# Kids going to public restrooms alone **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 5, 2003, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-going-to-public-restrooms-alone/193056 "2003-08-05T05:22:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SlowMindThinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@SlowMindThinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlowMindThinking)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2003, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-going-to-public-restrooms-alone/193056/21 "2003-08-05T18:17:38Z")
Oh, and if I can slightly hijack the thread, what do you do in the reverse situation? When you have to go and have young, but not young enough, children of the opposite gender with you? (Personally, I always found mall bathrooms the spookiest - inevitably long walks down an empty corridor with niches to disappear in. I’m going to leave my kids there? ---
**Author:** ![Aries28](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Aries28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aries28)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2003, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-going-to-public-restrooms-alone/193056/22 "2003-08-05T19:20:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zuma \* > \*\*Why is he “hiding his eyes”? This sounds kind of screwed up and strange. I’d be very concerned that your son is “hiding his eyes”. \*\* Have you ever been around a 6 year old little boy? He does it to be funny…he does it to show his displeasure at being forced to go in the ladies room with his mom. He is most certainly not screwed up or strange. ---
**Author:** ![Aries28](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Aries28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aries28)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2003, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-going-to-public-restrooms-alone/193056/23 "2003-08-05T19:26:47Z")
And to clarify…I don’t mean I make him go into the stall with me when I need to use the restroom. I make him go into the ladies room WITH me when he needs to use the restroom…I don’t let him go into the men’s room alone. He hides his eyes walking to the stall. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2003, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-going-to-public-restrooms-alone/193056/24 "2003-08-05T19:43:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by suezeekay \* > \*\*Make sure they go before they leave home and then no liquids; if you can, take them to MacDonalds where they usually have those bathrooms with only one toilet and you can lock the door. I know as soon as the 6 year old says he has to go the 3 year old will start in too. They can hold it a reasonable amount of time so don’t give in every time. When I traveled in Asia I took a device that you can go in and it jells the urine and then you just toss it. Maybe you could carry one of these in the car. And reward them for waiting until they get home. No easy answers because they don’t have family bathrooms, like they have family dressing rooms at the pool. I wouldn’t let them go alone e.g. rest stops, airports, and malls until they are 12 and I was standing right outside the door. Call me paranoid. \*\* Okay…paranoid. Is it just me, or does this sound kind of frightening? A “device” to go in? No liquids after you leave home? Don’t give in? Um…call me old-fashioned, but I think that relieving your bladder is more than a reward, it’s a right. Maybe it’s because I have a really tiny bladder, but I just find this post kind of disturbing, that’s all. ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2003, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-going-to-public-restrooms-alone/193056/25 "2003-08-05T19:49:50Z")
My 6 year old son averts his eyes too. He’s just discovered the idea of modesty, and doesn’t want to take the chance he’ll see anything he would be weirded out by. My 3 year old has no modesty yet and will often come out of the stall with his pants and underware off. He can get dressed by himself, he just sees to pressing need to. ---
**Author:** ![Big-Ole-Steve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4da419/32.png) [@Big-Ole-Steve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big-Ole-Steve)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-going-to-public-restrooms-alone/193056/26 "2003-08-05T20:15:50Z")
I’d say use some common sense. As someone pointed out, somtimes rest-rooms are packed with dads, uncles and grandpas. Nobody’s gonna mess with your kid in that situation…No rational human (certainly not I) is going to be silent while some other kid is being mis-treated. And it’s not like you can rape/murder/molest or kidnap a kid covertly in a packed restroom. Seriously, do you think he’s more likely to be raped/murdered/kidnapped/molested/etc in a restroom, or killed in the car-ride home from said restroom. You don’t refuse to take him for drives, do you? No, you put the safety equipment on…you’re taking necessary, but not ridiculously stifiling precautions. Do that in this case, too. But yeah, if the restroom is deserted, creepy, gives you a bad vibe, whatever…Don’t let him. Trust those mommy instincts…but don’t make them the only way you conduct your life, or you’ll end up with a tiny woody allen. JMO, Steve ---
**Author:** ![Joyfulgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f04885/32.png) [@Joyfulgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joyfulgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-going-to-public-restrooms-alone/193056/27 "2003-08-06T06:51:44Z")
This is why I’m glad places are starting to put in inter-sex family restrooms. I’ve seen quite a few lately, mostly in malls and such. Hopefully they become more common! ---
**Author:** ![auliya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/90db22/32.png) [@auliya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auliya)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-going-to-public-restrooms-alone/193056/28 "2003-08-06T11:43:37Z")
My son is 10, and insists on using the mens public tolets. I wait outside and if he has been taking too long I am not beyond asking a total stranger who is going in if they could let me know if they can see him in there. I never had a man say no, they are always more than happy to look. Usually he is playing with the blasted airdriers, while I stand outside fretting. If there is a disabled toilet available I make him use that, he has Asperger’s Syndrome, so I don’t feel its wrong, and he is happy enough to go there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-going-to-public-restrooms-alone/193056.md?page=1)