Photo not related to article. [Getty Images Bank]
Photo not related to article. [Getty Images Bank]

A debate has erupted online over whether a mother should take her young son into a women's restroom.

The dispute began when a woman, identified only as A, posted on the social media platform Threads about an incident in which she brought her 7-year-old son — 5 by Korean age reckoning — into a women's restroom and was confronted by another user there.

A said she hesitates to send her son into a men's restroom alone given safety concerns, and that she normally enters the same stall with him when they use a women's restroom together.

According to her account, while she and her son were washing their hands at the sink, a woman asked whether it was appropriate for a male to be in the women's restroom. When A replied that her son was only 7, the woman pressed further, asking whether that made it acceptable for a male to enter.

"How can you apply the same standard to a small child as to an adult man?" A wrote, adding that her son still needs a guardian with him.

The post drew a wide range of reactions online, with some prioritizing children's safety and others arguing that other restroom users' discomfort should be considered. Comments included: "I understand a 6- or 7-year-old coming in"; "Isn't it more irresponsible to send a 5-year-old into a men's restroom alone?"; "It makes me anxious to have a child wait outside by themselves"; "If someone is uncomfortable, you can simply explain that the child is too young to go in alone and ask for understanding"; "To his mother he's a baby, but to other women he's an unfamiliar boy"; and "Children should be taught to use the restroom that matches their gender."

Current law sets no age limit for accompanying a child of the opposite sex into a public restroom. Some online commenters suggested that the cutoff of 4 years — 48 months — used under public hygiene regulations for children of the opposite sex entering bathhouses could serve as a useful reference point.


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