Girls in the men's room.

[Luvmic49]

Just saw a post about bathrooms at Disney and it brought to mind our last two trips there. There were girls in the men's room. I have seen this several times. They come in with an older male (their father I guess) and some are as old as I would say 10. Most are foreigners I think. I know ladies take small boys to the restroom with them, but the ladies room has closed stalls, unlike the mens room which have some closed stalls. It just makes me feel a little uncomfortable to see girls in the restroom while I'm standing there. Maybe I am just to old fashioned.
Has anyone else seen this?

 

[bytheblood]

Being a female I have not seen this, but if I were, I would feel uncomfortable. Especially if there were men at the urinals.

 

[VegasMike21]

Age 10 sounds too old if you ask me. I know when I was a kid my mom would bring me into the restroom with her but after the age of 5 I waited outside.

 

[kmk1180]

Being a stay at home father of two toddlers, one boy and one girl, I have to say...some times it's unavoidable.
I certainly not going to leave my 2 year old daughter outside while I take my 4 year old son to the bathroom.
And sorry, but I'm not going to worry about what any of the men in the room think.
That being said, 10 would be too old I think.
But they might not have been that old. I know alot of people miss judge the age of my girl because of her size. She's really tiny. The opposite I'm sure is true there's probably alot of girls who look 10 that are alot younger.
And unless your a parent of a child that age you might not be the best judge in ages.
And you are at Disney, there's all kinds of families there wiht little girls, not all of them have mothers with them for whatever reason.

So I would say, if you worried things like this might happen, use a stall
and close the door.

 

[claryche]

At least it wasn't the other way around where the dad took the daughter into the women's restroom. That happened to me, not at Disney but in my hometown. I walked into the women's restroom with my DS to find a dad with his maybe 4 year old daughter. At first I thought that maybe he just didn't realize that he had gone into the wrong restroom, but he didn't flinch when I came in. So that led me to believe that he knew where he was and also the restrooms were clearly marked. I found it odd.

 

[Luvmic49]

Well I am a father of a girl who is now 19, but I do remember what she looked like when she was 10. These girls may not have been 10, maybe just 8 or 9. They were certainly old enough to go to the ladies room right next door by themselves while their father waited just outside of the door like I used to do when mine was that age. And no I don't expect any man to leave a two or four year old alone. Yes I also know I am at Disney that is part of the point. I am also not worried about things like this, I just find it unusual, and by the looks of some of the other guys in there, I'm not the only one who thinks so.

 

[luvthemouse71]

On occasion when I was small, my Dad would take me into the men's room, when I really had to go. It wasn't a frequent thing though and I don't recall ever seeing anything improper. Also, once I was past the age of 5 or so, he didn't take me in there anymore.

I admit, I feel uncomfortable when women bring boys in the ladies room that are pre-teen and older. IMO, too old for that. I've even seem them trying to do this at my gym-bringing them into the ladies' locker room. I spoke up in that situation though.

 

[jkstewart1800]

I travel a lot with my two boys (age 6 and 2 1/2). My husband is in the military so that leaves me by myself to take the kiddos to see the family and such.

One day - when my oldest was 5ish and the little one was not yet two we had just touched down in New Orleans where we were going to spend the week with my family.

As we are exiting the plane my 5 year old tells me that he has to go pee.... like RIGHT NOW!

We hurry over to the ladies room, where there is QUITE a line... I see that the family bathroom is locked...

I notice however that there is no line for the mens. I rush in - with my baby, my 5 year old and all the purses and bags you can handle and run straight for stall at the far end of the room. We ran right past two guys standing up doing there business.

I said... sorry sorry sorry and walked with my head turned to the opposite wall....

But - we made it - and my little boy's pants stayed dry....

 

[texasteacher35]

One word...Weird!

Dads and Moms need to wait outside the restroom after about age 8 or so...especially in the men's room! Gross! (Sorry dads!)

 

[dezimber]

It does seem a bit old to us but can be normal in others cultures or what the situation might be. When I have had my nephews with me I wasn't comfortable with them going to the mens room alone until they were about 8 and took them into the womens until they asked to use the mens then stood at the door talking to them the whole time. So, then a larger more crowded restroom is stressfull if there isn't a chaperone to go with a child.
One time I had my nephews with me out shopping and the 8 year old had and accident in his pants so I took him to the womens room to clean him up.

 

[Debbie-TN]

Being a stay at home father of two toddlers, one boy and one girl, I have to say...some times it's unavoidable.
I certainly not going to leave my 2 year old daughter outside while I take my 4 year old son to the bathroom.
And sorry, but I'm not going to worry about what any of the men in the room think.
That being said, 10 would be too old I think.
But they might not have been that old. I know alot of people miss judge the age of my girl because of her size. She's really tiny. The opposite I'm sure is true there's probably alot of girls who look 10 that are alot younger.
And unless your a parent of a child that age you might not be the best judge in ages.
And you are at Disney, there's all kinds of families there wiht little girls, not all of them have mothers with them for whatever reason.

So I would say, if you worried things like this might happen, use a stall
and close the door.

