AIBU to think that mums should take their young children into female changing rooms and dads into male changing rooms...

[MimiSam]

at swimming pools? When i take my dc for swimming lessons, a mum with 2 boys aged about 5 and 3 goes into the male changing room with them and a dad takes his 5 year old daughter into the female changing room (these parents don't swim themselves, although others do). There are older children and adults getting changed in these small-ish communal changing areas. I think it's odd.. . No one else does it. What do people think?

Yes. Adults in opposite sex changing rooms is a bit odd.

Did anyone mention it to the pool staff?

Yes I take my son in female changing rooms (he's 4).

Don't think so and everyone is too polite to say anything to them (including me!)

of course. WTF are those people thinking?

Yes. You should mention it as it is not appropriate. I know there are issues about letting children change on their own in the correct sex changing room e.g. when older than 8 or so, but I can't think of any circumstances when it would be okay for me to go into the male changing room to change DS.

ha! that's crazy. what oddness. young children go in the appropriate room for whatever gender adult they are with.

that situation is just weird! why would the dad go into the female changing rooms anyway?
and why would the mum go into the male ones?
it would make so much more sense for the dad to take the boys and the mum take the girl.
even mum taking the boys would be fine, if she took them into the women's changing.

By the way you should complain again to the staff, at the front desk.
I think there must have been a spate of this at our pool recently, because there are now posters on the doors of each changing rooms saying that if your oppsite sex child is over 7, you must use the family changing rooms.

Oh for goodness sake.
A bloke is wandering around the womens changing room because he has his five year old dd?
Report it. Get the pool staff to deal with it.

It's not you, it's them. It isn't appropriate for a man to be in a female changing area or vice-versa and there's no reason for it here that I can see. I'd raise it with either the individuals concerned or staff at the pool.

Yes I would definitely take my Dad to a male changing room

I use the family change room. Would never even cross my mind to go in the opposite one.

That is weird YANBU

Now, this is a knee-jerk reaction from me, but I just don't get the prissiness about changing rooms and small children. And by small I mean vulnerable, and I would class my DSs as vulnerable until about the age of 12.

When they get to age 10, there is no way they'll be in a male change room by themselves, so would I have to go into the males with them? Not that I'm bothered about that........

Yes they should use the correct changing room. The only exception is when like my Dses swimming lessons the pool is closed to other users. I then take DS into the male changing rooms as the female ones are so busy. But there is nobody changing except the children in that case.

during the swimming lessons the mens changing room becomes the dad's changing room and the ladies becomes mum's, so the gender of the parent not the child dictates which changing room so not unreasonable to expect this,

There's an age limit at our pool. No-one over the age of 8 is allowed to be in the opposite sex's changing room.

When I take my boys they come in the female changing room with me, when dh takes our daughter then they go into the male changing room.

Sounds very odd to me.

We have uni-sex changing rooms at our pool these days. Makes life easier with kids.

Very bizarre. What's odd is that they haven't figured out for themselves that no one else does it that way.

Our changing rooms are communal with family pods and single pods to change in.

I agree that the changing room depends on the sex of the parent.

At our baths there are a load of cubicles. The only different ones are the family ones that are larger, so mums and dads are all over the place.

Maybe that father has read too much Daily Wail and has got it into his head that all men are peeeeeeedos and doesn't want to expose his daughter to them. Just a thought!

it would make so much more sense for the dad to take the boys and the mum take the girl. even mum taking the boys would be fine, if she took them into the women's changing

i don't think it's all one family, just 2 examples of the same thing happening.

ah, i see! I thought it was one family

OP here - glad it's not just me that thinks it's odd. What I find strange is that they continue to do it (and it is two separate families) - I mean, you might get it wrong at first, but you think you would cotton on pretty quickly that there were no other men/women around and realise your mistake!

So dad of 5 yo DD doesn't want to go into the male changing room because presumably he does not want other adult men perving over his DD. Yet, same dad thinks it's ok to go into the female changing room where there are plenty of grown women for him to have a sneaky peak at if he was so minded - not to mention other peoples' children too.

Yes, logic bypass, I think.

At the leisure centre there is just one massive changing area with cubicles for the pool, and a few family/group changing rooms. Job done.