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On my last camping trip I found myself yet again with something of a dilemma and  I hasten to add that this is in relation to my 8 year old son not me!!

Picture this, it is 2am your child wakes up in the middle of the night wanting to wee.The toilet block is a walk across a field. It is pelting down with rain and you are being asked to get out of your cosy sleeping bag and and see to him. Five yards from your tent you have a perfectly discrete clump of bushes and your child is bursting to go. What do you do? Get up, get suitably dressed, scrabble around for the torch and hat, ditto for your child and squelch across the field aiming for the toilet blocks and hope he hasn't wet himself by the time you get him there or eye up those bushes, after all there is no one around and the deed is done in no time and you are snugly back in the land of nod before you know it. Only you and your conscience will ever know!

There are various reasons why one may chose not to camp close to the toilet block and you may never get much of a choice so it may not be as simple as choice of location. So, in the situation I found myself in what is the right thing to do?

If it were one of my son's it would be the bushes too - we ended up buying a portaloo for use over night save the dilema !!

Why on earth haven't haven't you got a bucket? Simple solution, no getting out in the rain at all. Empty it at the loos in the morning.

it might have been okay in the pouring rain, but think about it properly . If you give your son the idea that its okay to do this, next time , it may not be raining and the minte the sun warms the wee up , it is going to stink. Theres the hygiene issues, as well as being completely inconsiderate to others , who wants to camp in someone elses toilet patch.

If we all did this, the campsites would soon be foul rotten full of flies , places no- one would want to go to.

we have a portaloo now, but before that it was a bucket with lid for the night times emergencies. A comfort to know that you can... with out having to get dressed and traipse across a field often makes me not want to go after all..... Typical huh?

Fairybelle

While I wouldn't encourage weeing in the bushes there are occasional circumstances when it is justifiable.  As long as you are away from anyone elses pitch.  Urine is sterile and the rain would dilute it anyway.  Anything more than a wee though would need to go to the toilets also if it was a decent night and the situation wasn't desperate then the trek should be done for a wee too.

I have two small children and have surprisingly never had to take either to the loo in the middle of the night when camping.  While a portaloo would be nice we just don't have the space to take one.  If I found night-time wees were to become an issue I would consider some kind of smaller container.

How pleasant!!

If everyone decided 'just once ' wouldnt hurt ,imagine the smell of the campsite?

If you cant get to the loo get a bloody bucket or dont go camping!!!

Post last edited on 07/06/2008 11:57:49

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Oh and to the person who said urine is sterile ,you are missinformed im afraid!

It Is only sterile before it leaves the body ,whilst travelling through the urinary tract it can pick up all manor of bugs!

Besides the point ..its minging anway :(

 Actually, one of the most difficult things for any wild animal is to maintain a proper salt balance; there are relatively few good natural sources of salts and other essential minerals. MANY insects will be attracted to urine, as it contains a fair number of such substances in a concentrated form - the same basic reason that so many insects are attracted to human perspiration.

So dont wee in the bushes

I have trekked to the loo in the rain with my daughter when she was younger, as I would never let her pee in a bush or anywhere else on a campsite, no more than I would let her pee in the garden at home. We now have a porta potti which solves the problem and I really think that you should get something similar, even if it is just a bucket.

I appreciate your predicament, but those bushes could be played in the nxt day but other kids, would you want your child playing somewhere that had been used as a toilet? I know at the same age my daughter would think that if she allowed to it once she could do it again, so I think it`s best not to start. Buy a bucket, put a few drops of Zoflora in it and never have to face that decision again

Quote: Originally posted by nubian on 07/6/2008

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On my last camping trip I found myself yet again with something of a dilemma and  I hasten to add that this is in relation to my 8 year old son not me!!

Picture this, it is 2am your child wakes up in the middle of the night wanting to wee.The toilet block is a walk across a field. It is pelting down with rain and you are being asked to get out of your cosy sleeping bag and and see to him. Five yards from your tent you have a perfectly discrete clump of bushes and your child is bursting to go. What do you do? Get up, get suitably dressed, scrabble around for the torch and hat, ditto for your child and squelch across the field aiming for the toilet blocks and hope he hasn't wet himself by the time you get him there or eye up those bushes, after all there is no one around and the deed is done in no time and you are snugly back in the land of nod before you know it. Only you and your conscience will ever know!

There are various reasons why one may chose not to camp close to the toilet block and you may never get much of a choice so it may not be as simple as choice of location. So, in the situation I found myself in what is the right thing to do?

Post last edited on 07/06/2008 10:18:53

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You walk to the toilet block, of course. If you end up with him wetting himself then hard luck...it will ensure both you and he remember to go and buy a bucket in the morning. You'll need it to soak his PJs in anyway.

 

After reading this I think I will train my dog to use a toilet, I never realised the damage urine can do, thank god we live in modern times and don't still throw it from the windows down the close. People and animals pee outside all of the time!!!

We use the toilet if needed but I don't have issue with someone who chooses to use a bush thats near by as long as it is an emergency only, its not the end of the world or even the closest pitch to it..... 

I do agree that if everyone did it then there would be a problem but we don't so there is none.......