First trip need advice on rest room etiquette for DS

[FlightlessDuck]

If your worry is that your child is going to be molested, it's much more likely that your 14 year old will be fondled in the wave pool at one of the two water parks than your nine year old will be attacked in a bathroom.

If your problem is you don't want him by himself waiting for you, have your DD14 wait with him and take turns.

 

[kreckl]

There seem to be an awful lot of people deciding for someone else's family what is appropriate. Seriously, saying that our little boys are going to be peeking in at your daughters- while in the bathroom with their mothers? NOW who's sounding paranoid?
Nobody else should ever decide for someone else's family with regards to safety. And apparently Disney has decided that age 10 is reasonable!

 

[stinkpickle]

If your worry is that your child is going to be molested, it's much more likely that your 14 year old will be fondled in the wave pool at one of the two water parks than your nine year old will be attacked in a bathroom...

They don't put THAT in the brochure!

 

[bwang123]

So what exactly is unsafe about the male restroom?

As long as they don't tap their foot under the stalls, they should be good.

 

[revdon64]

Not a judgment of the op or anyone else, just an observation. Considering Father's Day has just passed, this thread is one good argument for the importance of dads.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Seriously??? That's quite a stretch. I'm a woman, a mother, and a nurse, and even I don't want to see that! I've been in my share of women's bathrooms and I don't recall seeing ANY women walking around in their bras. Overreact much?

Well, if you read the Disboards enough you'll find some people have stories of beautiful European women stripping down to just their bottoms in the middle of Typhoon Lagoon, and other have seen folks washing their dirty babies' bottoms in the water fountains. So I think the point is everything has happened at Disney at one time or another. And I'm not overreacting, I (1) don't have a son and (2) wouldn't care if he saw a woman topless if I did. I'm just positing a counter situation for the OP (who might, in fact, care).

 

[IowaTater]

There seem to be an awful lot of people deciding for someone else's family what is appropriate. Seriously, saying that our little boys are going to be peeking in at your daughters- while in the bathroom with their mothers? NOW who's sounding paranoid?
Nobody else should ever decide for someone else's family with regards to safety. And apparently Disney has decided that age 10 is reasonable!

It may sound paranoid to you but this actually happened to me in a restaurant's restroom. The mother brought the little boy in (and I'm not talking toddler here) and told him to face the sinks while she went in the stall. I could hear them talking and then the boy started getting antsy, I suppose. Next thing I know, there's a little eye peering through the crack at me.

Now, I am not typically a modest person but I will say this totally creeped me out. His mother was yelling at him to get back to the sinks but what else was she going to do about it? She was sitting on the toilet doing her business!

So to say that it is selfish of me to be uncomfortable with little boys not in stalls in the women's restrooms is a bit rude on your part. Just as people may not know why they are in there, people may not understand why other women don't want them in there.

On another note, if they are in the stall with their mother or the mother is standing outside the stall they are in, I am okay with that. The mother has a much handle on the situation then.

 

[LilyWDW]

There seem to be an awful lot of people deciding for someone else's family what is appropriate. Seriously, saying that our little boys are going to be peeking in at your daughters- while in the bathroom with their mothers? NOW who's sounding paranoid?
Nobody else should ever decide for someone else's family with regards to safety. And apparently Disney has decided that age 10 is reasonable!

Are you not doing the same thing? Deciding what is appropriate for others based off of your beliefs? So, if someone else's family does not find it appropriate to have an older male child in the women's bathroom, but someone does it anyway, are they not making that decision that THEIR belief is the right one?

 

[flortlebap]

Well, if you read the Disboards enough you'll find some people have stories of beautiful European women stripping down to just their bottoms in the middle of Typhoon Lagoon, and other have seen folks washing their dirty babies' bottoms in the water fountains. So I think the point is everything has happened at Disney at one time or another. And I'm not overreacting, I (1) don't have a son and (2) wouldn't care if he saw a woman topless if I did. I'm just positing a counter situation for the OP (who might, in fact, care).

...and I once saw a woman washing her sons diarrhoea soaked legs off in the splash pools. Ugh!!!

