How Often Does This Happen to You? Lesson in Why Good Design is Crucial

Don't worry, you won't see me wearing sunglasses sitting on a toilet singing Psy's song.

WHAT: Quick video for kids
DOES: teaches children of all ages what good design does NOT look like, helps grown-ups understand why kids hate public toilet

INVEST:  $your time

AGES: all

TOOLS: Family Fix-it, Work Experience 

Tomorrow, I promise another super fun review and giveaway but today, I wanted to share a bit of frustration.

I used to have accidents all the time when I was a kid.  I had an immense fear of public toilets.  I thought they'd swallow me up or that I'd get one with no tissue or who knows what..

I don't know why I didn't remember that when my own kids were going through potty training.  How quickly we forget!  I should remember that they don't want to use the toilet because they are likely worried about something - just like I was.

When I was little, I remember having to deal with those impossible toilet paper dispensers in school.  It really made me crazy.  It made me not want to go to the bathroom.  Having to sit in that musty bathroom and then wrestling with that roll while my pants were down and my feet dangling in the air.  How do they expect little children to do that on their own?  It's a bi-lateral spatial-reasoning nightmare.

If you have a budding engineer growing up in your home then, here is my little pitch video to say, "Hey kids, don't forget to consider industrial design as a career too."  It doesn't always have to be the most beautiful thing in the world.  Even if it is, it's still crap if it doesn't work.  (Also, I think some toy designers study industrial design in college .... wish I did that.)

If you have kids who fight the urge to do their business in a public bathroom, remind them that you understand their frustration.  Show them this video and let them know that we haven't evolved enough yet and bid their understanding. If we expect people to use toilets in a clean and effective way then they must make sure that we can access the toilet paper without having to hire an assistant.  Let the little ones know that we're on their side.  Public bathrooms are definitely not kid-friendly but many inhabitants of the world are indeed kids.  Maybe someone can write a letter or start a petition... 



Looking into your own childhood to become a better parent is something suggested to me by an awesome child psychiatrist I know.  Here is the book.  Parenting From the Inside Out  It's on my list!  Use my link to support Toys are Tools.



Disclosure:  Toys are Tools was not compensated by the manufacturer for the publication of this review.  The toilet paper was provided free to me not to facilitate a review but rather for private individual use.  After tearing off one too many half-sheets, I figured that I gotta take a video to show my kids why public toilets do really suck.  No wonder they never want to go!!!