Ok-so in all my years as a single parent-I have always been worried when my boys got to the age of not being able to go to womens bathrooms that I would have to let them go alone to the mens room ...sorry for the guys here but that's just the way it is-more incidents always happen. So of course they've been on their own in that sense for some years now.

Anyways-I've made it a point of at least always having them go together if i have both of them w/me in a public area. Well-this past Friday I made an exception-one I probably have made before because I have shopped at this grocery store for over 11 yrs now and it's a great one, always safe, clean, great staff, and convenient.

Anyway-my oldest who is 11 says he has to go (not pee-sorry for the tmi)...so my youngest and I are shopping and finishing up pretty much and a few aisles down from the bathroom. My son comes out and looks furious and starts freaking out telling me there was a pervert in the bathroom-that a guy in the stall next to him was breathing very weired and heavy (we can imagine what was going on)...and was looking under the stall at him-he said he didn't know how long he had been looking but when he noticed him he froze and made a fist w/his hand-the guy left his stall and bathroom quickly after that.

He had a description of features and shoes-so I told him to come with me and we immediately went looking in the store to see if he was still there-we didn't see him-we went to management to report it. They could NOT have been any better-they called a deputy-they put the video on right then We were able to get footage of the guy entering, my son entering, then the guy leaving-my son identified him on the screen immediately-another guy also entered during that time but left soon and my son said right away it wasn't him.

The deputy was great also-got a cd of the footage and asked us to please come make a statement w/the investigator at the station...they were super efficient and overall did a fantastic job of making us feel safe and taking it serious-of course they interviewed him alone as to not have interference...everyone was on point and great-I'm supposed to have some more info this week.

Basically they said if they offended once it's happened before and sometimes all it takes is one misbehavior to have them have the book thrown so they were glad we reported it. The best part is the store management knew who the guy was-apparently one of the vendors/stock guys (not employed there)...and they had the receipt of his delivery so it will not take anything to track him down really.

Just goes to show you no matter HOW much we protect them we just can't cover all...I felt sick to my stomach. My son is ok now-but that evening I guess he was feeling quite violated-he was being on the halfway rude side w/the bf several times and he has NEVER been that way w/him-I guess he was a safe person for him to display some anger-and my bf was actually glad he was finding an outlet as he said my son was probably feeling very violated.

It just sucks, I had to go back to the grocery store Sunday and even walk past the restroom and I just felt ill. God it's a sick world! Poor guy didn't know how to react-I wish he would have just kicked the ass in the face and screamed loudly-I guess you just freeze though-I've had stuff like this happen to me as a teen and you just sometimes can't react quick enough-he did to the right thing in coming to me immediately though at least.