Rant: Yards are not toilets

[WS4fun]

A stern shake of my head evil eye to the parents that take their kids to Ercolini Park but don’t have their kids use the Sani-Can that is at the park. I’m so tired of my yard being used as your kids’ toilet. The excuse that your kid is afraid to use the one in the park is lame, take them to another park or bring them home. I’ve also witnessed this at the park itself. The children are brought to a tree and they use it like a dog does. This isn’t just boys either, it’s girls too that are very good at the squat and pee position so obviously they do this a lot. I can understand this when you are hiking and you go off trail, but in public view in front of everyone is awful. So parents (and oddly enough it’s mostly moms that are guilty of this): if you wouldn’t do it yourself, don’t let your kids do it. (PS-we don’t appreciate the dirty diapers left in our shrubs in the neighborhood either)

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[KBear]

Help yourself to some discarded riding toys and sell them on eBay.

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[Cait]

Oh HELL NO. What is wrong with people?! What is the rationale there?!

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[JKB]

Tough call – should one give the Evil Eye to parents having their kids misbehave, or to commentors who recommend felonies in response?

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[KBear]

Oh, hi JKB. Look, it was kind of cute when people started leaving toys to share at Ercolini Park. But technically, it’s littering. Have you been there lately? There are scores of them. The same self-entitled rationale that allows parents to use neighbors’ yards for their children’s bathrooms has caused the park to fill up with junk. I hardly think it’s a felony to pick up litter. Also, I was mostly kidding. Because my dog uses the park as a bathroom, too. I don’t let him pee on the toys, nor leave behind number two.

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[JKB]

Hi indeed. No, I’m in Admiral so my rants are about misbehavior at Hiawatha. Dog owners, mostly.

Interesting fine line when stuff is abandoned – is taking it theft (my reading of your first post) or is it litter to be cleaned up? Seems like a case where the person leaving it and the person seeing it might have different views.

And we have rules because otherwise we couldn’t all live in a city together. I have to let your dog do its business, you have to clean it up. This thing about kids is just grotesque – look what kind of adults they’re being taught to grow into.

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[2 Much Whine]

I feel for WS4Fun. Nobody wants strangers peeing in their yard. That is gross. On the other hand, Imagine the uproar we’d hear if a child that had to go potty was forced to use a sanican they didn’t want to go into. I’m sure some well-meaning parent would be on the phone with CPS as soon as the wailing started. My kids are grown so I have no horse in this race but I still remember the days that the need to pee came on strong and fast and parents didn’t always have the ability to control bodily functions of their kids. On another note, I always thought it was cool that people left toys for the kids. Never thought of it as littering, thought of it as a nice gesture. Maybe it has gotten out of hand. . . . . . two sides to every coin.

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[scott]

Well as long you want to get technical, theft of an item worth less than $750 is a misdemeanor, not a felony. Having said that, I don’t know whether or not this meets the definition of theft in the first place.

Also, public urination in Seattle is an infraction (SMC 12A.10.100, if you want to make a sign or something).

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[Sue]

I can’t even wrap my brain around the fact that somebody thought it was acceptable to use someone’s backyard as a toilet, and worse yet, more than one person. I am so sorry. My parents (in NY) used to live next door to a family where they thought it acceptable for the men in the family to use the tree in the front of their own yard as a toilet when they had parties. Granted it was their own yard, but it was still disgusting.

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[WS4fun]

The peeing is happening in the FRONT yards and also in the park itself. If your kid doesn’t like the sanican, go to another park. On a funny note, I get a kick out of the little kids that SCREAM at the top of their lungs when it’s time to go home. I laugh as the parents try to keep their cool and force their 2 year old into a car seat as he/she arches their back. How is it that a 2 year old can be stronger than an adult in this case? So to those parents, don’t be embarrassed, we’ve all been there/done that. Just shove the kid in the car and know you’re not alone. I would however recommend you tell your kid that if that happens again, no more park. All it takes is one time of not going and they get it.

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