# When you had a stomach bug, did your parents put a bowl next to your bed **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 21, 2012, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-had-a-stomach-bug-did-your-parents-put-a-bowl-next-to-your-bed/619488 "2012-04-21T10:31:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-had-a-stomach-bug-did-your-parents-put-a-bowl-next-to-your-bed/619488/21 "2012-04-21T15:22:43Z")
It is a proud day in a mother’s life when her kid grabs his or her own barf bowl instead of bafring on mom while trying to tell her she’s feeling sick. ---
**Author:** ![Lightlystarched](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Lightlystarched](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightlystarched)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-had-a-stomach-bug-did-your-parents-put-a-bowl-next-to-your-bed/619488/22 "2012-04-21T15:46:24Z")
My kids get a paper bag, opened and standing inside a plastic bag. Easy to throw away and reassemble another one as needed. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-had-a-stomach-bug-did-your-parents-put-a-bowl-next-to-your-bed/619488/23 "2012-04-21T16:07:54Z")
We got a bucket. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-had-a-stomach-bug-did-your-parents-put-a-bowl-next-to-your-bed/619488/24 "2012-04-21T17:09:57Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Where did you hear this? It’s at 100% yes right now, considering that the one no vote was a mistake. I never got a bowl or a bucket that I can recall. Thinking back, I have no idea why. I guess they just assumed I could drag my ass to the bathroom and barf in the toilet like a big boy ;). Would have been a good idea, though. I think I will castigate my parental units next time I see them for their lack of child-rearing skills. Always good to have more ammunition :D. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-had-a-stomach-bug-did-your-parents-put-a-bowl-next-to-your-bed/619488/25 "2012-04-21T17:25:08Z")
I rarely threw up as a kid. I remember watching tv with a plastic ice cream pail by my side a few times but they were very rare. In fact, the only time I remember throwing up as a kid is all over a Hop On Pop book in the car which was strange because I never get carsick either. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-had-a-stomach-bug-did-your-parents-put-a-bowl-next-to-your-bed/619488/26 "2012-04-21T18:01:11Z")
Bathroom trash can. In fact I think when I had a stomach flu last year, I went to bed with the trash can next to me. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-had-a-stomach-bug-did-your-parents-put-a-bowl-next-to-your-bed/619488/27 "2012-04-21T18:17:51Z")
We always got a bowl - and, for that matter, still do if we’re down with a bug of some sort. Except now we have to get the bowl, and empty it, ourselves. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-had-a-stomach-bug-did-your-parents-put-a-bowl-next-to-your-bed/619488/28 "2012-04-21T18:26:55Z")
I said yes, but it wasn’t a bowl. It was always a paper grocery bag lined with a plastic bag. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-had-a-stomach-bug-did-your-parents-put-a-bowl-next-to-your-bed/619488/29 "2012-04-21T18:46:02Z")
either that or puke on the bed spread. my momma ain’t no dummy. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-had-a-stomach-bug-did-your-parents-put-a-bowl-next-to-your-bed/619488/30 "2012-04-21T21:33:46Z")
The throw-up bowl! It was a white fluted porcelain bowl, with an inch of water in it. Decades later, my sister and I were at some dinner where chili or stew or something was proudly brought to the table by the hostess–in a white fluted porcelain bowl! My sister and I looked at the bowl, looked at each other, and nearly died laughing. No, we did \*not \*partake of the chili or stew or whatever it was. ---
**Author:** ![Tracyfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f14d63/32.png) [@Tracyfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracyfish)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-had-a-stomach-bug-did-your-parents-put-a-bowl-next-to-your-bed/619488/31 "2012-04-21T21:55:44Z")
We used a small trash can lined with a plastic bag. Much easier to clean up than trying to make it to the bathroom. ---
**Author:** ![Arabella\_Flynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@Arabella\_Flynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arabella_Flynn)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-had-a-stomach-bug-did-your-parents-put-a-bowl-next-to-your-bed/619488/32 "2012-04-21T22:03:35Z")
No. My parents were not really great with sick children. I learned to stay quietly in my room, recognize the warning signs, and run for the bathroom as needed. I had long hair and held it back myself. Sometime in grade school I stopped bothering to notify them if I had started puking in the middle of the night, on the grounds that they couldn’t stop it for me, and I would probably still be puking when everyone got up in the morning anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-had-a-stomach-bug-did-your-parents-put-a-bowl-next-to-your-bed/619488/33 "2012-04-22T00:31:00Z")
