I’m a Mother and I Take My Seven Year Old Son into the Female Public Toilets

So, this afternoon on my usual every other day — trip to the supermarket with my kiddies. I’m busy trying to whisk my boys past what I don’t want them to repeatedly ask me to buy, failing beautifully of course — because every ten seconds my ears were ringing with ‘mum, can I have… *fades to the sound of all the adults voices in Charlie Brown*… whomp, whomp whomp.’

Then the inevitable, my little man needs the toilet. *groans*

With that, I hit pause on the shopping, and raced him over to the toilet — the female toilets.

As we’re about to go into the toilets, a man comes out of the adjacent male toilets and gives us a double take as he says ‘that’s the female toilets’ to which I retort ‘I’m aware, but I’m not sending my child into a male public toilet alone’ and usher little man into the cubicle whilst I stand by outside its door.

The man is still hovering in the corridor, somewhat glaring my way.

Okay, I started to wonder if he was an undercover store detective. Did he perhaps think I was somehow smuggling goods into my boys pants or something?

I glance at him and ask ‘are you going to stand there monitoring us using the toilet the whole time?’ He replies ‘my daughter is in the other cubicle.’

Now I’m thinking, hang on — what is this guy trying to suggest?

Then, he shouts over to his daughter to hurry up and says ‘make sure you dress up properly before you come out.’

Hmm, wait — did this guy seriously perceive my kid as some type of predatory threat to his kid???

What the fuck!

The man waits watching on, once both kids come out and are washing their hands — he stands down his stance and heads back through the doors into the store.

My little man and I, exit the toilet first and walk past the man (whose existence I am now determined to ignore, but I sensed the daggers in his eyes he bore into my back), and we get on with the shopping.

The whole thing has been playing on my mind ever since, frankly it pissed me off.

Now, I’m left wondering, am I wrong?

I have always had a caveat about letting my kiddies go into public toilets alone until they are a certain age, so basically — that’s a no for my little man.

Why? Because of the unknown risk of potential predators. Simple.

Does this make me a neurotic parent?

Seriously, parents — holla at me.

What do you do when confronted with the dilemma of the kiddies needing to use the public toilet, when you are the only available parent and are of the opposite sex?