D.C.’s newest museum is up for an incredibly prestigious and useful title: 2021 America’s Best Restroom award. I did not know about this until Washingtonian ran a piece about the bathroom’s trophy potential, Can DC Snag This Year’s Best Restroom Award? Author Jane Recker lays out some pretty good criteria in judging a restroom and ultimately decides, no, Planet World does not deserve the award.

I really like Recker’s analysis. But her criteria on what makes a bathroom good for an individual (design, entertainment, poop safety) is not the same criteria on what makes a bathroom good for a family. 

Before the pandemic my family was out as often as possible. We changed diapers in many restaurants, museums, libraries and breweries. Then the pandemic hit and we changed our kid at home or outside. We’re finally comfortable enough allowing our kid in certain establishments to clean their butt. Some of the bathrooms are just as good as they were pre 2020, some are no longer offering things like complimentary diapers. Until kids are able to get vaccinated, I doubt we’ll return to a free diaper in every neighborhood utopia we once traversed. But there is one family bathroom in the DMV that made me stop, take photos and drag my partner inside the bathroom to survey the amenities.

The family bathrooms at The Little Towns Children’s Museum are the best family bathrooms in the DMV. They’re clean, big and fully stocked. When it comes to family bathrooms, these are the biggest criteria.

The cleanliness is not surprising. The Little Town is only open for small groups for set blocks of time. There’s time to thoroughly clean between sessions and the bathroom is obviously cleaned well.

The size can not be better. It’s not large enough to feel like you’re in a bedroom, but it’s big enough for multiple parents or caregivers and any necessary equipment like a wheelchair or stroller.

The cherry on top of this bathroom experience is the diaper selection. My kid didn’t need a change and I was doing all I could to encourage them to go here rather than during the car ride home. They’re stocked with two sizes of diapers in three different designs and two different types of wipes. It’s luxurious!

Bonus features like a step stool for potty trained kids and bell to alert staff for a not-exactly-trained-kid-that’s-stuck-in-a-toilet-seat are the kind of features that solidify my decision to rave about one particular bathroom in the D.C. suburbs.

Kudos to The Little Towns Children’s Museum on their excellent facilities. Everybody poops, some people poop in diapers and this place really understands everyone has different poop needs.

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