A bowl is way too small. You must have not been very sick. We got the trash can. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-had-a-stomach-bug-did-your-parents-put-a-bowl-next-to-your-bed/619488/34 "2012-04-22T00:41:19Z")
Yep, wastebasket with a plastic bag. I could keep it by my bed and then toss the bag out every time I threw up, then get a new one. (Bag, that is) ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-had-a-stomach-bug-did-your-parents-put-a-bowl-next-to-your-bed/619488/35 "2012-04-22T01:08:13Z")
No, we weren’t allowed to vomit in our bedrooms. We had to sleep on the floor in the bathroom, sometimes all of us at once. Fortunately we had a decent-sized bathroom, but it was still miserable. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-had-a-stomach-bug-did-your-parents-put-a-bowl-next-to-your-bed/619488/36 "2012-04-22T01:16:08Z")
I got a big metal pot (nicknamed “the puking pot”) which my mom would leave with me at the hint of a tummy bug. I’ve been a notorious emetophobe since I was a little kid, and I simply Would. Not. Admit. that I was going to be sick. The result of this was usually that I didn’t have time to make it to the bathroom before nature demonstrated her inevitable dominance over my childish will. Hence the pot. Wise woman, Mom. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![surrounded\_by\_literalists](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8baadc/32.png) [@surrounded\_by\_literalists](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/surrounded_by_literalists)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-had-a-stomach-bug-did-your-parents-put-a-bowl-next-to-your-bed/619488/37 "2012-04-22T01:42:55Z")
I found that when using a bowl vs. a bucket (or other receptacle with straight sides) the bucket won. When vomiting with passion, sometimes barfing in a bowl with rounded sides led to the emesis shooting out the other side. Also if you give the kid something red to drink, I promise they will somehow manage to get it on the furniture or carpet, regardless of presence of a bucket or bowl. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-had-a-stomach-bug-did-your-parents-put-a-bowl-next-to-your-bed/619488/38 "2012-04-22T01:51:58Z")
I was given a paper bag lined with a garbage bag. As soon as I was capable of recognizing pre-vomit symptoms, I was responsible for getting my own bags. My mom hated sick kids, so she’d hand us a lined bag and leave. We weren’t allowed to have anything other than ice chips until we were done vomiting for several hours - she hated cleaning that stuff up. ---
**Author:** ![luv2draw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@luv2draw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luv2draw)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-had-a-stomach-bug-did-your-parents-put-a-bowl-next-to-your-bed/619488/39 "2012-04-22T02:43:08Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > My mom got something like [this](http://www.mountainside-medical.com/product_images/l/856/wash_basins_rectangular_7.2_liter_mauve_medegen__58934_thumb.jpg) from the hospital each time she had a kid and that’s what we used. To this day we still call them throwup buckets. > Also, it wasn’t just for a bug, but I used to get debilitating migraines which gave me a 100% chance of puking with no notice so I had it for that to. There was no making it to the bathroom for that. In fact, even though I’m 31 I think she still keeps bags in her car out of habit because it’s just easier to keep an old grocery bag stuffed down in the glove compartment then to clean up after someone if they get sick…and I got sick in the car a lot (from migraines, I don’t get carsick). Same here with the wash basin thing. In fact, I still have one in my own place; use it for hand launderables but it’s what I’ll grab if need be. I also have a small kidney-shaped bowl from when I was in the hospital once. Don’t trust that to hold enough though… I keep a couple of plastic grocery bags and a towel within reach in the car. In case I get stuck in bad traffic and have to pee so bad I can’t wait and can’t stop. Then I’ll stick the plastic bag down with the towel on top so I don’t ruin the seat. You never know… ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-had-a-stomach-bug-did-your-parents-put-a-bowl-next-to-your-bed/619488/40 "2012-04-22T03:30:47Z")
Towel. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-had-a-stomach-bug-did-your-parents-put-a-bowl-next-to-your-bed/619488.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-had-a-stomach-bug-did-your-parents-put-a-bowl-next-to-your-bed/619488.md?page=3)