Toilets with children

No, I don't think you are too sensitive. Usually though there is no reason to feel worried because there are always cubicles for little girls to go in to. When she is older she can safely use a ladies loo. Hand over eyes until she is inside?

Swimming pools are a real pain too. What to do with child that needs to shower and use the loo?

Having been to France (and other mainland European countries) with DSx2 DDx1 DH and I have had to take them into various public conveniences. honestly do not think they took a blind bit of notice, more interested in not having an 'accident'. DH and I take DGS's into the nearest available toilet be that men's or ladies in pub/restaurant or park.

Sorry but disagree with most posters. I wouldn't like my little grand daughter going in the men's loos - especially in the pub. Apart from anything else they usually smell horrible as you walk past, never mind when you go in. A male friend also told me an awful lot of men don't wash their hands and he used to see one bloke in his local who wiped his hands on a the roller towel without even washing them. It's different if you are in say a nice café with unisex toilet - they usually keep them nice and clean and fresh smelling.

For goodness sake don't take your DGDs to France and Italy then. It's quite normal there for the gents urinals to be on the outside wall of public loos, so that you have to walk past a row of weeing men to get to the door of the ladies loos...
Last time we camped at a large site in northern Italy, the loos were near to the large outdoor swimming pool, so a good view was had by all...!!

I expect he wouldnt send the little girl into the ladies on her own, she may have needed help in the toilet, he had no choice I am thinking.

The followup of the OP is a bit odd... why would she know that the father left the girl outside the cubicle whilst he used it himself?

I would have thought he'd done his business, too...perhaps keeping daughter behind him out of the 'line of fire' but inside the cubicle. But how would the OP know that...did she ask another pub-goer what went on in there?

Most problems are in adults minds. Why shouldn't a man take a female child into the gents pub or not. I always took my boys into the ladies. It seems some people just want to make a fuss out of nothing

There is no way my son-in-law would ever take my two-year-old granddaughter into a men's toilet and leave her standing outside the cubicle while he went to the toilet! That's awful, he would have got the key to use the disabled toilet. She would have been at risk of someone snatching her. You hear some awful things on the news it would not be worth taking the risk.

We don't know that the man left the child outside the cubicle, that's what the OP said, but hasn't come back to say how she managed to see this happen when neither she nor her husband went into the gents.

There are problems in my mind with this OP and thread.

I agree, Jalima. One of those 'light blue touch paper' threads?

May I tell you a funny, true story? Some years ago I was on a coach tour of Italy. The coach stopped at a service station for us to use the loo. A crowd of women rushed to the loos only to find they were out of order. The attendant told us to use the mens. We dashed into the cubicles. However as we came out, the men from our coach were using the urinals. Can you imagine everyones embarrassment as we women slunk past, trying to cover our eyes. Those poor men were mortified.

singeranne2017

I must say, I found it uncomfortable at first to have to use communal changing rooms at the local public swimming pools. I dislike having small children watching my every move. But that is how things are now and unfortunately you have to get used to it Suggest the youngsters use the loos as fast as possible. My husband felt a bloke propositioned him the other day in a restaurants' Gents - he got quite angry with him. Must happen all the time.

There is something odd, as others have pointed out. Why did the man choose to go into the cubicle on his own, leaving the child to see men doing what they do, rather than letting her see him do the same thing? Also, how did the OP know that if her husband wouldn't go in.
Actually I've never understood why men need to use a urinal anyway. What's wrong with unisex, all cubicle loos? That's what happens at home, after all!

Retro Sadly all boys and men don't aim well. Even if they lift the lid properly and put it back down. The rim gets covered with splatter. I prefer a reasonably clean rim under my seat, especially in a public loo!

That said, before Christmas a brilliant GNer here recommended those Illumibowl lights and I got 4 sets of 2 each in a pack from a reputable Amazon supplier. All family members got a set.

