When should children start using public toilets on their own?

PolishBigSpender

mumps wrote: »

Caring for children is a big responsibility and I don't think it is easy for parents to always get it right but people should be congratulated for doing their best.

"doing their best" meaning "being as overprotective as possible"?

barnaby-bear

patchwork_cat wrote: »

Crikey I must lead a sheltered life - I hadn't even considered this! I can honestly say I have never seen this perhaps it isn't nearly as rough as people make out 'oop north'!

Also with regard to using a baby sling I personally couldn't carry my children in a sling past about 4 months - don't know how other cultures manage they are probably stronger than this particular woosy westerner! Oldernotwiser did you carry your children in a sling past tiny babyhood?

http://www.vivacity2020.eu/vivacity-toolkit/toilet-case-studies-1/case-study-cambridge
Unfortunately some of the users aren't the most co-ordinated at getting them in the holes or fully in, they are now in pretty much every public toilet here and advertised as somewhere users should use to dispose of sharps. You wouldn't let your kid go into a medical treatment area with drugs and interesting injecting equipment alone and since public toilets here are designated as such an area here I can see why parents would want to check the facilities.

Oldernotwiser

aliasojo wrote: »

Yes, I surely could have but I saw no need to address my comment to multiple posters. You weren't singled out particularly, you were the last person to comment in this vein so you were 'it' if you like.

Your comment suggests you took this personally for some reason?

Not really personally. I just was surprised by the implication that adult women should have to change their behaviour in a women's changing room just because someone felt that they had to save their 8 year old son from the den of sin and iniquity that is normal in the men's changing room of your local baths!

mrscb

Well its each to their own and I would rather know my child is safe than take any chances.

Oldernotwiser

patchwork_cat wrote: »

Oldernotwiser did you carry your children in a sling past tiny babyhood?

I adopted, so missed the baby stage. They're made to fit children up to the age of toddlers but mothers nowadays seem to prefer to use expensive pushchairs which are far less convenient.

PolishBigSpender

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I adopted, so missed the baby stage. They're made to fit children up to the age of toddlers but mothers nowadays seem to prefer to use expensive pushchairs which are far less convenient.

Psychologically, it probably is the same as the mothers who own 'Chelsea Tractors' - which is horribly amusing when you see a giant pushchair and a tiny baby inside!

zfrl

Just a couple of comments;

When my DS was small (can't remember exact age but definitely over 5) he got stuck in the toilets because the door was too heavy to pull open - one of those automatic closure ones! I rescued him in the end when I thought he had been gone too long!

During his swimming lessons (changing rooms had the 8 years old rule) the mother of one of the children went into the boys changing rooms with her son!! What she was thinking I don't know.

mrcow

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I adopted, so missed the baby stage. They're made to fit children up to the age of toddlers but mothers nowadays seem to prefer to use expensive pushchairs which are far less convenient.

Are you for real? Or are you just typing as much old tripe as possible to try and get a rise out of people?

How is using a buggy whilst out shopping with small children "less convenient" than using a sling?

At least with a buggy I can hang my shopping over the handle bars. It's better than walking around like a pack horse with a 17lb baby strapped to me.

It's difficult enough when you're pregnant and they only weight 6lb then!

And what would you suggest I did when my 2nd daughter came along as I had two children under the age of 18 months? Perhaps strap one to the front and one to the back?

Maybe I could have balance my shopping on my head? After all, one of my free hands would have been in use for holding my four year old's hand.

Okay - now how am I going to go to the toilet then?

How is a sling more convenient when you've got a family?
I mean if you're actually living in the real world rather than some fantasy made up land that none of us are ever going to visit?



And my buggy cost £70. My double buggy cost £130. Hardly expensive when you consider the use that they've had. Whereas a sling would have proved an expensive waste of money.

Becles

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I adopted, so missed the baby stage. They're made to fit children up to the age of toddlers but mothers nowadays seem to prefer to use expensive pushchairs which are far less convenient.

It depends on the mothers circumstances. I had severe SPD with my third baby. There's no way I could have carried her around for any length of time in a sling, so a lightweight pushchair was the best option to allow my pelvis to heal.

mrcow

Becles wrote: »

It depends on the mothers circumstances. I had severe SPD with my third baby.

You have my sympathies. I had it with 4 out of my 5 pregnancies and it was agony. It took around me a year to recover each time (although I still get pain even now). There is no way I could have walked around with that kind of weight strapped to me (even if you're only talking about one baby).

I also had a 4 inch section scar that had to heal.

Lucky I had my "inconvenient" buggy really. Or I could have ended back up in hospital without it.