You bought the step stool for the kids' sink in a hurry, or you borrowed one from the garage, and now every morning somebody is balancing on the edge of the tub hoping for the best. Before you decide it is fine, check the fit. A stool that is the right height for one child at one sink can be the wrong height for the same child at the other house, and nobody wants to find that out at 7:10 with a toothbrush in hand.

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Measure the sink before you measure the kid

Start with the basin. Measure from the floor up to the bottom edge of the sink lip, and then measure from the front of the vanity to the center of the basin. Write both numbers down for each house. Mom's bathroom and your bathroom may be different heights, and the stool that works at one will be the wrong size at the other.

Then find the spot where the stool will stand. Measure the floor space in front of the sink, from the vanity front to the nearest wall or the door. You need room for a stool, one child, and a second child who also wants to brush. If the door swings into that space, you already know the answer.

Let the child show you the height

Have each child stand at the sink in their usual socks and rinse without leaning. You are looking for three things: their hands reach the faucet without stretching, their chin clears the edge of the basin, and they can see themselves in the mirror. If the chin sits level with the lip and the hands drop straight into the water, the stool is right. If they are up on their toes or bending over the sink, the stool is too short.

Do this check with the actual child, not with the height printed on the box. Kids grow between Sundays, and the stool you bought a while back may already be a size behind.

Check the top step and the feet

Look at the top of the stool. You want a flat platform wide enough for two feet side by side, with a lip or rail the child can hold. Press down on each corner. If it rocks on a level floor, it will rock on a tile floor with a wet heel, so do not argue with it. Then look at the feet. Pads that are still grippy and stay put on your bathroom floor are the ones to keep. Pads that have worn flat or slid off are a replace-now item, not a someday item.

Compare the two houses side by side

Put the numbers in two columns, one for Mom's house and one for yours. Write down the sink height, the stool height, the floor space, and whether the stool is portable or stays put. Then ask a few plain questions:

  • Does the stool live at the sink, or does it get carried in from the hall? A stool that has to be carried is a stool that gets left in the hall.
  • Is there a second stool, or does one child wait while the other one uses it?
  • Who checks the stool each week, and who buys the next one when this one is outgrown?

Name who owns the stool

A stool is a small thing, and small things fall through the cracks of a split week. One house has the stool, the other house has a bath mat and a kid asking where the stool went. Name the house where it lives, the house that checks it, and the house that buys the next size up. If you already keep the two-row calendar from The Kids' Week and Mom's Week, put the stool check on the kids' row so it shows up on the same Sunday as everything else.

The right stool will not fix a hard week, but it will save you a small daily fight, and you already have enough of those. Measure once, check the feet, and write down who owns it.