# Mamas, don't follow your babies into the men's room **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 13, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-follow-your-babies-into-the-mens-room/506294 "2009-08-13T15:32:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-follow-your-babies-into-the-mens-room/506294/21 "2009-08-13T17:25:02Z")
Nobody wants your kid. Stop making him hang out in the bathroom with you. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-follow-your-babies-into-the-mens-room/506294/22 "2009-08-13T17:35:10Z")
> [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](#): > > That’s the one good thing about all the AIDS-infected needles in McDonalds’ ball pits. Keeps the molesters on their toes. Well, that and nests of rattle snakes. ---
**Author:** ![SmashTheState](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@SmashTheState](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmashTheState)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-follow-your-babies-into-the-mens-room/506294/23 "2009-08-13T17:35:23Z")
Gender-segregated bathrooms are stupid and archaic. Not to mention sexist, since given equal space, more men can be “served” than women at any given time, thanks to urinals. The time has long since passed for unisex bathrooms. And while we’re at it, naked bodies may by “sinful,” but I don’t give a flying fuck about what you consider to be a sin. People should be entitled to dress (or undress) any way they please within the bounds of reasonable hygeine. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-follow-your-babies-into-the-mens-room/506294/24 "2009-08-13T17:52:44Z")
> [@SmashTheState](#): > > And while we’re at it, naked bodies may by “sinful,” but I don’t give a flying fuck about what you consider to be a sin. People should be entitled to dress (or undress) any way they please within the bounds of reasonable hygeine. If you’re talking about Victoria’s Secret models, well alright then. Otherwise we have the right to be spared the sight of your saggy/scrawny/zit-covered/randomly pierced/fading tattoo-covered body. > [@billfish678](#): > > Geez, won’t someone think of the children..and their eyes?! Preach it, brother. ---
**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 13, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-follow-your-babies-into-the-mens-room/506294/25 "2009-08-13T17:53:55Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > If you’re talking about Victoria’s Secret models, well alright then. Otherwise we have the right to be spared the sight of your saggy/scrawny/zit-covered/randomly pierced/fading tattoo-covered body. Hey come on now, that Milan runway model got her last tattoo removed, what more do you want from her? ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-follow-your-babies-into-the-mens-room/506294/26 "2009-08-13T17:57:53Z")
Actually, at least in my personal experience, parents are less insanely fearful of “stranger danger” these days than they were for a while. As a kid in the 1980s, I remember my mom giving us a special password, so that if she ever had to have someone pick us up at school that we didn’t know, that person would know the special password. Because, you know, strangers would frequently abduct kids directly from school under the guise of being a family friend. Anyway, Whatsit Jr. is currently age 7. I’ve been letting him go unattended into the men’s room in public since he was 5 or so, although I did used to hover near the door waiting for him. (I never yelled into the bathroom after him, though. Cripes.) But now he’s big enough to just go on his own. I do prefer to send him with MrWhatsit when possible, although that’s mostly just because MrWhatsit keeps him on task and stops him from spending 15 minutes in there playing with the hand dryer, and not because I’m scared of strangers. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-follow-your-babies-into-the-mens-room/506294/27 "2009-08-13T18:00:29Z")
> [@SmashTheState](#): > > Gender-segregated bathrooms are stupid and archaic. Not to mention sexist, since given equal space, more men can be “served” than women at any given time, thanks to urinals. Given equal space? Is that a joke? Have you ever been in a ladies’ room? It’s like freakin’ Xanadu in there. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-follow-your-babies-into-the-mens-room/506294/28 "2009-08-13T18:04:03Z")
> [@SmashTheState](#): > > Gender-segregated bathrooms are stupid and archaic. Not to mention sexist, since given equal space, more men can be “served” than women at any given time, thanks to urinals. The time has long since passed for unisex bathrooms. And while we’re at it, naked bodies may by “sinful,” but I don’t give a flying fuck about what you consider to be a sin. People should be entitled to dress (or undress) any way they please within the bounds of reasonable hygeine. The reason people don’t wanna see my hairy naked ass isn’t because it would be “sinful”. 😛 Your ass may be a thing of beauty, but if by chance it isn’t … please wear something. ---
