OO

LOL Scarlett...

I knew there were some unisex bathrooms in France, and last Christmas was standing in a looooong line for a ladies room in Paris, while no one waited for the mens room. A couple of women broke off from our line and headed into the mens room instead. I thought it must be one of the unisex bathrooms, so in I went too. Guys were all in a row at the urinals on the right hand wall--heads turned on a swivel as we walked past them to the stalls, funny little puzzled smiles on their faces. Did my biz, came out, washed hands (near urinals) eyes straight ahead, and walked out, feeling...very hip, grown up, free. lol On examining the signs once outside however, I realized that these were not unisex bathrooms at all. The guys hadn't said a thing, and if there were any emotion attached to their reaction, I'd say it was amusement more than anything. It was sort of fun...you all should try it one day!

Dick

There is a flip side to this.....young girls in the men's room.

While At a theme park, my 4 year old grandaughter had to use the bathroom and I took her into the men's room.

While we were washing at the sink, a securituy guard came in....looked at the 2 of us conversing..smiled.. and left. Someone had alerted him that I had taken a young girl into the men's room.

Before she was born, I probably wold have been offended that a guard was checking up on a grandparent. ...not anymore...I was actaully pleased that someone was concerned about the safety of my granddaughter.

Scarlett

Good morning~
OO that is funny
What was mortifying for my son was when we were going up the staircase to the theatre and a lady introduced him to her husband as the lovely young man who took her to the mens room LOL

Stephanie, perhaps one day when you have a child, you will know the same worry and be more understanding.

Dick

OO,

That reminds me of something I saw(last year)while in a men's room in an Italian Museum.

A steady stream of college age women were using the men's room. When I left I saw that the tour leader in charge was actually telling them to use the men's room.

Imagine my surprise, to see that they all had name badges from Brigham Young University...they were Mormons!

I asked the guide if it wasn't a little unusual to be sending Mormon women into the men's room. He told me that he had no choice or he would be there all day.

Practicality rules again.

cee3

As the Mom of a 9yr.old boy(soon to be 10), it is encouraging to hear that most women don't mind a young boy in the ladies room. However, I have gotten many sideway glances,even when my son was as young as 8. It seems to me that a lot of people say they don't mind, until they encounter a boy in the restroom. Really, is a little boy such a threat to your privacy? What do people think he's going to see? Personally, you were at more risk of being spied on when he was a toddler, and thought it was fun to peek under the stalls.

As far as the 12 yr. old in with his Mom goes, consider this--you do not know what the situation is with that child.
My son has Asperger's syndrome, a high functioning form of Autism. At first glance you may think he's too old to be in there with me, but in fact his social skills and social savvy, are far below those of a "typical" 9 year old. I worry that he wouldn't know how to extricate himself from an uncomfortable situation, much less a threatening one.
And remember, it's not just adult males that pose a threat, young teenagers can be quiet menacing under certain conditions.

beachdreams

Growing up I was a "daddy's girl" and always wanted to go run errands with him. Being a child, I almost always had to use the bathroom during our errand running. I remember my father making me stand right next to the door while he checked to make sure there were no men in the men's restrooms and then letting me go in and use them. He would stand by the door and explain he had his daughter using the restroom and ask if they would mind waiting and I do not remember any complaints. Poor man, he had two of us and I guess he just got use to it.

Scarlett

Anyone who has gone to the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC and had to use the facilities during an intermission will understand crossing the gender lines at the bathrooms

A few restaurants have a couple of toilets that are mens/ladies, and I have never noticed anyone being bothered by that.
Oh well, someday there will be more women designing buildings and their facilities

BuffaloGirl

Stephanie: (hopefully not), but the same person who messed with your siblings could just as easily be the pervert in the men's room messing with strangers. My judgement with my son has never been based on watching too many things on TV. It's just common sense!!!!

