At what age should a parent stop taking a child of the opposite gender into the same pool or water park locker room as themself? I ask because I have a daughter who will be 2 by summer. And we go to the pool and water parks alot. I'm male and if I were to take her alone, she would have to enter the men's locker room at the pool if I had to pee or something like that. Our pool sadly has no family changing rooms. So just men's and women's. The reason I'm alittle concerned is because of the few times I had dad's bring there daughters of varying ages into the locker room before I had kids. While myself and other men were naked and showering. I'll share a few stories with you all. 1. I was in the wide open locker room area. No rows, just a square shape with lockers around it. I'm naked drying off when a guy brings I 2 young girls. I'd guess between 3-5 years old. I was already naked so I finished drying off and got dressed. The whole time the girls were starting over at me. It was somewhat embarrassing, but I was where I was supposed to be. And the dad took his suit off to change along with them. So if he didn't care about his nudity. He must not care if they saw other guys as well. 2. I was walking to the shower area naked. And a young boy was walking in and fell. I hear his dad ask if he is ok. So all male no problem. Then I saw the dad was carrying a young girl maybe 3-4 and she was staring directly at my nakedness. Again, not my fault where I'm supposed to be.i went and showered awhile hoping they'd be gone and they were when I got to my locker. 3. This one is the one that really got me embarrassed and shocked. I went in the locker room to go pee. They have 2 stalls along the back wall. Then right info of the door to the right stall there are 2 urinals, no dividers. So anyone coming out of the stall gets a free look at anyone peeing. I took the farther away one, maybe 5 feet and pull my trunks down to my knees. Guys know wet trunks are horrible. I start peeing and the right stall toilet flushes. No problem, a guy will possibly see my penis. So what. But the door opens and an Oriental girl who looked like she had to be at least 10 steps out and freezes when she see my exposed penis. I'm still urinating so I can't cover up. Then an older gentleman comes out behind her to see why she stopped. He sees I'm exposed and peeing. And hurries her out of the locker room. Now to me that was way too old and just wrong. Her being that age and seeing me urinating makes me feel like i did something wrong. Even though I wasn't intentionally trying to show her my penis. So what age is too old for an opposite gender locker room??
Interesting question. This is something I have dealt with as well, but as a mother with a son. I think the answer is culture-dependent to a very large extent, but the main consideration is — if you don't take your child into "your" locker room, can they do what people do in locker rooms by themselves? And stay safe too? As in, not get lost, not slip on wet tiles, that kind of thing? At age two, a child will need assistance and supervision.
I'll add that at least where we live, in the female locker rooms, nobody strips naked, not even to shower — they shower in bathing suits or bikinis and there are individual changing stalls. So my child being exposed to random female nudity wasn't an issue; it was more a question of, when does his presence become uncomfortable to the women who are also there? I think he was about six or seven before when he started using the male locker rooms by himself.
In some places, there will also be family locker rooms.
Also, rugs are Oriental; people are Asian :).
If you had a daughter, would you be mad if your husband took her into a men's locker room where she would most likely be able to see a naked boy or man's penis? Most likely multiple since pools tend to get very busy.
Again, thank you for the response. It's good to hear a female point of view.
If a little girl walked in on me while I was showering, I would think to myself, "Her father knew she was at risk of this happening and decided it was safer than the alternative." and I would continue doing what I had started. Now, if I felt inclined to play with myself while showering, I would skip it for now.