My heart was racing; my palms were beginning to sweat. I had a nervous flutter in my stomach. Oh my God, I hope they are o.k. Seconds felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours, ticking away, ever so slowly. Standing outside the door I nervously paced, eventually coming to a standstill just a few feet from the entrance, I waited. The occasional passerby would stare at me, upon entering and exiting. I suppose at some point I should have felt like a perve but my attention was elsewhere.
Alas, another milestone in the life of my boys, albeit just a normal day at the movie theatre; their first trip into the “Men’s Restroom,” unattended. Somehow, between last week and this week they hit a milestone, and I was not a part of their decision making. No amount of convincing could get them to go into the woman’s restroom any longer.
O.K. so I know some of you are rolling your eyes and saying “Oh my God,” not another neurotic mother story! Had it been 20 years ago maybe this would not be such a big thing but in today’s society and all that it holds, letting a small child go into a public men’s restroom is a big deal, no let me rephrase that, it’s a huge deal!! O.K. so maybe this milestone is as big for me as it is for them, but non the less it was major!
O.K, lets forget all about any evil that may lurk there. I, their mother, know how their minds work. I'm always have problems getting them to stop playing in the sink, or with the soap dispenser or stopping them from seeing how much toilet paper they can get off the roll in one huge spin in the woman’s restroom. How in the hell am I going to supervise their inquisitive little minds in the men’s restroom? My youngest son whose almost 5, has delayed speech, how do I get him to understand not to pick up that damn deodorizer that they put in urinals? Can I trust his big brother who’s six to pass on this little bit of information or will it just fall to the wayside as yet another dare? I could go on and on with all the "what if's" and in all honestly I truly am not a neurotic mother. Until today, my mind was on overload.
But finally, the door opened and my youngest son emerged from the men’s restroom. My oldest right behind him yelled, “Mommy, Daniel didn’t wash his hands”, and they both promptly turned around and went back into the dark hole, squealing with excitment.
Please let the little voices in my head stop!! Please………
9 comments:
hey - i'dve been right there with ya if it'd been mine. people are freaks these days. but a cinema should be ok - too many possible interruptions for any nastyness.
kid instigated or otherwise. *hug*
What's really great is when they start taking forever... and then even longer. I've had to push the door open and yell for my son. Once, when he didn't answer after the second time, I freaked! With all the publicized horror stories going through my head, I bursted in, freaked everybody else out, and it turned out that while his sister had me distracted, he had already come out and was right around the corner at the drink fountain.
Greeeeat!!!
Embrace your neuroticism! You're a mom. It's your right.
I am dreading the day my son is old enough to insist on going by himself. Luckily, he's only 17 months. ;)
Nice blog!
I'm the dad of two grown girls. I had the same problem in reverse. You're post brought back some fun memories of their bathroom antics. I think it might be harder with girls and a father, because Men's rooms get be pretty rank. Thank goodness I didn't have to take them in very often. Great post and very nice blog.
My son just turned 10 and i've been known on occasion to make him go with me in the women's bathroom! I don't trust the creepos in the world any more, and if we are traveling, or somewhere i'm not comfortable with, I drag him in with me regardless of the "Ah mom" protests! ha ha
I totally get that. I was a single mom for 15 years and so had to come to that point one day too. My 'boys' are 21 and 23 now, but I remember that day. Even back then it was very scary.
Beware of one thing; while there are scary, wacky people out there, I don't think it's nearly as bad as everyone thinks it is. The media generally run long and hard with "child abducted" stories, mainly because people like to watch them. But because they run these bits over and over doesn't translate into DISASTER IN EVERY REST ROOM! It wasn't until we had kids on every milk carton did the truth come out about most kidnappers; the adductors were almost always family members involved in a custody suit.
Bad people have always been around, and bad things have happened forever. In fact, we can't be sure that the odds of something happening are any higher today than they were in 1920. What we can be sure of is that we are exposed, by and omnipresent media to a barrage of daily bad news. I don't mean to excoriate the media. For the most part, they're giving people what they want. But the sheer volume of news is overwhelming. Had Jon Bennet Ramsey been murdered 50 years ago, no one, except people in and around Boulder would have heard about it. But today, the entire world knows....
So, chill a little.
Oh, also. While I'm sure it happens. it would seem that a bathroom would be a really bad place to molest someone -- since there is usually only one door, leaving the perp trapped inside if little Billy comes out screaming for high heaven.
Piltdown Man
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