How old is too old?

Some aspects of parenting get easier as your child ages. Others just get more complicated.

It's been years since toileting was an issue in our house but it's back and its an issue we have to confront in public.

A 10-year-old male child does not want to go to the ladies toilet. Full stop. No negotiating.

But, it may be neurotic, but his mother doesn't like to leave him to his own devises in the male urinal. Full stop. No negotiating.

The rare family toilet or disabled toilet offer a compromise but they are not always available when nature calls.

So relying on the "safety in numbers" argument the 10-year-old male and a friend were this week allowed to go together to a public toilet while the hovering parent waited outside.

And they emerged announcing that "there was a weird man on drugs inside screaming really rude words and threatening people". Great. Now what?

So if 10 years isn't too old for a boy to use the female toilet, what happens at 11 or 12?

And how much worse it must be for a male parent with a small girl where the option of taking her with you can't be a real option from a much younger age.

What we need is more family-friendly facilities.

The risk may be small but it a risk surely many families are not prepared to take.