 

[Dani784]

We see this topic come up for discussion SO often and it is always the same. The vast majority of parents find the idea of older boys being dragged into the women's bathrooms by overprotective mothers unnecessary and embarrassing (for both the boy and the younger girls who are also in the room). Then the small percentage of overprotective moms counter with their horror stories of the 1 -in -a -million attack that they read somewhere. Statistics mean nothing to them. Rational discussion means nothing to them. The fact that a child has never been attacked in a WDW bathroom means nothing to them. The fact that the odds of the child being alone in the men's bathroom with a child molester is practically zero means nothing to them (how often do you go into a WDW bathroom and find only one other person there?).

So to those mothers who fall into that category- if your fear for the safety of your child is that great, do the rest of us a favor and use the companion bathroom. ETA: these are COMPANION bathrooms, not HANDICAPPED-ONLY bathrooms. There's a difference.

"Read a story somewhere"?!? How I wish it were a story!! Since apparently the details are too vague for some, my son WAS molested IN a bathroom with OTHER PEOPLE present including a FAMILY member!!

So please tell me some more about how it never happens or the statistics are so low. My son will be with me if his dad is unavailable. End of story. I really don't care how many women, whom I will never see again, that I offend by doing so.

Perhaps a petition for a family oriented place such as WDW to have FAMILY restrooms would be a good idea. For Pete's sake, my local Walmart has them as well as our children's museum. Why doesn't Disney??

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[aleksandr]

I have to admit that when I read the original post, I thought it was a troll.

Then I read the responses and realized it was for real. Oh my.

My DS9 has been using the restroom on his own since he was 5 or 6. And I know that if anything untoward ever were to unfold he'd be screaming so loud that you couldn't miss it.

 

[kreckl]

No- Its not the same thing at all. One scenario has a person who is trying to feel comfortable/make her child feel comfortable. There is no malice intended. Might there be a little boy who's peeking? Of course! But I would bet that would happen more with a 5 year old than a 9 year old. And he's not going to hurt you.
The other potential issue ( which I agree is unlikely - just like your scenario) is not the same. Like it or not, sending a little girl into the ladies room alone, so she may not have to go in the men's room with her Dad, is not the same as having a little boy go into use a urinal in the men's room.
Its amazing to me that Disney has a policy, which doesn't seem terribly unreasonable, but people are still being critical of a family who is just trying to use the restroom and move on.
There's a lot more outrageous behavior by families at Disney.

 

[bc133]

I do want to point out that there is a bathroom in frontier land that has 2 entrances. Make sure if he goes in by himself he comes out the right exit -if not you'll be waiting in frontier land & he'll be out the adventure land exit! This has happened to our family before-& it was before cell phones! Lol

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[Magpie]

"Read a story somewhere"?!? How I wish it were a story!! Since apparently the details are too vague for some, my son WAS molested IN a bathroom with OTHER PEOPLE present including a FAMILY member!!

So please tell me some more about how it never happens or the statistics are so low. My son will be with me if his dad is unavailable. End of story. I really don't care how many women, whom I will never see again, that I offend by doing so.

Perhaps a petition for a family oriented place such as WDW to have FAMILY restrooms would be a good idea. For Pete's sake, my local Walmart has them as well as our children's museum. Why doesn't Disney??

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

Your son has severe psychological issues that make him shake in fear when he enters a men's washroom, and your whole family has been traumatized. You guys have, by any definition, special needs that others don't have.

So why not just use the many companion bathrooms that Disney provides for just this kind of circumstance? No need for a petition.

 

[geraghty]

I think the thing with companion restrooms comes down to a few things.

1) Remember that for some people, due to their disabilities, these may be the only restrooms they can use at all. If you have other options, then use those first.

2) There are very few companion restrooms in the parks and can be very spread out.

3) Those who need these restrooms may take much longer then those who can use a regular stall. As such, there may be a long wait for these restrooms.

So, in general, if the OP wants to use these, they have the "right" to do so. I would just say that they would need to use them quickly to minimize the waits for those who NEED those restrooms and have no other options.

I'm aware of what the Companion/Disabled bathrooms are for, my brother has Down Syndrome and Autism and needs to use these on a daily basis. In Australia we have Disabled Bathrooms and Parents Rooms which are entirely separate. The Parents Rooms are exactly for this type of situation, they have uni sex toilets and changing facilities.

