Would you be offended by a father accompanying his small daughters into the ladies toilet?

[NickECave]

I have two dds aged 4 and 2. My dh often takes them out and about in town on his own and inevitably needs to take them into public toilets. The thing is that male public toilets are often extremely dirty and unsanitary and I'd much rather he took them into the ladies. My question is would you be offended by a man coming into the ladies toilet when he is obviously accompanying a small girl? I don't personally know anyone who would have a problem with this but would be interesting to see if lots of people disagree with me.

Theun in this country or worldwide?

That would mean half of all the women I know when in fact none of the women I know are victims of violence from men.

We're talking about UK toilets or has this MN toilet etiquette moved to worldwide loos?

Pickles it isn't always possible for girls to wee in mens loos sometimes the fewer cubicles are full.

Has anyone here actually seen a man in the ladies ?

Or indeed gone into the men's ?

Mrs H - Agreed. Then could the man call though and shout Im needing to use this for my DD is that ok? I would do the same in reverse in the mens. I would have no problem with that.

Ive gone in the mens on nights out when there is a massive queue for the ladies and im bustin' I ask first.

*Has anyone here actually seen a man in the ladies ?

Or indeed gone into the men's ?*

Yes to both. Well my teenage son who I have taken into the ladies as explained above. There is one mens toilet I send him into as it is nearly always completely empty when we are there, and I stand at the end to supervise.

The instances of a man being attacked by a small girl child must surely be miniscule

MrsHeffley that's the UK figures.

According to the Home Office report:

'Violence against women has affected almost 1 in 2 women in the UK'
Coleman, K., Jansson, K., Kaiza, P., Reed, E., (2007) Homicides, Firearm Offences and Intimate Violence 2005/2006. Home Office, Editor.

yes mrsheff in the UK

maybe I have your share

YonWhaleFish - i am glad to have made you smile :) I think it has something to do with the slight differences in male/female urine. That and the fact that you pretty much know that the actual toilets on the mens have only been used for shitting in.

Of course not all mens toilets are vile, but public ones do seem to be. Saying that, I and DD have elected to use a convenient bush in the past to avoid stinky public toilets!!! DD and i will very loudly discuss if we feel the toilets are posh enough for her!

There are toilets in an outlet centre near us for families, and the children have their own ickle toilets next to the grown ups big toilets - its very sweet. They even have their own ickle sinks and everyfink :)

Well I still think it's highly unlikely that anybody would be traumatised by it particularly if said man was accompanied by his dd and focused on toileting and handwashing.My dp(like most men) would find it terrifying in the ladies and wouldn't be hanging around.Men and women mix all the time.

There are some things you can't avoid and sorry if a tiny girl needs a pee and the only option is a 2 min sprint into the ladies I don't think the world will end.

Ive also seen some right fruity ladies, in the interest of sexual equality.

Can we put this in MN classics, can we, can we pleeeassse?

"none of the women I know are victims of violence from men."

Very, very few people know about the attack on me. My DH, DM and sisters and my best friend from the time. I wouldn't have told DM if there was any other way to explain the injuries.

It was a long time ago but it was real. I don't talk about it in RL. Lots of women don't.

i agree outyougo
its quite ignorant for people to say "none of the women i know are victims of violence from men" - why do you presume that you would know?!?!

if the numbers of women suffering from violence and abuse is as high as I am always reading, without a doubt you know women who have experienced it.

Soooo you're saying lifts,offices,buses etc should all be segregated and young girls should wet themselves as it's a given that somebody will be traumatised if a father zooms in and out of a toilet?

Wouldn't other me. I'd probably suggest babychange/disabled as a first option though.

No one is saying that girls should wet themselves, just that they should use the sex toilet of the adult who accompanies them. Is that really so hard to understand.

Gracie - don't mention disabled toilet

caused heated debate earlier in thread

And if that isn't possible?

Also quite a lot of little girls(not my dd she has brothers) I know would get upset re going into the mens anyway.We're talking about accommodating young children.

It's bizarre in RL you just don't get this obsession with etiquette,people do what they have to do,no fuss,no bother.

lifts,offices,buses etc should all be segregated

A who where what now? Ridiculous leap much?

if that isnt possible then i would assume they could knock and say 'dad with little girl who needs the toilet, all others are busy please may i come in' i woudl be happy with that and it gives those who arent the chance to leave.

oh and i have taken a small boy into the mens toilets when there was a massive que for the ladies, again i did the knock and ask, no-one had an issue.

After reading through this thread I think turning feral and crapping in the woods remains the best option. But what about the bears? Gah.