Blake Snow

writer-for-hire, content guy, bestselling author

As seen on CNN, NBC, ABC, Fox, Wired, Yahoo!, BusinessWeek, Wall Street Journal
It looks like you're new. Click here to learn more.

“I need some privacy”

Confession: We do not shut bathroom doors in our house while relieving ourselves, that is unless guests are over.

Lindsey and I inadvertently started the bad habit as newlyweds living in a small condo, wanting to maximize our conversation time. The practice has stuck, and often times one of use will even sit in the hallway to carry on a conversation, as if the other was merely sitting down as opposed to going to the bathroom. I guess we’re a modern day Adam’s Family.

Last week, I was making lunch for the girls while Sadie, our three-year old, dispensed u-boats in the guest bathroom toilet. As usual, the bathroom door was wide open so Sadie and I could talk should the “urge” arise. It didn’t take long.

“Daddy?” Sadie shouted. “I need some privacy.”

I laughed out loud, realizing she had finally caught on. But I also knew she didn’t know what “privacy” was, so I pressed her for the definition.

“What’s privacy?”

“Um, I don’t know,” she admitted, followed by a cute girly giggle. Thanks to the open door policy, we shared a hearty laugh with one another.

It seems Sadie discovered the word “privacy” while visiting a friend’s house recently, her mother tells me. Whenever she has to go potty there, her little buddy wants to join her, to which his mother says, “No, Sadie needs privacy.”

I suppose we’ll have to retire the tradition once the girls get older — we don’t want everyone’s bits and pieces to be public knowledge. But for now, I enjoy the added conversation it affords, even if I have to talk over a noisy exhaust fan.