However, people need to use what is available. If people are uncomfortable about a child being in the Ladies Bathroom (a point that I absolutely do not understand but respect it), then the OP needs to use the Companion Restrooms, which some people are against too. Either way, they're going to do something "wrong" by someones standards.

At the end of the day - do what you think is right for your family

...and I once saw a woman washing her sons diarrhoea soaked legs off in the splash pools. Ugh!!!

That's just gross. I'm offended for having read that.

 

[disnut8]

I never understand women feeling uncomfortable about young boys in the Ladies Restrooms. Womens Restrooms have cubicles, it's not like anyone can see anything.

Thank you. I have often wondered this myself (and I am female). There are NOT naked women roaming around in the restroom!

Now, taking a female into a men's room with urinals - nope, that's not right.

I have been a proponant for years of having unisex bathrooms. Yup, unisex bathrooms. Everyone uses a freaking stall. No more long lines at the women's and no more urinals for the men. Honestly - what do you have at home?

 

[Gracie09]

Thank you both but it wasn't my intention to post our story for sympathy but rather understanding. People always assume things about others and inherently put their own selfish desires first. But stop to think that the little boy you see in the women's room may have been a victim of abuse and your whole perspective changes. My point is to stop assuming altogether. Stop assuming a mom is paranoid or a boy will peep or even that a man will molest. Do what you need to do for your own child's safety and comfort and stop judging others before you know their story.

These are just children. Yes, they're curious but I don't see why it's such a huge deal for them to be in a restroom. And before you point it out, yes I have daughters too and yes, my DH has had to take my daughter into a men's room before. The women's was closed for cleaning and poor girl was about to pee herself. He shielded her from the view of the urinals and led her to a stall and held the door shut for her while she finished up. It wasn't a huge deal and the other guy in there didn't even care. So why do women care? I just don't get it.

I'm am very sorry for your situation but I had a five year old foster daughter who was sexually abused in the bathroom by a family member. For her a tween in the bathroom would cause her to instantly become unglued. When she lives with us my husband used a completely different bathroom. Even if she wasn't in the bathroom he would use the other one. It took months for her to be ok alone in the same room as him. Isn't she entitles to feel safe in her appropriate gender restroom? As she told me one day, she can beat up little boys so they don't bother her it's the big boys.
What do these big boys do on field trips. As I said before if he's too big to be in the stall with you he is too big to be in the opposite gender bathroom. How are you goin to protect him if your pants are around your knees?

 

[luvmy3]

Thank you. I have often wondered this myself (and I am female). There are NOT naked women roaming around in the restroom!

Now, taking a female into a men's room with urinals - nope, that's not right.

I have been a proponant for years of having unisex bathrooms. Yup, unisex bathrooms. Everyone uses a freaking stall. No more long lines at the women's and no more urinals for the men. Honestly - what do you have at home?

My bathroom is an actual room, with a door. My dd certainly wouldn't want her brothers in the same room with her while she did her business, and vice versa.

I have never seen stalls in someone's home. I don't think I'd like that, I'm not really into the communal industrial look.

 

[luvmy3]

I'm am very sorry for your situation but I had a five year old foster daughter who was sexually abused in the bathroom by a family member. For her a tween in the bathroom would cause her to instantly become unglued. When she lives with us my husband used a completely different bathroom. Even if she wasn't in the bathroom he would use the other one. It took months for her to be ok alone in the same room as him. Isn't she entitles to feel safe in her appropriate gender restroom? As she told me one day, she can beat up little boys so they don't bother her it's the big boys.
What do these big boys do on field trips. As I said before if he's too big to be in the stall with you he is too big to be in the opposite gender bathroom. How are you goin to protect him if your pants are around your knees?

Yes, she has every right to expect to feel safe in a bathroom designated for her gender. This discussion always comes up, and never are the feelings of the girls taken into consideration. Apparently they just have to suck it up so that the mom's of boys can feel better.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

OP, if you are still reading, DISboards posters tend to be conservative on bathroom issues. However, if you bring your nine year old son into the restroom with you, nobody will say anything. It’s not a big deal, and your child’s safety comes before other people’s comfort levels.