DEAR ABBY: Regarding your discussion with "Interested Bystander" about the age a youngster is old enough to go to a public rest room alone, may I share a humorous incident on that subject?
When I was a college student, I worked as a weekend salesman in the boys' department of a local department store.
One day, a woman approached me with a little boy about 4 years old in tow. She asked, "Do you have a rest room someplace? My boy has to go."
"Yes, we do," I replied. "There's a men's room on this floor, but if you want to go with him, there's a ladies' room on the floor below."
"Oh, no thank you," she said. "I went before I left the house." -- GIL RICH, LOS ANGELES