Would You Comply?

So last summer I took my 3 kids (11 year old girl, 9 year old boy, 7 year old boy) to Busch Gardens several times without my husband. I had to use the restroom each time we went and the boys came with me. I was NOT leaving them outside to wait by themselves in a crowded amusement park.

We used the family restrooms when available, but if they weren't, the boys came with me. Not one person looked at me strange, and all of my kids look older than they are.

At local places, I give all of them 2 minutes before I'm busting in the door. It took me going in once on each of them to know I wasn't playing. Sorry, but their safety trumps anyone else's opinion, in my opinion.

Nope. Wouldn't comply. Not until there is a family restroom alongside every single sex bathroom. And I never run into naked women lounging around public restrooms outside the stalls. Do you?

Bathrooms have doors. If I am walking into a women's restroom with my boy, there's a reason. It would be great if there were more family bathrooms, but as long as there are not, if my kid has an emergency, he's coming in the ladies room with me.

There are kids with special needs that don't "look" disabled, but need additional help. If an older kid is with their parent (over 6-7 years old), I assume that they NEED to be. And if mom is paranoid about strangers in the men's room, I'm not going to give her a hard time.

And some kids look 2-3 years older than they are. My 7 year old is the size of a 10 year old. When he was 4, he looked like a 6 year old.

What in the world do the people for whom this is a "problem" expect a kid to see? And if the kid is in there with mom, mom should prevent them from looking under doors.

Also, if bathroom doors were made well, there wouldn't be a large gap where the door closes and latches. That's a big pain in the butt. But again, a parent should be parenting their kid so they aren't looking through the cracks on purpose.

Nope would not comply. As a mom to an 8 year old special needs boy there is no way I could comply with that policy. I've gotten a few comments here and there whenever I've brought my child into the women's restroom but that matters not. Safety of my child is paramount to others comfort in this case. Family restrooms are rare plus my son goes into the stall with me whether he needs to use the restroom himself or not.

NO. I would NOT comply and this is why.

http://www.cnn.com/US/9811/16/boy.killed.02/

Sorry - there are sickos out there. My boys are (almost) 15 and 12 (13 in July). One is a black belt in TKD and the other is a red belt. Does it help when they go off on their own? Yeah...but it doesn't keep me from paying attention.

I would tell the management team to pound sand or let me go in the men's bathroom with my son. That's my compromise.

I want to know why certain women are so upset about a 7 or 9 year old in a rest room with private stalls that anyone even felt the need to post a sign banning boys from ladies rooms!

And someone in the other responses mentioned gym locker rooms - there are private changing rooms so anyone who doesn't want little boys looking at her can use those. Moms bringing boys (or girls) in can always check to see if anyone is half naked in the main locker room if they don't want their kids to see body parts.

I agree with the post below that men should be able to take daughters into the men's room just as women take boys into ladies rooms. I think family rest rooms offer the chance to get everyone in one bathroom, but some older establishments don't have the space to build those. So people have to get over themselves and let kids in rest rooms (private stalls) with whichever parent is there. Not everyone has a same gender parent to match up with a child - so I don't understand why a woman in a bathroom with a door on the stall has to be so freaked out about a little boy watching her wash her hands or fix her hair. Just a whole lot of BS about nothing.

If the 6 year old boy isn't allowed in the ladies room, perhaps mom should go with him into the mens room since there isn't a sign against that. :-)

I've used the mens room when the ladies has a long line. It is ridiculous to have 20 women waiting for 2 stalls when the mens room is vacant.

I honestly don't get why women would be uncomfortable with a little boy in the bathroom. I wish all standard public restrooms were unisex.

Generally, yes. If it's a rest stop bathroom on the side of a highway, my 9 year old boy is still going in the ladies room with me. But, that's the only exception I can think of. I don't quite understand what all these women think goes on in the men's bathrooms.

I brought mine in with me when they were little. When they were older I'd send them in a group. Never just one. And I would stand outside the bathroom and call out to them as they went in and about once a minute to make sure any guy in there would know I was waiting and checking on them.

We did have an incident (my son was 11) in a bathroom - just a man showing himself and trying to get a reaction out of my son, but thankfully my son knew to come out right away.

