‘At what point will you allow him to go to the gents? A special outing on his 18th birthday?’
A mum has stirred up a rather large debate after revealing she won’t let her seven-year-old son use the men’s toilets on his own over fears for his safety.
Seeking advice, the woman posted on the Am I Being Unreasonable? forum on Mumsnet, where she detailed how her son has started to complain about having to go to the ladies toilets with her when they are in public.
The mum said she lets her son go to the Gents in one public place where she knows there’s “never anyone about”, because she “knew he wouldn’t encounter anyone at the urinals”, but isn’t comfortable letting him use the facilities at busier places, like swimming pools.
She explained that she is always honest with her son “but I don’t know how to explain why I’m not letting him go anywhere else” – “to spell out what I’m worried about”.
Some commenters suggested the mum was being “paranoid” and creating an issue where there wasn’t one, and that her son was too old to be going to the ladies toilets with her.
The mum later clarified her fears, saying she doesn’t want her boy “seeing grown men using urinals” or to run the risk of “someone dodgy approaching him”.
“We all know there are flashers and worse about. I saw them when I was a kid and so did most women I know,” she wrote.
One commenter sarcastically asked: “At what point will you allow him to go to the gents? A special outing on his 18th birthday?”
“I don’t think most men’s toilets are full of predators who hang out there all day waiting to pounce on a kid,” another said.
A third added: “You’re going to have to get comfortable with it sooner than later. He won’t be able to go into the ladies for that much longer.”
Other users offered advice on how to handle the situation, like waiting outside the men’s and calling out to him so that everyone inside knew she was there.
The mum went on to explain that her son had only just turned seven and acknowledged that ‘at some point he just won’t agree to go in the ladies, hopefully by then he’ll be ready to handle any bad situations”.
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