Moms with boys using men’s locker room?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like they were trying to follow a dumb rule of not letting young boys into the girls locker room after swim class by breaking an even larger rule of not letting adults of the opposite gender into the wrong locker room. The swim class should have advised these parents how to handle it if their 7 year old boys can’t change by themselves yet.

Also, this is a troll, because 5-7 year old kids are in school at this time.

Not DC schools. They seem to have a random day off in the middle of every week for no apparent reason. Anyway, with boys under 11 I think they should have brung them to the women’s room to change. I bring my boys in a women’s room and I would never let them shower unsupervised with naked grown men. Little kids could get raped like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a mom of boys and I would never do this. When they were little (like 5/6 under) I would just take them in the women’s locker room with me. There was then a period where they were a little old for that but too young to be in a locker room alone (and had difficulties with wet swimsuits and changing). So I would take them out to my car and change them in the parking lot (minivan for the win) or just have them sit on a towel for the drive home and shower/change at home. I would never dream of making other men uncomfortable like this. I think you’re totally within your right to complain about this happening if it occurs again (hopefully it was a weird one off).

That said I really wish there was a family changing room so this was a non issue!

But this is kinda why there was a family and kid swim hour. Maybe Op shouldn’t have been in there.

[Anonymous]

When my daughters were young, which was 15 years ago, every pool I took them to had family changing rooms. We used those.

(I’m a dad).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one who thinks this is hilarious as a tired mom? No I would not go into a men's locker room. But I'm a mom of two boys, kind of sick of DH, have a male dog, and I'm a nurse. I've had it up to here with "peepees". No mom is going to care about the OP's.

(but not to make light of the situation. It's especially funny to think of the Soviet era poster saying this was the norm. The babushkas probably make sure you are scrubbing behind your ears).

Men, OP, deserves privacy. It’s not about a mom caring. That man cares and he has a reasonable expectation for women to not be in the locker room while he is naked. it doesn’t matter whether or not you or I care.

[Anonymous]

I think by 7 or 8 the kids are old enough to change by themselves in the appropriate gender space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Mom going into the men’s locker room is not ok.

Oh, the irony.

I swear

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The family room needs space for multiple families to change or it’s not useful. Some just have the one combined bathroom shower, and it would take an hr for 6 kids to use depending on whether the parents also had them shower.

Kids can change in the car. Adults can drive home wet. Boys can use the women’s room. Moms can go into the men’s room.

The reason why family changing rooms don’t exist is because people kind of accommodate instead of uniformly make demands. They also complain because accommodations don’t work uniformly. Finally they fight about the applications instead of making demands.

Find out the pool policy, ask that people adhere to it, and if you don’t like the pool policy, ask for good sized family changing rooms.

Our pool policy was boys under 7 go with mom to the women’s bathroom. Also, girls under 7 go with dads to the men’s bathroom. If you have a problem with that, take it up with management. Everyone else is following the rules.

I would send a girl in by herself to the women’s bathroom so she doesn’t have to worry about seeing anything she doesn’t have to

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think by 7 or 8 the kids are old enough to change by themselves in the appropriate gender space.

Have you witnessed a 7 y/o boy try to get himself out of a wet bathing suit and into dry clothes? Especially if you have a neurodiverse kid like mine who is exceptionally uncoordinated and immature. I would not let him off to go change by himself in a men’s locker room. He changes in the car instead, but no they are not all old enough and capable of changing on their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think by 7 or 8 the kids are old enough to change by themselves in the appropriate gender space.

You sound like someone without a 7 or 8 year old. I shudder to think about my kids’ feet touching the floor of those places or them dropping soap and picking it back up and using it or laying their towels down in stagnant water then using it. Nah I need to wash my own kids at that age

[Anonymous]

If you go over to DCPS forum, you'll see what happened (allegedly) when young boys were changing in a male locker room unsupervised.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think by 7 or 8 the kids are old enough to change by themselves in the appropriate gender space.

Nope. Not sending my kid into a locker room alone until they can protect themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think by 7 or 8 the kids are old enough to change by themselves in the appropriate gender space.

Have you witnessed a 7 y/o boy try to get himself out of a wet bathing suit and into dry clothes? Especially if you have a neurodiverse kid like mine who is exceptionally uncoordinated and immature. I would not let him off to go change by himself in a men’s locker room. He changes in the car instead, but no they are not all old enough and capable of changing on their own.

Then a robe or a family changing room is the answer. You don't get to turn a men's locker room into an everyone locker room just because your kid has issues getting dressed. Presumably, the mom cared enough about her kid's privacy to not change in the hallway but didn't think the men deserved the same respect.

[Anonymous]

I don't want women in my changing room, do they know about shrinkage? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG2dF5PS0bI

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like they were trying to follow a dumb rule of not letting young boys into the girls locker room after swim class by breaking an even larger rule of not letting adults of the opposite gender into the wrong locker room. The swim class should have advised these parents how to handle it if their 7 year old boys can’t change by themselves yet.

Also, this is a troll, because 5-7 year old kids are in school at this time.

Not DC schools. They seem to have a random day off in the middle of every week for no apparent reason. Anyway, with boys under 11 I think they should have brung them to the women’s room to change. I bring my boys in a women’s room and I would never let them shower unsupervised with naked grown men. Little kids could get raped like that.

You, as a woman (I am assuming) would be ok with a bunch of random 10 year olds seeing you naked in a pool locker room?
I'm not ok with that.

Pools and other places with changing/shower areas need to start adding private spaces for people to change, and that parents and other caregivers can enter with the person they are caring for. Expecting women to be ok with 10 year old boys seeing them naked is insane.

[Anonymous]

I am a mom of boys. My sons have changing ponchos made of towel material so I can change them anywhere using those.