Clemyjontri Park in northern Virginia is an amazing park for kids of all ages. It features a huge space full of fun playground equipment, including a pathway painted just like a real road; structures that look like cars, a bus, a fire truck, and even a train; a walk-through maze; and as many slides and climbing structures as you could ever want. Here's an aerial picture from the Fairfax County Parks website:
The park also features the motto "where every child can play." It is designed with ramps in addition to steps so that disabled children can go up more easily. It also has a rocking structure that can be accessed via wheelchair and even a specialized swing called the "liberty chair" that allows wheelchair users to swing.
What Clemyjontri does not promise, however, is to be a place where every child can use the restroom.
There is a clean and even stylish building with indoor restrooms. One of the two sinks in the women's bathroom features a rare built-in stool so that small children can reach the sink:
Wow! This is so great. Now my toddler can wash his own hands!
Not so fast... Neither of the two soap dispensers can be reached by any child who would need a stool in order to use the sink (notice them located on either side of the sink in the photo above). And the faucet itself is not particularly easy to reach for a young child standing on the stool.
(On a positive note, the hand dryers are located fairly low on the wall, so you can see my son playing happily with one in the mirror in the picture above.)
What's worse, the toilets are a nightmare!
It looks clean and fairly modern, but it has no toilet seat and is made of metal. My potty-training child had to sit directly on what I as an adult would never think of putting my butt directly on (it looks like the part of the toilet under the seat, so I can only guess that squatting is expected). It was a warm winter day at about 50 degrees, but that toilet seat was still FRIGID, since it was all metal.
What would I have liked to have seen?
- One stall with a miniature toilet that has a plastic seat so that it stays fairly warm and is more comfortable for small butts.
- One sick that is low to the ground with its own soap dispenser mounted low on the wall next to it. OR A soap dispenser next to the sink with the stool and a faucet located closer to the front of the sink so that little kids can easily reach it.
