A mum has sparked an online backlash after letting her child use the potty in a posh pub [Photo: Getty]

Potty training. It’s one of the trickiest parenting periods. When to start? Which potty to use? Where to whip it out? And it’s that last dilemma that has sparked a massive online backlash after a mum allowed her child to use the potty in the middle of a posh pub.

Another mother who witnessed the scene took to parenting site Mumsnet to ask whether it was ‘normal’ for a toddler to go to the toilet right next to other diners.

“Last night, having a meal at 7 in a nice pub and a parent got their child to use the potty by their table,” she wrote on the forum. “This isn’t normal, is it?!”

The post quickly received a flurry of responses from other parents who described the behaviour as “disgusting”, “vulgar” and “unhygienic.”

“Absolutely foul, I never had to do this,” one mum wrote. “Why not take the potty to the toilet and put the child there, they are learning to use the toilet, so parents should do that. They have to learn they can’t do their business anywhere they want. That is not teaching them!”

“Horrific. I would have given the parent my best death stare in a ‘cannot believe you just did that’ way,” another added.

“That’s just disgusting,” another parent commented. “Seriously if a child can’t make it from a table to a toilet then they should be in a pull up.”

Would you let your child go to the toilet next to diners? [Photo: Giphy]

But it seems the incident wasn’t a one-off as other parents also shared similar stories of children using a potty in public.

“We were in John Lewis a while ago and a mother at the next table sat in the cafe, got out a potty and let her child take a poop right there next to my latte. I’m sure there’s a reasonable excuse, I just can’t find it,” one mum wrote.

“A woman at our toddler group did that once, and then just pushed the potty full off poo under the table until she’d finished her coffee and cake,” added another.

“I remember a thread on another forum about a child doing a poo in a potty while queuing in primark!” another parent shared.

The original poster later returned to the forum after being asked what happened next and whether she had challenged the family about their behaviour.

Story continues

“They had a potty with the liners, can’t remember what they’re called – fab btw. So she tied the bag, then went and disposed of it,” she explained.

“I thought about saying something to the staff or the people themselves – if it had been just our family I would have done. I was with my parents and I think they would have found it uncomfortable if I complained,” she continued.

“To be honest, I’m not sure I would have changed their behaviour anyway; if you’re so oblivious/entitled/socially inept you’ll go ahead anyway? To make matters worse, the boy really did look old enough to be able to get to a toilet.”

What do you think? Would you let your child use a potty in public? Let us know @YahooStyleUK

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