We’ve had a stool in front of each of our bathroom sinks for so long that I can hardly remember life without them. I’m constantly sliding them out of my way with my foot, have banged my toes on them more than once, and am counting down the days until my younger child is old enough to reach the sink without a step stool.
Scarlett’s a petite little thing, plus she potty trained before she was two, which means that when she first began needing to wash her hands “by mah seff,” she couldn’t even reach the sink with your basic toddler stool. So for about two years, we had this lovely folding apparatus in front of the sinks in both our guest bathroom and the kids’ bathroom.
My son, two-and-three-quarter years older, could get the job done with just a little boost from one of these babies.
No stool, no independence in the bathroom, which is one of the parenting milestones I truly appreciate. You parents of little ones can probably only imagine the day your child says, “I’ll be right back,” and then returns moments later with an empty bladder, a clean behind, and washed hands. It is truly magical.
At restaurants, airports, and retail stores, bathroom usage involves an awkward hoisting up of child to sink. (Usually followed by complaints of, “You’re smashing me into the counter!”)Â So, when we go to visit my parents, I very much appreciate that a bathroom stool has been made available by them. Heather even travels with one, when they go by car, of course, because hotel room bathrooms don’t typically offer a stool. (That’s why she likes this little stool, which folds flat.)
What basic tools do you find helpful every day? Have you equipped your parents’ houses with them?
Related: When I painted a personalized stool, or perhaps “un-painted” it
