jlm_mi

Kath - It's the worst, but also one of the best for comic relief. I can't believe some people get so worked up about something that is almost always a non-issue. How many people have actually had to leave a bathroom because they couldn't use the facilities with a "young man" in there????

Stephanie - The thing that is so hard to "understand" about your quote about self-absorption is that you are claiming that parents feel they have the right to do "whatever they want whenever they want" because they are taking precautions with their young children's safety. And I don't care that one person mentioned a 12 year old. Almost any parent would agree that 12 is too old for a boy to be in a women's room, and that's not what the vast majority of this thread has been about.

You claim that you have the right to feel it's inappropriate to take a 12 year old boy (or a 2 year old - it doesn't matter the age) into a women's restroom. You're right - you have the right to feel that way. And a parent has the right to choose what they feel is important in protecting their children, as long as there aren't laws against it.

So, in this case you have two people who feel differently about a topic that is not dictated by law. Each will do whatever they feel is best, and will feel about it however they feel. But you don't have any right to demand that parents not have their boys in a women's room any more than those parents have the right to demand that you enjoy having them there. You simply have to agree to disagree. It's not your choice to make for anyone but yourself.

1tiredmama

I certainly did not mean to start the "worse post ever". I was simply responding to a thread that I felt strongly about that happened to get shut down. Apparently, other people felt strongly about it too! I was sort of happy when this thread took a bit of a comical turn, but then you get the nasty comments.

I respect other people's differing opinions on the subject, but I don't respect an opinion that has to be expressed through insults and rude generalizations.

If we don't have anything thoughtful to add, then let's just let this thread die by not bringing it to the top again. Thanks.

E

I would like to weigh in on Stephanie's side, sort of. It has been my experience that questioning the behavior of parents with regard to their children has become almost impossible. The righteous mommies of the world will rise up and stomp you to smithereens for daring to ask that they be polite and considerate of others as they shepherd their little darlings through public places. The tragic fact that violence is committed against children makes it even more unlikely that reason will ever prevail in this discussion. Parents today are beset by pressures of all kinds, they raise their kids not in a village but in a vacuum, and they therefore react hysterically when challenged. I have resigned myself to putting up with crazy parental behavior in public, because I see no alternative.