If there's no family or single-use bathroom around, some parents are adamant about keeping their opposite gender children with them in the restroom into the tween years, fearful of strangers.
"What tipped the scales for me was that we were living in a rural area of Georgia, which presumably would be a very safe part of the country," said Liora Farkovitz, who was single when her sons were in early childhood. "We did a check to see if there were predators in the neighborhood. There were so many that even in the small rural town, it wouldn't have been safe to leave my kids alone."
The boys, now 9 and 11, went into the women's room up until about a year ago. Farkovitz, of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, has since remarried, and said her boys now go in together or with their stepfather.
Roller coaster fanatics George Hinkes and his 7½ year-old daughter, who live in Dundee in Kane County, face the issue at the amusement parks they love so much.
When his daughter was younger, Hinkes went into the men's room first to make sure it wasn't too crowded before bringing his daughter into a stall and he shielded her eyes if they encountered urinals in use. But at about age 6, he felt she was ready for the women's room.
"I always stood where I could see both the entrance and the exit to the bathrooms," said Hinkes. "Obviously as a parent, you're always going to be concerned.