Since you have the two little ones, this would be a situation where the companion restroom would be a good choice. They're big enough to get the big strollers into and I think they may have the changing tables.

 

[arilvdc]

Restrooms are a "danger zone" according to all of my child safety training. It's the one place we let our young kids go alone. Look at what happened to Matthew Cecchi- he was 9 years old, and his aunt did everything right. I think that our children's safety comes before other people's sensibilities.

With that said, WDW is one of the safest places around and they have tons of family restrooms, so I don't see any reason to take older children into the regular ones. Just wait until the family restrooms are empty and let them go by themselves.

 

[Haley]

I know when I was 10 yrs old there's no way in h*** I would have gone into the men's room with my dad!! I was in middle school and would have been super embarassed

 

[Planogirl]

Oh my, men deserve privacy too! I'm not talking about little girls but ten is really pushing it and Mom's bringing their sons in while men are standing there is a bit much IMO.

 

[jpeppers]

People need to realize that some of us are traveling as single parents and there are no other options. Disney really does not have that many companion restrooms. This year my daughter was 7 and I tentatively let her use the girls room by her self (with me at the door) but before that she came to the men's room with me......I could care less if it makes someone uncomfortable or not. When I'm 1000's of miles from home and know nobody I'll keep her as close to me as possible. If people thing there are no perverts hanging out in Disney they are not being realistic. I have been working in a prison for 20 years and I will tell you that many of the child molesters look just like the rest of us.......you can no longer pick them out just by looking at them and there are so many that the average person would be in shock. If someone feels they should take there 10 year old opposite sex child into the restroom with them then that is what they should do. Do what you feel is safe, the offended people in the bathroom will get over it........or better yet let's add more companion restrooms because the reality is there are alot of single parents traveling with children.

 

[jpeppers]

Are there tons of family restrooms? I haven't noticed them? They really should have 1 at every restroom. I can think of 1 right off hand in the studios and 1 in Epcot. I know there are more but I've been to the world 11 times and those are the only ones that come to mind. I also know that most of the times they are being occupied by someone without a child and although I do agree Disney is a very safe environment if someone thinks there aren't pedophiles walking around there every day they aren't living in the same universe as I am. I think Chuck-E-Cheese is a very safe place but we've had these creaps in our local restaurant bathrooms where they actually got to children. If someone has a problem with a child of the opposite sex being brought into a Restroom supervised they obviously have never been a single parent. Like I said in my previous post, all I care about is bringing my child home safe and when I'm thousands of miles from home I will do whatever it takes. Sorry if this seems like a rant but I deal with these sick people everyday and I think people need to realize they are hanging out at the mall, outside our schools, at the theme parks, at the zoo, and wherever we go. It is a sickness and they don't care. I recall seeing a few cases in the past in Disney hotels. All I'm asking is that the next time you see a parent with a child of the opposite sex in a Disney bathroom that you think about what I'm saying because it is reality and the parents are doing what makes them comfortable with there children when they are far away from home!

 

[kmk1180]

Since you have the two little ones, this would be a situation where the companion restroom would be a good choice. They're big enough to get the big strollers into and I think they may have the changing tables.

Well I'm refering to daily life.
Ourselves at Disney it's me and my wife with the kids. So it's not an issue for us.
But my point is others might not be in the situation. And just because there's a bathroom doesn't mean there's a Companion available.
So if OP post is worried about it, a stall is the only way to not run into that situation.
With the tons of families at Disney, your bound to run into it at some point, and your idea of proper age will be different than the rest of the world's
Unless they're in there taking photos...I agree with pp...if your offended, you have to get over it.
They are just doing what they feel is safe for their kids or what's normal from where they're from.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Luvmic-Your not old fashioned at all. 10 years old is TOO old for a girl to be going to the men's room--

 

[jbrady100]

I am a single father, my daughter is 7 and my son is 6. If my daughter has to go to the restroom she can go to the ladies room alone and I wait right outside the door. The problem that I have is leaving her alone while my son and I go to the men's room. There is no way that I am leaving her out there alone. If someone in the restroom don't like it, too bad. I am not letting someone take off with my child just because some people think that it is wrong.

 

[jpeppers]

Luvmic-Your not old fashioned at all. 10 years old is TOO old for a girl to be going to the men's room--

I hope you would agree with that if your 10 year old was molested. I have never seen a parent walking into the restroom with there child and having them stop to look at the scenery. How many restrooms have you seen with multiple exits in Theme parks.....a ton. Also, how many screaming children have you seen at Disney? I believe I see that every trip. Does anyone walk up and question as to whether that is there child? Unfortunately I probably wouldn't because you see it all the time. I stayed in a hotel over the 4th and my daughter went to the girls room and took a very long time.....I yelled through the door to check on her a couple of times. It is a very scary feeling until she answered me. When I bring my daughter into a restroom I take her directly to a stall and if necessary I will cover her eyes until we get there. Don't judge a parent because they are taking these extra precautions, I'm guessing they are just someone who are reading the paper or watching the news and if they happen to be from another country they are using very good judgement because we have a ton of pedophiles here.