Reply to Just got grief for bringing 5 yo DS into the women's locker room

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Reply to "Just got grief for bringing 5 yo DS into the women's locker room"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have followed this entire thread, and I really don't see a trend of people saying you shouldn't bring your son into the ladies' locker room if your if pool's rules say 5 years old and under can be there.  Some people seem to think that 5 is too old, but the majority seem to be of the opinion that you follow your pool's rules.

The only issue I see is people who are members of pools with a rule setting 5 years old as the cut off who want to bring their sons into the ladies' locker room when the boy is older than 5.

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The problem is many 5-6-7 year olds still need help and supervision.  Just as the flip, the woman above mentioning the teenagers needing supervision.  Perhaps if those parents of the teenagers were more attentive during the earlier years, then their kids would know how to act in public.  I would be mortified if my teenager acted that way and they would not be going to the pool.  My 5 year old cannot get a wet suit off himself.  I can't imagine he will in another year.  [/quote]

But that is YOUR family's problem in a year, not anyone else's problem.  The rules are the rules - and if your kid can't get out of a suit himself at a time when he is above the posted age, then you have to find an alternate solution.  Baffling why moms are on here justifying their breaking of COMMUNITY rules which are to apply to everyone because of this or that reason and then blaming the parents who are annoyed they are breaking the rules.  Oh and to the mom above who says no one will say something to you if you break this rule... I WILL AND HAVE.  After swim practice when there are 60 girls in the locker room and I see a third grader coming in with mom, I said something 2x before it stopped.  The second time I had to say something about 10 mothers said, "Yeah!" and "We feel the same way."  and "He just doesn't belong in here."  I'm not a prude.  My kid isn't insecure.  So don't go turning this around.  [/quote]

I think this is a sad commentary on society. I don't generally have an issue with there being rules - I'm not terribly modest and could care less about a child of any age seeing me naked, but I recognize that different people have different comfort levels and it makes sense to set some boundaries. But that being said, it is also true that kids develop at different rates - I might have a really independent, mature 4 year old or I might have a distractable, more dependent 7 year old. It seems like the rules should allow for some parental judgement. Standing on a soapbox and shouting "rules are rules!" or "that's your problem, deal with it!"shows such an utter lack of compassion on something that, at the end of the day, is really such a minor issue.

Are there people who are going to be idiots and abuse the rules and try to take their obviously capable, older, opposite sex child into the locker room with them, because they're overbearing parents or are unduly worried about lurking sex offenders? Sure. But it seems like those situations are going to be in the minority of regular visits to the pool. And no child or adult is going to be traumatized for life because of a brief naked encounter with the opposite sex in the course of normal changing. I mean, come on! If there's a repeat offender, sure, say something to them or to management. But can't you give the benefit of the doubt to someone who child might be on the border of the allowable age? Or who might have an unobvious special need situation?

I wonder if the "rules are rules" crowd always follows the speed limit exactly, crosses only at crosswalks, pays royalties ever time they sing Happy Birthday, or updates their driver's license the same day the move? This isn't to make the point that rules are made to be broken, and we should all be anarchists, but it's not a good sole justification for being a jerk about someone taking their kid into the locker room. [/quote]

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