| Author |
Message |
    
shoshannah
Citizen
Username: Shoshannah
Post Number: 420
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 2:13 pm: |     |
This question is for mothers of boys and fathers of girls. What do you do when your child needs to use a public restroom? Up to what age do you take a girl into the men's room or a boy into the women's room? When would you feel comfortable sending a boy into the men's room alone? We have one of each, so the issue comes up for both me and my husband. |
algebra2
Citizen
Username: Algebra2
Post Number: 1742
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 2:17 pm: | |
My son is almost 5 and I take him to the mom's bathroom. Lots of times I take him to the ladies room even when my husband is with us because he (hubby) claims the ladies room is cleaner. This concerns me -- how does he know that the ladies room is cleaner? |
Duncan
Citizen
Username: Duncanrogers
Post Number: 1672
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 2:27 pm: | |
Because there is just no way a men's room can possibly be any dirtier, in general.
"The truth is always a compound of two half- truths, and you never reach it, because there is always something more to say."-- Tom Stoppard |
bets
Citizen
Username: Bets
Post Number: 553
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 3:14 pm: | |
OMG!!! Duncan and Straw agree on something! The end of the world is near!!! |
Tom Reingold
Citizen
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 2494
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 3:40 pm: | |
When they're about six is a good time to send them on their ways. Sometimes they're scared or slow, but they'll be OK.
In case you didn't know, we have a support group mailing list for working parents in SO/M. To join, use (or obtain) a Yahoo ID and visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/somwp. Or don't use a Yahoo ID and just send a request to somwp-request@yahoogroups.com.
Tom Reingold the prissy-pants
There is nothing
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gretchen
Citizen
Username: Gretchen
Post Number: 108
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 5:36 pm: | |
Maybe I'm paranoid, but I'd only send a 6 year old into an empty and small bathroom, (like the 2 stall bathroom at the Livingston Mall Burger King rather than the big mall bathroom that's impossible to find anyway) and I'd stand at the door. I really can't imagine sending my child into a rest stop bathroom until they're a teenager! |
Morgan
Citizen
Username: Morgan
Post Number: 1
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, March 20, 2004 - 12:50 am: | |
I'm thinking - I'd only send a 6 year old if he's had self-defense lessons! I'm sure most 5/6 yos wouldn't be too afraid. But I'd be a wreck. I know there probably isn't a kidnapper or child molester in any given restroom - but no way can I send in my five year old unless I'm sure. So -not only do I not want to see the urinals in use, I'm sure the users don't want to see me - with my daugther in the stroller - making an inspection. So, I remind him to go before we leave, plan short trips, and when it's urgent we all troop into the ladies room.
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bpaandco
Citizen
Username: Bpaandco
Post Number: 93
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, March 20, 2004 - 1:35 pm: | |
I feel it is a matter of time and choice. I am a single mom with a son. When he was younger, I didn't think twice about bringing him into the ladies room with me. I could send him into the stall by himself, and it never seemed to bother the other ladies that may have been in the bathroom at the time. By the time he was 5/6, I tried to go places with someone like my dad tagging along, so that my son would have the "pleasure" of getting to know the joys of public men's restrooms and not have to be alone. If an emergency arose, I would try and find a place that had a "one at a time" facility, so that I could wait right outside the door for him. Eventually, he told me he didn't need me to hang around so much. He's 12 now, and I have little fears of him being alone in a public rest room. I do, however, still watch all that go in behind him, and wait until he's safely back with me. |
Chasm
Citizen
Username: Chasm
Post Number: 168
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, March 20, 2004 - 5:31 pm: | |
If I recall correctly, I brought my girls to the men's room up until they were about 6 or so. Luckily they are close in age, so when one had to go to ladies room on their own, I would make them both go together, then I stood by the door and waited (breathlessly) for them to emerge. Sometimes I would yell in to them to make sure they were OK. They're now 13& 12. I still get antsy (but I don't wait by the door anymore).
My son is 5 - so I still accompany him. When he's with my wife, she takes him to the ladies room.
thirdgearrocks |
Frost French
Citizen
Username: Frost
Post Number: 26
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, March 21, 2004 - 2:09 pm: | |
Algebra, in my experience, your husband is wrong. One would definitely think ladies' rooms would be cleaner, but every mens' room I've been in has been 10x cleaner than womens' restrooms. Women are pigs in public restrooms, pissing all over the seat, not washing their hands, etc. I try to use the mens' room as often as possible and have even mastered the art of using a urinal. But that is a story for another thread. |
debby
Citizen
Username: Debby
Post Number: 123
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, March 25, 2004 - 7:13 pm: | |
Algebra - your DH only changed his first poopy diaper after 2 and a half years. He's conning you. |
Tom Reingold
Citizen
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 2548
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, March 25, 2004 - 9:06 pm: | |
Frost French, you mean like this?
http://www.restrooms.org/standing.html
Tom Reingold the prissy-pants
There is nothing
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