My office building has automatic toilets that flush themselves. I have been marveling at this modern stroke of genius. (Ok, sometimes, I admit, I use the bathroom for moments of meditation and prayer and sometimes, I get inspired...it's happened ever since I was in college and shared a suite with 5 girls...and now that I have my own circus of boy-barians plus a girl...it is STILL a place of quiet contemplation). Here is my idea:
Install these automatic toilets in my home. Then I would never have to use the phrase "Did you flush?" again. It would solve lots of problems. It would bring such peace and harmony to my world. One less battle to fight. I think.
Hmmmmm.
However, if part of my job as a parent is to train up my children in the way that they should go, and when they are old, they shall not depart from it...(I just found a joke in there...since I am talking about using the bathroom...and training boys on where they should go...I may only amuse myself but, hey! wouldn't be the first time!), I would be robbing my children of valuable lessons while merely considering my convenience and lack of tolerance for flushed toilets and unsanitary bathrooms. Because unless every home, office, restaurant and other place of business plans on installing auto-flushers, at some point, my children are going to encounter a situation in which they are not equipped to handle.
This line of thinking, albeit amusing to contemplate as I admire the convenience for me, led me to consider other training opportunities that I might want to shortcut for the sake of my own comfort or convenience. It brings to mind how often I get annoyed by the little things and I hear myself saying "How many times do I have to tell you not to ...(insert any combination of the following: belch in public, hit your brother, throw baseballs in the house, jump off the bed like you are superman, throw my freshly folded laundry on the floor so you can use the table to draw...)?" And as annoying and tiresome it gets repeating these things, I am right in the thick of training my children to behave well, to use common courtesty and good manners and to shine the light of Jesus to others, not to mention being nice and thoughtful towards other human beings. Shortcuts will not get the job done.
So, in conclusion, I must persevere and press forward without automatic flushing toilets and continue to teach my children not just the big things but also the little every day things.
However, if they invent a toilet that flushes itself, scrubs itself and the floor around it and fold the toilet paper into that little triangle like in fancy hotels, I'm buying it.
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