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Subscribe to RSSIn Philadelphia, Penn., a mother was issued a $50 public urination citation after her 2-year-old son peed on the street. WCAU's Doug Shimell reports.
A Philadelphia mom is peeved that police gave her a $50 ticket after her 2-year-old son peed against a street light post.
“I’m absolutely going to fight it,” Caroline Robboy told NBC News on Thursday. “It was a potty-training accident.”
Robboy’s legal hassle began Sunday night, she said, when she was out with her elderly in-laws and her three children, ages 9, 6 and 2. Her husband, an ob-gyn, was on the job, delivering babies.
After eating at a Johnny Rockets diner five blocks from their home in a high-rise, the family went across the street to a clothing store.
Robboy said two of her children told her they needed to go to the bathroom, but the store operators wouldn’t let them use their restroom. They headed back to the diner, but the 2-year-old couldn’t hold it.
“I told him to go over to a grassy patch and make pee,” Robboy told NBCPhiladelphia.com. “Next thing you know I have an officer giving me a police ticket for public urination!”
Related: Is potty training on the go a no-no?
“Every once in a while a 2-year-old catches you off guard,” she said.
“If this were my 9-year-old or 6-year-old I would have been mortified and would have had a much more adult conversation with him,” said Robboy, a licensed social worker and sex education counselor also trained in early childhood education issues.
Robboy said she's been surprised by the strong criticism painting her as "some negligent parent" that readers posted on a story about the incident that appeared on NBCPhiladelphia.com.
“These people must not be parents – or maybe they are suburban parents,” she said. “We live with homeless people sleeping in our park across the street,” she said. “People defecate in the park, they don’t get tickets.”
Among the comments was this one from a poster identified as James Riggio Sr.: “I do not care if it is a 2-year-old or a 20-year-old, urine stinks and I for one do not want to smell that while in a high-traffic area. Does this moron of a mother think it is OK to let her son pee anywhere they feel free to?”
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Another critic identified as Laura Burger said, “I'm sorry but a 2-year-old does not just spontaneously run and pee on a pole. Clearly not the first time. I also think mom needs to be better prepared if she runs into these situations.”
Robboy received more-supportive comments on her own Facebook page.
See more news at NBCPhiladelphia.com
A commenter identified as Marion Bargman said, “What a hoot! Of course, fight it. You made the news because your kid had to use the potty! How funny. and of course you handled yourself serenely. ... You're pretty good at not overreacting like the rest of us !”
Robboy told NBCPhiladelphia.com that Nathaniel, the 2-year-old, is a bright child who, aside from Sunday’s misfire, is doing well with his potty training.
A police spokesperson told NBCPhiladelphia.com they allow officers to use their own judgment and discretion in issuing tickets. They're currently trying to contact the officer who issued the ticket to get his side of the story before taking any action.
NBCNews' Jim Gold contributed to this story.
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Apparently we have too many police officers.
Geez, the next thing we know someone will pass a law against large 'sugary' drinks.
Thankfully we live in America where .... what ? oh someone did that recently ?
the city of brotherly love...this from a city who has homeless sleeping in an underpass right next to a busy 4 lane highway..forget the RT number but it's after you get off 76 on to 202 to go over the bridge into NJ.where do they "pee" and do other things?? i just hope this cop doesn't reproduce...pity the child.sorry to say i'm from PA when i read this.as a wise man once said ''the best part of philly is seeing it in your rearview mirror while leaving it"...
If the neighborhood is so slummy with homeless people "defecating everywhere" as she states you would think she would have shoes on her child when they are out walking around......I'm a suburban mom and I don't let my child run around without shoes on peeing everywhere bt I guess I'm justa red neck hick who doesnt know how things work in the big ole city....
"Blessings on thee little man. Barefoot boy with cheeks of tan."
Bet you never were 'exposed' to life in America in your life or by the school (you did attend school?)
