As a dad, there was one moment in both of my children’s lives that I was dreading and that was potty training. I mean, the concept of it sounds easy: take your child to the bathroom and have them sit on the toilet and viola, potty training is done. But is that ever really the case?

For some strange reason, maybe it was destiny, but my daughter’s training went pretty smoothly. We modeled for her what she should do in the bathroom and little by little she began to get the hang of it until she was finally able to go on her own. Now with our son, that was a whole different story.

Obviously, there is a difference between potty training a girl and a boy. The girl just needs to sit down and let gravity do what it has to do. When you have a male child, you have to make sure certain appendages are pointing in the correct direction or else you might have to wash more than your hands after they are finished. Trust me, no matter how much you prepare for this to not happen to you, it eventually will happen.

Fast forward to the present time where both of our children are using the bathroom with ease and surprising us with the way they clog up the toilet every now and then. I mean these kids are half our size and sometimes it amazes me what is expelled from their body that causes the toilet to flood. In our home, this matter is easy to take care of with a plunger and a little bit of elbow grease. Our apartment is old so we don’t have to worry about what we use to unclog our blockage, but if we had a septic tank things would be a little different.

Yes, friends, in honor of SepticSmart Week (September 18-22) we wanted to share a few tips on how to take care of your septic tanks shared to us by NSF International. Now, while you may not have a septic tank in your home it never hurts to learn something new every now and then. For example, did you know that a failing septic system can contaminate groundwater and harm the environment by releasing bacteria, viruses, and household toxics into the local waterway? If you didn’t know that, now you do.

So here are a few tips from NSF International and if you have family and friends with septic systems, share this information with them.

• Do pay attention to when your septic system is draining slowly. There may be an issue and it is time to do maintenance.
• Don’t use the garbage disposal for a dumping ground of food waste, grease, oil, cleaners, paint or other solid items.
• Do find a record of where your septic system and tank are located on your property. Knowing where the system is allows you to visually inspect it to see if it is overloaded and flooding your yard.
• Don’t forget to have the tank inspected and pumped out if the sludge waste is within 6 inches of the outlet of the tank. The solid waste in the tank cannot go into your septic system and should be removed from the tank by a professional licensed septic tank pumper.
• DO remember to fix leaks and replace appliances and fixtures with low water use ones that promote the longevity of your septic system.
• Don’t forget to visit NSF International’s resource page for more information about your septic system.