

Potty training is often considered one of the most stressful, least pleasant jobs every parent must endure. It’s hard enough when you’re at home and only have to worry about accidents on your own floors. But, when you have to go out and worry about finding a public restroom in time, it becomes the kind of frenzied, high-stakes action normally only seen on a Wall Street trading floor.

One mom, apparently not wanting to fret about whether her two young girls could make it to a restaurant’s bathroom in time, should the need arise, took matters into her own hands – or at least her own porta-a-potty. 

At first glance, other diners thought the two naked toddlers eating their chicken nuggets were simply sitting on booster seats. However, upon closer inspection, they realized the tots were dining atop their own little potty chairs, ready to release at a moment’s notice.

One horrified patron (a mom who had recently finished potty training her own young son) snapped a picture of one of the girls, calmly sitting on her potty, clothes around her ankles, munching on her lunch. 

"The more you thought about it, the more unappetizing everything looked around me," Kimberly Decker told KSL Utah. "I was like this is not ok, we're eating, there was a business meeting with about five or six businessmen going on right next to me. The place was packed." 

A spokesperson for the deli said they received several complaints from other customers about the incident and mentioned that if staff had realized what was happening, they would have asked the mom to take the potty training to the restroom. 

If you have an embarrassing potty training in public story, we’d love to hear it on our TODAY Moms Facebook page.

Dana Macario is a Seattle-area mom who finished potty training her youngest just two weeks ago (woo hoo!!!).

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