Furore Over Ladies' Toilet Sign Asking Six-Year-Old Boys To Use The Men's Toilets

Furore Over Ladies' Toilet Sign Asking Six-Year-Old Boys To Use The Men's Toilets
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A sign posted on the door of the ladies' toilet in a shopping centre asking boys over six years old to use the gents instead has caused an international furore.

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The politely written note – photographed in Oklahoma, US, and shared on Facebook – read: "Please boys over 6 years of age use men's restroom."

Oklahoma City Moms Blog then asks: "If you were shopping at a local mall and saw this picture, what would your reaction be?"

The question attracted hundreds of responses and was shared around the world.

Here's a selection of responses and views...

Joni Beck: "The solution is build a family restroom for all families that aren't comfortable with this. What if a daddy/daughter date takes place at the mall? We are not comfortable with our young daughters having to hide their eyes to get to a stall in a men's restroom. They aren't big enough to go by themselves without some assistance in a public restroom."

Kristina Pauls: "At a mall I take all my kids. With me, and my boys are 7 and 9. No way I'm sending them in the public restroom. Smaller places at times I stand outside the door and make them go together. But I know stories where things would happen while moms wait outside the bathroom. This is a day and age not like any before us and people are more awful than they've ever been."

Cassie Story Gentry: "There is no way I would send my 6 year old to the restroom alone. He is perfectly capable to go alone but I do not trust the men in the restroom. And I'm appalled that they posted this sign."

Jenny Cruce: "My boys (we have four) will go with me in the big public places until I feel they are capable of protecting themselves in an unwanted situation. There are times I will let them go in together at smaller places like restaurants and I will wait right outside the door. The older two are 9 and 7. If I saw a sign like this I might just accompany them to the men's restroom if they weren't allowed in with me!"

Tracy Johnson: "In a big public place, I get nervous sending my son into a men's restroom alone. There are stalls in the women's restrooms so it shouldn't be that big of deal. Women still have privacy in the stalls."

Kelly Austin: "Either he's going with me or I'm going with him, you choose! Lol!"

Frankie Rose Parris: "Any child old enough to go to school is old enough to go to a public bathroom. Go to family bathrooms if you must accompany your child. Check out the men's room before you send them in."

Brenda Rodriguez: "I have watched in the news that while the parents have waited for the kids outside the bathroom, the kids have been raped and even murdered. I go in the bathroom with my kids. I'm a single mom with a son. If there is no family bathroom, he goes in the woman's bathroom with me. No one can guarantee me my kids safety!"

Chrisi Yen: "There is a sign similar to this at our swim club, but the age is 3. I ignore it! Until my son who is 4 passes his 2nd degree black belt tests, he's coming with me to the ladies restroom or I accompany him in the men's room..."

Katherine Henderson: "It's assuming a lot to think that just because a child is 6 it means he is capable of going to the men's room alone."

Shamala Shine: "not ok with me. my child will use the same bathroom as me until *he* is comfortable to do otherwise, not according to some arbitrary age limit."

Melissa Thurman: "Ha!! I dare them to tell me where I have my son use the restroom!!! If dad's not with us then he goes with me!"

Tenille Yambo: "Um, my 8 yr old is not going into a men restroom unsupervised. To many damn sickos in the work. He comes with me in the women's restroom. It's not like the women in the restroom are running around without clothes. The are inside a bathroom where they can not be seen so I really don't see a problem with it."

The post comes after calls for more gender-neutral family bathrooms where dads and mums can both take their children.

Earlier this week Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher raised the issue on his Facebook page when he complained: "There are NEVER diaper changing stations in men's public restrooms."

The new dad added: "The first public men's room that I go into that has one gets a free shout out on my FB page! #BeTheChange."

What do you do?