I always flush public toilets with my foot - there's no way I'm touching that handle!...Or I use my sleeve, or part of my top / jacket.
Exactly!
My mom made me paranoid about public restrooms when I was verrrrrry young. She told me if somebody had bad pimples I could get some just by touching whatever they touched, assuming correctly that pimples seemed scarier to me then than un-understandable microbes and STDs. And my children will be just as paranoid, too.
Then there's the "psycholooney-in-the-next-stall-awaiting" paranoia that currently consumes me. I swear, my sons will be in their teens and I'll still make them go to the restroom with me when daddy's not around.
:-/
I know you think that now. There is no way my 11-yr-old will go into the women's room now, though. It's been a couple of years since he has gone in with me. I try to make sure the men's room is pretty empty and I wait outside the door. He is LOUD and I have put the fear of the psycholooney into him, so I feel pretty safe.
My 5-yr-old stays with me, of course, and so will the mini-freeper on the way, as long as I can manage it.