**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 13, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-follow-your-babies-into-the-mens-room/506294/29 "2009-08-13T18:04:36Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Given equal space? Is that a joke? > > Have you ever been in a ladies’ room? It’s like freakin’ Xanadu in there. Yeah, the Xanadu of POOP. Believe me, other ladies are just as gross as you guys can be. Grosser because they all think their asses are just too special to come in contact with the toilet seat. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-follow-your-babies-into-the-mens-room/506294/30 "2009-08-13T18:14:57Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > This is why there should be “family rest rooms” in public places. Single full bathrooms with the usual handicapped accoutrements. Or a regular bathroom with multiple wheelchair-sized stalls. This would serve parents with opposite-gender children, people who may need assistance to use the toilet and the usual folks with mobility issues. > > My son is 7, and whether I take him into the ladies’ room with me varies with the venue. > > In Penn Station? Hell yes! If it’s me that has to go, there’s no way he’s waiting outside alone, and if he has to go, there’s no way he’s going into that mens’ room by himself. And he doesn’t peep, BTW. We go into the wheelchair stall so I can see what he’s doing. Unfortunately he can see what I’m doing as well, but them’s the breaks. He usually turns around and stares at the door. At what age do you think it will be safe to let him wait outside the door for you or go take a piss by himself? Will it be safe when he’s 9? 11? 13? I have three daughters. I think of myself as borderline over protective. My oldest is 9, but I’m not going to bring a 9-year-old girl into a men’s room with me. After about age 4 or 5, they can wait outside the door while I’m pissing or go into the ladies’ room by themselves. Nothing is going to happen. There is no epidemic of little boys getting molested in men’s rooms. I think I’d like to hang outside the ladies’ room the mext time my daughters are in there and scream out hysterical warnings every time a woman walks in. “DADDY’S RIGHT OUTSIDE, SWEETY!! EVERYTHING’S OK.” ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-follow-your-babies-into-the-mens-room/506294/31 "2009-08-13T18:18:09Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Yeah, the Xanadu of POOP. Believe me, other ladies are just as gross as you guys can be. Grosser because they all think their asses are just too special to come in contact with the toilet seat. Well, let’s first get the very obvious out of the way: That would be a humorous moniker for a musical ensemble. Second, I’m not talking about sanitary conditions. I’ve long been convinced that women are far worse pigs than men when it comes to bathroom cleanliness. I’m talking architecturally here. In any given public or semi-private environment, a typical mens room will resemble a utilitarian box, with cracked plaster walls and dirt floors. A typical ladies room has sheer square footage going for it, as well as classical Greek archtecture appointed in fine marble. At least that’s my experience. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-follow-your-babies-into-the-mens-room/506294/32 "2009-08-13T18:18:41Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Yeah, the Xanadu of POOP. Believe me, other ladies are just as gross as you guys can be. Grosser because they all think their asses are just too special to come in contact with the toilet seat. I have spent part of my checkered career as a janitor, and let me tell you, women’s bathrooms are always FAR more trashed than men’s rooms. I was warned about that when I started my first maintainance job, and didn’t believe them. Man were they right. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-follow-your-babies-into-the-mens-room/506294/33 "2009-08-13T18:25:24Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I think I’d like to hang outside the ladies’ room the mext time my daughters are in there and scream out hysterical warnings every time a woman walks in. > > “DADDY’S RIGHT OUTSIDE, SWEETY!! EVERYTHING’S OK.” Naw…this would be much better : Lora Lynnn…GET OUT NOW!.. This one looks like she is on the prowl !.. For gawds sake don’t show her your pretty teeth ! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-follow-your-babies-into-the-mens-room/506294/34 "2009-08-13T18:25:59Z")
Most of the time, I’m the only man in this wing of the building. The bathrooms here are single occupancy and unisex. It’s amazing how trashed I often find them. But at least the seats are always down. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-follow-your-babies-into-the-mens-room/506294/35 "2009-08-13T18:28:12Z")
