Lauren Apfel, an American mom living in Glasgow, says letting toddlers pee in public is very common in the UK; it isn’t really even a topic up for debate. “Before I had a toilet-trained kid myself, I remember being slightly shocked seeing a friend’s 3-year old peeing against a tree with absolutely no compunction, surrounded by several other toddlers all doing the same thing. When I pointed this out to my friend, as if to alert her to the disaster, she explained it was par for the course around here.”
She quickly adds that discretion and common sense play a large role in where parents allow kids to drop trou. “People here would look askance at a kid peeing on a car or shop window. [But] almost all grassy areas are fair game.”