There has been a lot of concern regarding the lack of toilet paper in stores as people are loading up.  When has there ever, in the past anyway, where children are home from school, restaurants are closed except for pick up meals, and all the activities we normally do have been cancelled? We are used to having our children and ourselves, if we work someplace other than home, able to use the bathrooms at their school, the ball park or restaurants. We use the bathroom at work and do not think too much about using toilet paper in all those places.

            Now, we have to be prepared at home for all of us to use our own bathrooms and that takes a lot of toilet tissue! Also we don’t know if the stores will stay open for much longer, so, of course we need to stock up, especially if we have several children at home all the time.

            When my son was little we had “The Rule of Three” at our house.  I might suggest that could be used in homes today.  The Rule of Three is this, when you go to the bathroom you only  need three squares of the toilet paper to wipe adequately. He was so used to counting out three squares that when he had friends visit, he imposed that rule on them as well.  He would tell them that they could only use three squares of toilet tissue. He either told them the rule before they entered the bathroom, or would yell it through the door after they were in the bathroom.

            There were certain exceptions to the rule, such as if you had diarrhea and had to wipe often. I can understand that another exception might be for teenage daughters, but again they could also be able to stick to the “Rule of Three” fairly well most of the time.

            Us older folks use the bathroom more frequently, but the Rule of Three can still apply. Toilet paper is something that we all need, so imposing the Rule can help us conserve so that there will be enough toilet tissue to go around until things get back to “normal”. Once we’re using the bathrooms in schools, restaurants and other venues away from home once again the Rule of Three can become a thing of the past, just like this coronavirus that has us all at home trying to stay safe and healthy. Don’t forget to wash your hands frequently, too!