I have worked in a few places where cleaning the restrooms was my job. The ladies is always messier, smellier, and has more vandalism\*. Much more trash on the floor. More likely to have not flushed. Just worse all around. \*probably due to teen girls being able to carry purses that easily conceal markers. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-follow-your-babies-into-the-mens-room/506294/36 "2009-08-13T18:31:39Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > I have worked in a few places where cleaning the restrooms was my job. > > The ladies is always messier, smellier, and has more vandalism\*. Much more trash on the floor. More likely to have not flushed. Just worse all around. > > \*probably due to teen girls being able to carry purses that easily conceal markers. Maybe part of the reason is that, if my wife and her friends are anything to go by, women use the place as their clubhouse. Among men it is pretty well understood that “I have to go to the washroom” is _not_ an invitation for your buddies to get up from the table and go with you … 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-follow-your-babies-into-the-mens-room/506294/37 "2009-08-13T18:38:51Z")
A couple of things. > [@Jackmannii](#): > > I ran into one of these hyper-protective mommies one time at a restaurant, pacing up and down in front of the men’s room door. I could tell she wanted to stop me from going in but didn’t have the nerve. Instead, as I walked in she shouted “Mommie’s right here, Bobby!!!”. Boy, that put me off my game, I can tell you. :rolleyes: I was tempted to reply (in my deepest basso profundo) “That’s OK ma’am, we’ll take good care of him.” I’m glad I didn’t though, because she probably would have come charging in to protect her nestling. > > Vigilant Mom also had this gem for Dear Abby readers: _“Children have been violated in a matter of seconds in the play areas of fast-food restaurants with the parents right there.”_ Oh yeah, no doubt this is an everyday occurrence in Amerika. And if you see someone dressed up as the Hamburglar near your kid, kick him in the crotch just to be on the safe side. You are hilarious! You have no idea how much this makes me laugh. > [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Yeah, the Xanadu of POOP. Believe me, other ladies are just as gross as you guys can be. Grosser because they all think their asses are just too special to come in contact with the toilet seat. At least the POOP is on or around the seat. I’ve had some pissing emergencies at bars after having broken the seal (that point in the evening, usually after drink 6, when you have to piss a lot) and have made the men’s room available to myself twice. Both of those restrooms rank as #1 and #2 most repulsive shitholes I have ever brought my too special ass into. One bathroom (I’m talking about you, Dave’s!) had shit on the wall. How does shit get on the wall? That doesn’t even make any sense. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-follow-your-babies-into-the-mens-room/506294/38 "2009-08-13T18:39:10Z")
Men get in and out. They have a job to do and they do it. They’re not there to socialize. I think it’s also a factor that they’re less likely to “hover,” and they don’t build toilet paper ass-gaskets which end up all over the floor. The amount of paper all over the floor of women’s rooms is staggering. You rarely see a thing on the floor of a men’s room. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-follow-your-babies-into-the-mens-room/506294/39 "2009-08-13T18:42:36Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > The amount of paper all over the floor of women’s rooms is staggering. You rarely see a thing on the floor of a men’s room. To be fair, you see a lot of dribbles. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-follow-your-babies-into-the-mens-room/506294/40 "2009-08-13T18:57:00Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > [Men] don’t build toilet paper ass-gaskets which end up all over the floor. You haven’t seen the men’s rooms here. Not only are there toilet paper ass-gaskets but we also have someone hanging strips of toilet paper from the stall walls, presumably to keep anyone from peeking between the cracks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-follow-your-babies-into-the-mens-room/506294.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mamas-dont-follow-your-babies-into-the-mens-room/506294.md?page=3)