Boys in Women's Locker Rooms...

I have a 5 year old girl, and yes, if there are no family changing rooms or toilets, DH takes her into the men's locker/bathrooms.

You do what you gotta do...

I have 2 boys and my brother has 2 girls. You do what you gotta do. Some 6 year olds are simply not mature enough to go into a locker-room, get dressed and come back out.

There is no way I am going to send my 6 year old boy into the men's locker-room by himself. He is simply not ready. And even with me standing right there reminding him to hurry up and change into his swimsuit, he takes too long.

If my brother needs to take his daughter to swim lessons and my SIL isn't there, what else is he supposed to do? Of course he's going to take her into the men's locker-room.

Family rooms are a great idea, but not all pools have them.

You do what you gotta do!

If there's no other choice, then I don't really see the harm.

I believe in not only teaching privacy/respect for others privacy, but that being naked is ok.

Perhaps it has alot to do with how I was raised. My parents were nudists. I grew up in a naked house. We went to nude beaches, hot springs, etc. So, for me, nudity is no big deal. No one in the nudist lifestyle forces anyone else, such a kids, to participate. I did till I was about 10, then I made the decision to wear clothes when not in my own home.

I still live mostly naked in my own home. My daughter enjoyed running around naked till she was 10. My DH thinks its a bit odd, but he wasn't raised the same. LOL.

Sorry, kind of went off on a tangent, lol. To each there own. Someone will always be upset by something someone else does no matter what. Do what you need to do to keep your kids safe,:-)

sigh.
i think people are WAY too paranoid. i really do. did i hover outside the men's room, prepared to melt the face of anyone who looked at my kids sideways.
yes i did.
but i stopped taking them into the ladies' room with me after they were 5 and simply taught them to holler for me if anything they didn't like happened. i know it's lucky that they never needed to, but even if something had, i was still right there.
i guess i'm old-fashioned in that i like there being men's rooms and ladies' rooms. i've seen a lot of parents advocate dads going into changing rooms with their daughter to try on clothes. guess what? i don't WANT men in my changing room. i don't think men's rooms with urinals are great places for little girls. i think that with our slightly older kids we can keep them safe with vigilance, good parenting, and common sense.
khairete
S.

http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/10837685327951495169

Sorry, I just didn't feel like typing my answer twice!!

If the child is too young or too small to get ready on their own (like reaching the showers to turn them one, ect) then they need to go in with whatever parent is there. If anyone has an issue with it then they can wait until said child and the parent are done changing and leave.

That said, I love the fact that more and more places are now adding a third "family" locker room option with stalls for changing in.

But I wana play!!! :(

Three was tops for me with opposite gender. Can't answer the girls in the men's locker room. My ex was useless therefore never took them to swim lessons. :-/

These things happen, I would trust that the father would do what he could to "protect" her in this situation. Announce small girl has to come in with me please cover up while I get to a private stall or wait for it to clear out. I would do simmilar with my son in a women's locker room as well.

This was asked 4 hours ago. =)

As my husband isn't a member of our gym, that would situation would never occur. However, I don't see any difference to be honest. In our household, a naked body is a naked body, and I hope my kids will almost always feel that way (to a point). I'm so tired of the naked human body being something we always to have to hide. Yes, there's a time and place to be covered (and they know even at 5 and 2), and yes, I take my kids swimming when I know it's going to be less busy (with less older women who would be the ones to complain), and we use the less-used locker room.

We are such a prudish, hypocritical society as a whole. Most people, even parents, I share this with are so shocked and say they could NEVER have their kids know about "stuff." While they don't know about sex just yet, they know where a baby grows, how the baby comes out (my son was 3 when his sister was born and was present at the birth), and how the baby eats (breastfeeding). My kids also know the difference between boys and girls and know the correct anatomical names for their genitals. I truly believe the more open we are with kids, the less mystery there is, which could in and of itself, curb any early sexual exploration.

That's nothing. I regularly see 10 year old boys in the women's locker room with mommy in my small town. Yuck. I complain about that one. I have 4 and 5 year old boys and I can't send them into the men's locker room alone yet. They have a room off of the main locker area - no doors, just a slightly more private space. By next year I'm going to send them into the men's alone. We always run into their school friends at the pool and I don't think it is fair either to them or the little girls to have them in the women's locker room. Still, this is a difficult issue. I'd rather send them into the men's locker room now but there's just too many predators our there.

As I said in my other comment, whenever I had to take my children someplace like the gym they stayed in the babysitting room. Children weren't allowed in the locker rooms AT ALL. I made sure to join gyms that had the babysitting rooms for that very convenience. If I wanted to go during hours that the babysitting room was closed then I found other arrangements for the girls so that I wouldn't have to bring them with me.

Any other instances where locker rooms or bathrooms are involved, such as a pool, we choose family locker rooms and family bathrooms. If someone needs to change and the family room isn't an option then the windows on our mini-van are tinted pretty dark.

Maybe it's just a cultural thing, but that's how everyone I've ever known does it.

EDIT: I kept saying "my children" but my children are three daughters for those that don't keep track. :-)

I'm just glad the the newer facilities now provide family locker rooms. This is a delima and I hope everyone catches on and remodels to have them. They are great. I've learned the hard way to bath in my suit (locker wouldn't unlock and I waited in a skimpy gym towel for an attendant while dads were in there-ooops), but I think its the only reasonable option.

Good question...I've never really thought about it the other way around...because I'm always the one to take the kids to the pool!

As far as bathrooms...I'm all about teaching them personal safety and staying by the door...and I'll stick my head in and holler if I really get concerned.

However...when we would go to the indoor pool at the rec center during the winter time (and the option of just running out the door and getting in the car with a towel wrapped around to change and shower at home is out)...I did take our 5 year old (at the time) son in the locker room to shower or at least change. We generally went when it wasn't very crowded...and I really debated it. I just didn't feel comfortable sending him into the men's locker room alone to change behind some skimpy little curtain that really doesn't do justice.

We change and shower at home.We only use the gym lockeroom/restroom to go potty. However our gym lockeroom/restroom has an entrance/exit on EACH END. I cannot be in two places at one time. Thus I take my six year old son with me. We do not go in the shower or sauna areas, only the toilets. If my husband takes the kids they go with him to the mens room. Period. The safety of my kids is the most important thing on my agenda. Pretty soon I realize I will have to let him go alone to the mens room - but not until I feel that he will not play a practical joke on me by going out the other end and until I feel he would be confident enough to yell/disobey an adult if they felt something was wrong. Interestingly, I trust my son with cleanliness - he knows about and uses potty paper, and he is a far more reliable hand washer than his sister.....