About Rebecca Eckler
Since becoming pregnant with her daughter Rowan, Canadian journalist and author Rebecca Eckler has penned three hilarious books, including the best-selling Knocked Up. Catch Rebecca’s weekly unique perspective on motherhood and single parenthood.
My daughter isn’t generally forgetful (aside from forgetting her snow pants at school, a pair of mittens at a restaurant, feeding her fish…). OK maybe she is slightly forgetful, but she is LESS forgetful than me about most things.
Except when it comes to ONE huge thing. And, to me, forgetting this ONE THING is super embarrassing.
My daughter often forgets to flush the toilet. In the mornings, after she eats her breakfast, she usually uses our main floor bathroom. When she gets home from school, our main floor bathroom is also the one she races to as if she’s being chased by a three-headed monster. Obviously, she “holds it in” like most kids, until the last possible moment.
In any case, while my daughter always remembers to wash her hands, she often forgets to flush the toilet.
The other morning, my best friend stopped by for a coffee, as she does about three times a week. She went to my main floor washroom and called out, “I think someone forgot to flush the toilet!”
“Is it a number one or two?” I asked, mortified.
“Just a number one,” she said.
“Rowan!” I called out, letting my friend know that it wasn’t me, but it was my DAUGHTER who forgot to flush.
I wasn’t so lucky a couple nights later when a guy friend came to visit. He too had to visit my main floor washroom – the guest washroom - and called out, “Um, someone dropped the kids off at the pool and forgot to flush.” (That’s his way of describing #2’s – “dropping the kids off at the pool.”)
“Rowan!” I yelled out to him. “It’s her.”
The thing is, I don’t know if my friend believed me or not. And THAT’S embarrassing. Trust me when I say that yes, I am VERY FORGETFUL, but I’ve been flushing toilets now for 30 years. I don’t forget to flush toilets. EVER.
Sure, sometimes if I’m in an airport or if I’m at the movies and there are automatic toilet flushers, they don’t work. But that’s not my fault.
But at home, it’s my DAUGHTER who forgets to flush, which is embarrassing when you have guests over. I know it’s her, because there are only two of us in the house. Also, I’ve WITNESSED her forgetting to flush. And I’ll say, “Um, are you forgetting something?” And she’ll laugh and say, “Oh, right!” and then flush.
Isn’t it funny how we toilet train our kids and are so proud when they can use the toilet. And then we have to train them to flush?
When my friend visited a couple mornings ago and needed to use the washroom, I raced to it first, just to check that my daughter had flushed!
Has this ever happened to you? Why do you think kids forget to flush? And do you think my friends believe me when I tell them it is my daughter and not me?
Follow me on twitter @rebeccaeckler
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