Who wrote those words.. you sure don't know and you know even less now. STFU
Once upon a time people of authority were actually "leaders" who used common sense when dealing with unique situations. No we have zero tolerance policies so weaklings who cannot manage difficult situations without some crutch to lean on, can be in positions of authority. Just for example that's why bullies get away with what they do, "don't defend your self or you get in trouble too". Actually had a student at our local high school take a violent beating from another kid in the hall without any effort to defend himself. He was a honor student and the automatic suspension would have made it impossible to sustain his GPA. In my day if you were brave enough to stand up to a bully the principle usually patted you on the back for the effort and the bully left you alone. We cannot have a rule or a ticket for everything.
I agree with Hockey Mom. A toilet training accident could have been avoided if the Mom had TAKEN her son to the bathroom before leaving the restaurant (no parent I know would let a 2 year old go by himself) or have him wear pull-ups when out and about. They wick the moisture away from the skin so the urine doesn't make the child feel uncomfortable. If this had been a girl there would be no story. Letting your son pee in public is a cop out. The idea is to train them in acceptable bathroom habits, not sidestep the issue because the situation may have been embarassing. My mom reminds me that when we were kids there were no Pampers and pull ups and that the motivation for toilet training was to AVOID being wet and messy. But accidents happen and thats how we learn, from our mistakes.
If this was the case in India, the entire country would be in jail.
In a manner of speaking they are in jail... they just don't realize it YET !
Parents are responsible to teach their children good manners. Relieving oneself on a city street is shameful regardless of whether you are 2 years old or 25 years old. This is an insult to good parents, and an insult to the community by the irresponsible parent.
Good for the police officer. The ticket should have been $ 200 plus. This is a disgusting display by an irresponsible parent.
I can tell you don't have children, and have never actually met a two-year-old.
Does the sunlight bother you still or does the stake through your hearts still bother you more?
If she fights the ticket, she will likely win, because the cop who wrote it won't show up for court... He would be too embarrassed to show up...
Yeah and miss chance to get his pic in the paper an become a candidate for 'police fool of the year"?
I am currently potty training my 2 year old son. As long as he didn't pee in his pants I would be happy :) Hopefully this doesn't scar the poor lil guy!
Im surprised that the officer did not handcuff the child and take him down town and book him. I guess the people that were bad mouthing the mom would have let their child pee on themselves and wear it for awhile instead of letting him use it somewhere. OH and SHame on those people in the store for not letting the baby go to the restroom. KUDDOS to the mom for fighting it!
So after stating what her husband does and what kind of place they live in, she is fretting over a $50 fine. Good grief. Pay it and be done with it. She will spend more money in the court system to make a worthless statement.
Its the principal of the thing not the $50
You probably mean PRINCIPLE ?
I loved school it was the PRINCIPAL of the thing I did not like.
Hahahahahahaaaa !
I work in a very nice area, light industrial business park. We have a children's museum just down the street from my office with lots of nice Mommy-mobiles parked on the street. I regularly take walks at lunch time and one day, I saw a Mom get out of a Mercedes SUV, take a port-a-pottie filled with urine and feces and DUMPED it in the bushes right by our driveway. The entrance to the children's museum was 50ft away, with bathrooms inside. She looked rather shocked when I confronted her and then tried to deny it. Obviously, money can't buy class. The US is not a third world country, with raw sewage running in the streets. Let's try to keep it that way. Port-a-potties are great for kids to use, just be sure to bring a trash bag to wrap it in, in case you don't have a PROPER place to dump it right away.
Should be glad he wasn't charged with exposing himself and labeled as a sex offender for the rest of his life!! Lol
Wow this kid was allowed to get away with a crime against society and he was not charged with INDECENT EXPOSURE either ?
Philly cops are not what they used to be. maybe the Black Panthers have scared them as well as the voters in Philly also?
My 8 year old boy has football practice several times a week at a city park. Two practices ago, some brilliant person had gone 'port-a-potty tipping'. The coach had all 10 of the boys take a 'pee on the trees' break. (And all of the boys seemed to love it.) My 6 year old daughter, same day, peed her pants rather than expose herself. I say drop em and go. She was funky by the time we got home!