Jocelyn_P

Scarlett, about 10 years ago I went to an Elton John/Billy Joel concert at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. The lines at the women's bathrooms were unbelievably long, so some ladies were using the men's. An apparently bored (male) opportunist witnessed this and sued the city of San Diego for FORTY FIVE MILLION DOLLARS, claiming he was emotionally scarred from the experience.

radiofanatic

I have no problems with children of the opposite sex in the restroom. The problem I do have, however, is the children (both sexes) who continuously look under the stalls and the parents don't do anything to stop them. I don't blame the children, I blame the parents for that.

miguelgcuadra

If I do not think my kids are safe, I do not care about what other people think. What is the big deal, kids are innocents. I personally do not like my daughter in the men bath but she has to go, if I see a little girl from somebody else, I just hold myself and wait till she is gone.. Is all about respect and understanding....Europeans are more liberal about gender, and sure they have less violence....

Stephanie

Buffalo:

Its about common courtesy, teenage boys in a womans room is not appropriate. My brother was told to go to the mens room at 10 or so years of age. My Mom would crack slightly the mens bathroom door open and talk to my brother or she'd get a man who was walking in to look out for him, he is a full fledged adult now, nobody killed him in the bathroom. The paranoia on this thread is overwhelming. Most people of either gender just want to take a leak with some kind of privacy and don't want teen boys or girls in the inappropriate bathrooms.

Dick

Stephanie,

Times are different now.

I grew up in Boston and was able to take the streetcar into town with friends when I was 10.

I can't imagine that an parent would permit their 10 year old to do that now.

Either the world is different now.....or we are more aware of the dangers. We owe it to our kids to exercise caution.

I don't see the problem, really, in a young boy, in the ladie's room. Doesn't everyone close the stall dooor?

jlm_mi

Since when is a 10 year old a teenager? And why does it matter that MOST people aren't going to molest or murder your child? We don't protect our children from MOST people, but from the bad ones, who could be anyone, anywhere, anytime. So, it pays to take normal, sane precautions when they are available.

Suki

I have no problem with boys in the womens' room, but on some level I do agree with Stephanie. Once a normal boy reaches 12 or 13, there is no way he wants to use the womens room, and what message about the world are we sending to children? That we live in a world where we can trust no one? I think that caution and good sense can be taught and then utilized by a teenager (I am not speaking of younger boys here.) Each person has to decide whether they want to approach the world with an attitude of paranoia, or if they would prefer to live without that emotion and take the infinitesimally small chance that a violent crime will befall them or their children. For some, I know that no chance, however small, is acceptable, but, for me, life is such a crap shoot anyway that I choose to be cautious where appropriate but not to worry about the things that are extremely rare occurrences. Why, I would never travel for fear of terrrorist attacks if I lived that way.

trivbeck

A couple years ago my boyfriend and I were in Italy and went to the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi. The restrooms there have huge picture windows and a fantastic view of the valley. While I was in the women's room, a mother and her son (around 13 yrs old) burst into the restroom and videotaped it! Besides the view, they scanned the room too while exclaiming, "Bellisimo, bellisimo". They left the women's room and then proceeded on to the men's where they continued to videotape.

snowrooster

Though I've been reading responses to this question and it is intersting to read others' opinions on the topic, I could quite honestly care less. My son is only 3 so age isn't an issue, but protecting him from harm is and always will be more important than the opinion of some uptight woman that can't deal with a boy in the ladies room!! So when my boy gets a little older, feel free to give me dirty looks in the ladies room. I prefer dirty looks to endangering my child. Though right now we're just working on keeping pants dry and using the potty before we go out!!

GoTravel

Sorry but I have a real problem with seeing a boy over the age of five in the ladies room.

Right, wrong, indifferent, it makes me uncomfortable.

Dick

GoTravel,

I respect your right to feel uncomfortable. Please, don't let your feelings intefere with the rights of parents to protect their children.

PS. I feel uncomfortable when I see people that don't wash their hands after going to the bathroom.

bennnie

In the town next to me an 8 year old went into the mens room at a Burger King unaccompanied while his mother waited outside the door. She had poked her head in to see if the facility was empty and decided it was okay for her son. He went in, a teenage employee went in shortly thereafter. The employee caught a middle age creep in the middle of molesting the little boy. The prevert had hidden in a stall.

I've never questioned any mother with a son in a ladies room ever since and nor will I allow my daughters to go unaccompanied.