I've never been bothered by it - we have doors. All they are going to see is you washing your hands right? Love Dana's comment below. No naked ladies :)

No. I would not comply. I have 4 boys. No way. We all go together.

Now that they are older? I send the oldest (15) in with the younger ones.

I would not comply unless I felt very comfortable doing so.

Bad stuff can happen anywhere. Any business has the right to post their preferences and I have the right to shop elsewhere if I refuse to comply. Why do my desires trump someone else's right to conduct their business environment as they choose? I think people forget that they are on someone else's property when they are shopping. If you don't like their policy, go spend your money elsewhere. Vote with your wallet.

I also just use my good common sense and gut instinct. I would rather just go somewhere else if I got a bad feeling about the people hanging around that restroom than make my son feel unsafe by dragging him into the ladies room with me.

ETA: asked about why it would be a bother if older kids are in the bathroom... first off, if you are seven or nine, you can wait outside the restroom in the hallway or elsewhere, right? If your kids are so ill-behaved that they can't wait out of eyesight at that age, there are bigger problems. I've had older kids "peek" into the stall and show no respect for people's privacy. This is why they have to make policies-- because of parents who don't actually make their kids behave.

A couple of comments for this, who is going to be the monitor to say they can't go in because their birth certificate says they are a 09? We have big kids. My nephew looked like he was 7 when he was 3. With a baby face of course, but I actually had people say they thought he was 7 to me. My daughter has the same build. She is 9 and people say she looks like she is 12.

So my thought is, you are at a crowded arena, the mens room has 2 doors. The kid goes in one door while you wait. He get confused (because he is 6?) and goes out the other door or gets shuffled out the other door. Now he is lost. Or, at the crowded arena, there are a bunch of drunk men at the game or rodeo and you have to send your 6 year old in there with them. No I wouldn't comply and they would hear a heap of sh!t from me if they said one word.

Besides, I can't remember the last time pee'd with door open.

It depends. I have a seven year old son. In restaurants and smaller places, I let him go in the men's room. I have just started letting him go in the men's room at our local zoo, but I wait outside rather than going in the ladies at the same time. Certain places, absolutely not. Top of that list is at the airport- he is coming in the ladies with me for the foreseeable future there!

While I personally wouldn't feel terribly awkward about using a restroom with a 7 year old boy standing around, I would have been absolutely horrified to use the restroom with a 7 year old boy when I was a child. I can't even imagine having to pee while a male classmate is listening or perhaps peeking at me through the crack in the door!

I had my boys use the mens restrooms and the mens change rooms once they were in school full time and perfectly capable of managing without my assistance.

Anyway, I believe that businesses, pools and gyms all have the right to make their own rules, and if people don't want to comply with those rules they should just avoid those businesses. Many places provide family rooms now.

nope would not comply. scary things happen in the restroom and no way is my kid old enough to know how to handle a bad situation. sure the chances of it happening aren't that great but i'm not willing to let my son be that 1 in 100 or whatever the chances are.

My kids stayed with me in the ladies locker room until I felt comfortable letting them use the other side. In a bathroom only (not a locker room with showers where people get naked) there is no reason for any age limit. I think gender neutral bathrooms would fix all these issues. People are way too uptight about what the person next to them in the other stall may have between their legs.

No way. One thing about family bathrooms: it makes me crazy to see individuals using the family bathroom instead of walking the few extra feet to go to a male or female restroom while you are standing waiting with a stroller and your children. The gym we used to belong to was notorious for this happening. I wish people would put up a sign outside family bathrooms indicating that it is for use for people with children or others who need assistance. THAT would be really helpful.

It depends on the place, but I think my son was 7 when I was finally ready for him to go into the men's room in most places. I always stood outside the men's room door and often called in if he was taking longer than I liked. I even got updates from kind men coming out, that "he's just washing his hands." Lol. I took him into the swimming pool ladies locker room until 6. he looked 8 by then, and we got a comment or two. I explained that he was the appropriate age and they rolled their eyes. We have another pool in the area with two entrances and it's a community college pool. When we swam there, I had him go with several other boys into the men's locker room or we'd change at home until I felt he was ready. My son is way too friendly and wants to please everyone. No way would I put him in a position that I know could be dangerous.