They are like sliced bread... no more men going to toilet in dark when they can't be bothered to put the light on in the night! Or don't want to as it wakes them up.

I was shopping in Asda just before Christmas and as soon as I arrived thought I would pop to the ladies before I started my shop. There was a man with a girl of about 3 or 4 standing outside and asked me if I would please take his daughter to the loo as the men's smelled and his wife did not like her going in the men's toilet. His wife was not with him so I agreed and took her in with me and luckily she just needed a just a wee. She washed her hands nicely and thanked me for helping her. I took her back to Dad then went back to wee myself

My only concern would be the standard of hygiene in the men's loo as, in my experience , some men/boy children haven't been trained very well to put up the toilet seat before weeing and so leave urine spattered all over it.

Oh dear, my kids go into the female toilets or change rooms when out with me, and into the male toilets and change rooms when out with their dad.

I don't care what people like you think, there's no way I'ld shove a 2year old through the door of a pub toilet without me just because he was a boy, and no way would I be happy if DH shoved DDs through the ladies toilets door alone at 2 - at 2 they still needed help, and I always check the cubicles for spills/soiling/needles before letting small kids go in - I would not trust a 2 year old to pick a clean/safe cubicle all by themsleves and would not be happy leaving them alone with strange adults in a toilet just because I was a different sex to the child.

Penises being used to urinate are no sexual. Just like breasts being towel dried after swimming are not sexual.

FYI sports centres general have a policy that children of both sexes should change WITH their parent in the parent's sex change room up until the age of 8 in most places.
And you're talking about a TWO year old???

My only concern would be the standard of hygiene in the men's loo as, in my experience , some men/boy children haven't been trained very well to put up the toilet seat before weeing and so leave urine spattered all over it.

At least men who use the cublicles sit when they do! A lot of womens loos have the result of hoverers who splash pee all over the seat.

I don't think either sex toilet is good for kids without their adult there to check they're okay

Also, womens toilets sometimes have overspilling sanitary bins, or not full sanitary bins where people have let the sticky bit stick to the door thing at the top.

Mens loos can be pongy, but womens loos can be more dirty in other ways.

Either way, they go in with us, which ever one of us they're out with

That's what I hate about men's toilets, why do they have urinals in the first place, how lazy not to have time to go in a cubicle. I never can understand why men like to get it out in public. Surely going to the toilet is a private affair. I'm not sure why men have to stand and do it either. When I toilet trained my Son, he was trained to sit down, unfortunately when he went to play school that all changed and consequently urine all over the floor. No I wouldn't be happy for my young children to view strangers penis'.
I have no problem with nudity, but there's a place and a time.

Goodness, there are some (not many) prudish attitudes on here! As long as the child is with a parent or other responsible adult that he/she knows and trusts I don't see anything wrong with taking them into a public toilet.

And I think that the information about the child in the OP being left to her own devices while her father used the cubicle is either exaggerated or guessed at (unless she and her DH can see through walls!).

I'm not sure why men have to stand and do it either

Because it's easier
Because it's more comfortable
Because for men who have issues with slow flow they cannot do it sitting. They just can't go sitting.

I would never teach a little boy that the only way to pee is sitting, I think that's actually unkind, Why not teach them both ways so they can be comfortable?

A little true tale to lighten the mood. Some years ago my friend had a West Indian visitor. He asked to use her downstairs loo but forgot to lock the door. Moments later her young son wandered into the hall and she heard his little voice saying loudly "Oh, my dad's got one of those, but his is pink". ?

Wouldn't have bothered me at all when dds were very little. They were used to seeing daddy having a pee so they were hardly going to be shocked or bothered by glimpsing other men or boys ditto.

I wouldn't have called my own parents prudish by the standards of the day, but I never saw my own father unclad, still less having a pee. My younger brother was another matter, of course.
In later years I was glad dds knew what grown up willies looked like. Less of a shock when it came to the, er, nitty gritty later!