I would have LOVED to see the cop, issuing an entire pee-wee football team tickets... (nice pun, right?!)
Maybe the officer was pissed because the kid had a bigger johnson than he did.
I'm thinking the cops will retract this ticket. Seems like a bit of an over reaction to a minor incident.
How ridiculous! This cop must have been a republican
Just don't know what to say except maybe all the relatives could have surrounded the little guy to shield him from the view of the street. It would have imprinted on him that bathroom breaks are private, but at two years old he can't be expected to hold it for five blocks.
As for the place that wouldn't allow him to use the facilities, good grief!
I have an 8 yr old daughter, a 5.5 yr old daughter, and a 2 yr old son. When I went through potty training with all 3 of them (still in progress on the 2 yr old), we did use pull-ups frequently. However, when you are training your child to NOT pee in their pants, it also INCLUDES pull ups. You can't tell a 2 yr old that it's not ok to pee his pants, unless he's wearing a pull up. It's confusing to the children to have an "if-then-that" type of ruling on how they pee.
Once a child gets that he/she is not supposed to pee in their pants, they WILL NOT pee in a pull-up, unless it's an absolute emergency and they are usually crying/flipping out at that point.
People who think the police were correct are morons. They probably also agree with the soda ban in NY.
....all that liquid just makes more pee...... there's a reason we don't have raw sewage in the streets. If it is okay for one, then it has to be okay for all, do you not see where this could lead? Do you regularly want to have to smell it? or have your kid accidentally fall in it? Or the potential diseases that could be spread. I'm a mom too, and I am teaching my child to be a good citizen and to be considerate of others.
Give me a break. How many times do you see this happen on a regular day? Do I need to spell out the definition of regular? We, as a society, are not experiencing a mad rush of 2 year olds urinating on public streets. Good citizens who care about each other are regularly walking their dogs who poop and pee all over the place.
There were probably 3 2 yr olds that pee'd in public yesterday in that state... compared to the 100 dogs that did. Where's the problem?
....that cop probably gets complaints on a regular basis. you are just one person with a kid(s). there are 300+ million people in this country. the need to follow basic santitation laws are imperative. there are plenty of folks of all ages that would just go in the street as a matter of course, if we let them. Dog pee is bad enough, and I wish there were parks that prohibited dogs, as it gets so stinky in the summer after it bakes in the hot sun.
Let's see if we are going to make him pay a fine for "urinating in public" shouldn't he also have to register as a "sex offender." One makes about as much sense as the other. Political correctness makes me want to PUKE.
this isn't about being PC, it's about basic sanitation. the bigger problem are all the people saying "me, me, me, I, I, I, mine, mine, mine, gimmee, gimmee, gimmee". think of it as the price we pay for living in a decent, good smelling society.
Yes, because we have a big problem with urine smelling areas of America. Let's focus on 2 yr olds and their smelly urine. Let's NOT focus on pollution or smog issues that are hurting the lungs of millions of Americans. That would be irresponsible. And, I didn't realize I'm paying or expecting clean smelling air. Did we pay the Febreeze company for that? Should I start suing factories that produce foul odors? What about someone who farts in public? Should I ticket them or sue them because they encroached on my clean smelling air? Or, the women's bathroom at work - I'm guessing we should fire them all since they stunk up the bathroom after lunch.
i like living in a 1st world country. let's try to keep it that way, and not go backwards. i have seen plenty of children (and sometimes adults too) at parks and at the beach just go where ever while Mom and Dad look on, all proud. Show a little taste and class please, and use the public restrooms.
Peeing in the bushes creates an odor? Ever go into a restaurant or gas sation john and not be overwhelemd by the stench ?
I want to pee where the smel doesn't gag me and if that is in the parlking lot tyahi s wheer it is done.
All this BS about proper this and proper that explains why this Nation is in such trouble.
Hardly a brain in the group. Certainly not a functioning one anyway.
Oh well I say p%ss on it and that will be fine.