Potty Training Gone Too Far?

Small stalls, too big toilets, and long waits for tiny bladders. No one says that on-the-go toilet training is easy (or convenient), but did a mom in Utah go too far in trying to solve the public restroom problem for her twin toddlers?

During a recent lunchtime rush at a local deli in Lehi, Utah, diners did a double-take when a mom, there with twin toddler girls, calmly stripped the two-year olds of their clothes and seated them at the table atop potty chairs.

Kimberly Decker, a mother of three, snapped a now infamous picture of the scene and shared it on her Facebook wall. As Decker told local news station KSL-TV, at first she thought the twins were sitting in booster seats, but then realized the girls were being potty trained right at the table.

"The mom had to undo the jumpsuits, and take them all the way down so they were completely nude, with the jumpsuits down to their ankles just eating their chicken nuggets, sitting on little toddler potties," she explained.

Decker—and other patrons—were horrified. "The more you thought about it, the more unappetizing everything looked around me."

Erica Brown, a spokeswoman for the restaurant, tells KSL-TV that staff was unaware of the incident when it was taking place, but would have asked the mother to leave. "I think state and local health codes were probably an issue, as well as just social norms," says Brown.

So far, reaction from parents to this story can be summed up with two words: "Ew, gross."

But as one mom points out, even if the mother in question (who remains unidentified) thought what she doing was helpful, it may actually create setbacks to potty training.

"Teaching children the proper PLACE to go potty is just as important as teaching them the proper time to go," says mom Jenny Bryant of Wells, Maine. And that proper place?

"It's NEVER while sitting at a table eating chicken nuggets!" Bryant adds.