children in communal changing rooms

pigpen

notanewuser wrote: »

To my knowledge they aren't waggling them about. Surely it's no worse than having boys in the female changing rooms?

lol.. did you read my post? There was a case here of exactly that many years ago.. I'd probably have found that hilarious... actually.. I probably still would as your post made me giggle.

valk_scot

I do think that it's interesting that the goverment, education authorities and indeed us parents spend a lot of time and effort on the Be Safe messages, which include a strong theme about not doing anything that makes you uncomfortable plus the every popular Stranger Danger.... and then the council sports department seem to see nothing amiss with eight year old girls stripping down in mens changing rooms. Bit of a mixed message there, no?

MrsE_2

jellyhead wrote: »

The woman in this scenario could use a family changing room.

I wonder if the age 8 rule is for larger families? If a mum went swimming with an 8 year old or two and also a smaller child, or a couple of toddlers, then perhaps the whole family wouldn't fit into a cubicle? Perhaps they would at the pool Mrs E goes to, but I don't think the family cubicles here could accommodate 3 people.

Personally I'd put my 7 year old in a cubicle nearby and let him look after himself, but he'd have to be within hearing distance so I could chat to him, for my own peace of mind. My eldest at 7 couldn't have managed it himself though.

The family rooms are pretty big, prob about 8 foot by 6 foot (if not a tad more )

jellyhead

Perhaps an 8 year old girl feels less uncomfortable with her father in a male changing room than she would alone in a female one? I suppose it's one or the other if a pool doesn't have cubicles.

I think if there were no cubicles here I'd rather have my 7 year old with me than in the male changing rooms on his own, but he is a bit of a 'young' 7 and would tell his life story to a stranger and go home with them to see their puppies. I suppose the rules would allow me to have him with me until his 9th birthday which seems too old to me, but it's not old enough to be sent into the other changing area on his own.

jellyhead

MrsE wrote: »

The family rooms are pretty big, prob about 8 foot by 6 foot (if not a tad more )

I think ours are less than half of that.

So yes, it seems that the family cubicles should always be suitable for a family in your case. Hopefully the management might be amenable to putting up signs asking families with school-age boys to use cubicles.

valk_scot

jellyhead wrote: »

The woman in this scenario could use a family changing room.

I wonder if the age 8 rule is for larger families? If a mum went swimming with an 8 year old or two and also a smaller child, or a couple of toddlers, then perhaps the whole family wouldn't fit into a cubicle? Perhaps they would at the pool Mrs E goes to, but I don't think the family cubicles here could accommodate 3 people.

Personally I'd put my 7 year old in a cubicle nearby and let him look after himself, but he'd have to be within hearing distance so I could chat to him, for my own peace of mind. My eldest at 7 couldn't have managed it himself though.

The family rooms at our local pool can easily fit two adults and four kids, I often shared one with a friend when we took our kids swimming. If our other friend came along with her children we'd ask if we could use one of the small group changing rooms (ten people sized) that were availible for school or club groups, if they weren't booked out the pool staff was happy for us to use it and take some of the pressure off the family rooms. We'd still put all out kit in the lockers though!

ab.da54

Out of interest, what are the thoughts of eight year old girls going into the mens changing rooms with their fathers and both sexes being naked at some point?

ab.da54

ab.da54 wrote: »

Out of interest, what are the thoughts of eight year old girls going into the mens changing rooms with their fathers and both sexes being naked at some point?

The trouble with read and post is, you get further down to discover it's been discussed

jellyhead

ab.da54 wrote: »

Out of interest, what are the thoughts of eight year old girls going into the mens changing rooms with their fathers and both sexes being naked at some point?

I don't have a daughter, so perhaps others might disagree with me but is it much different to a boy and a bunch of women being naked?

Georgiegirl256

So really (in my opinion), if there are family rooms there to be used, then they should be used, there should be signs up stating as such, and I really cant see why you anyone wouldn't prefer to use one....unless you're little Miss Chatterbox it seems! She most feel like she is missing out on some vital bit of gossip if she leaves the female changing rooms, which she'll have to do soon as her son gets older....or to my mind, he is far to old to be there now.