Public bathrooms

Everyone who has ever designed a public restroom apparently has never gone to the bathroom in one or has never washed their hands - EW!!!!

If you can keep your children from taking out the urinal cakes or splashing in the toilet water, you still have to get them to wash their hands. First you have to get soap. Most of the dispensers are out. If they're not, your child's hand moves too fast to hit so soap hits the floor. Or, if you happen to be "lucky" to find one of those new soap dispensers that you have to wave your hand in front of, good luck getting IT to work. I wave and miss, wave and miss and then check my pulse because the waving isn't working anymore and I must have just died.

Now it's time to turn the water on. Since all of the sinks are adult sized, you have to lift your child up. "UH! You're hurting me!" she cries as you pin her to the side of the sink with her butt on your knee because, well, you haven't managed to grow that third arm yet. Also, you have to wash your hands too, because if you help her and then do it, well, into the urinal she will go again. (And why are they always pink - my daughter's favorite color!) Of course the faucet is usually a "water saver" seriously complicating matters. You either have to hold one knob down to keep the water flowing (and now a fourth arm would be useful) or you have to keep waving at the damned thing to get just one more spritz of water.

On to drying which has got to be the WORST PART YET. The drying mechanism, be it towel or blower, is always on the OPPOSITE wall from the sink. So now you have to carry your child by your elbows so as not to get the child more wet with your hands than she already got in the sink and drip water ALL OVER THE FLOOR! You dry her hands, and yours, and both try not to fall on your butts on the way out the door. I mean, do they think we are all surgeons and are going to hold our hands in the air on the way to the drier located on the OTHER SIDE OF THE BATHROOM so our wet hands can now drip down our sleeves and settle in our armpits so the floor won't get wet?

Just a casual observation ...