Once I took my kid to a Dollar General (not a corporation I would prefer to support, but we had a need for a product and there aren't many other options practically available locally). The kid was five or six at the time, I don't recall precisely.

Anyway, as we were acquiring our necessities, the kid realized they had to use the restroom. I asked the kid if they were able to hold it, but they said no, so I inquired with the staff and, though I never realized it prior, it turns out that at least that particular DG does, indeed, allow you to use their restroom.

I took the kid to it but, like some grocery stores I attended when I, myself, was but a youth, it was through the stock room. Much like I remember feeling in those stock rooms, my kid felt we shouldn't be there. They clung tightly to me and, despite my reassurances, kept repeating "I don't think we should be here. We should not be back here." After they took care of business, we came back out into the store proper and they said words to the effect of "phew! I didn't think we should be there."

I never want my progeny to have to be afraid, and certainly I don't want them to be unnecessarily fearful, but I do feel proud that when they were I was a source of safety for them.