This Dad's Viral Rant About the Lack of Baby-Changing Stations Is Everything
Chris Mau went viral when he posted a Facebook status about having to change his daughter on dirty bathroom floors on Facebook due to a lack of baby-changing stations in men's rooms. His post has received more than 63,000 likes and nearly 145,000 shares thus far because it resonates with so many dads and sits well with so many moms.
"I'm getting pretty sick of having to change my daughter on a disgusting floor because the only changing table in the place is located in the women's bathroom," he wrote. "It's crazy to imagine I know but there are guys who take care of their kids too."
Mau, who is a 33-year-old father of one son and three daughters, wrote that the situation "left very little options for privacy," since he'd taken his daughter for a walk when she needed to be changed. He always carries waters, formula, diapers, wipes, baby powder and an emergency towel in the stroller and, though he had no car in which to change her diaper, he saw a restaurant nearby where he'd assumed he could do just that. But when he got inside the bathroom, he realized that it lacked counter space beyond a three-inch gap between the two sinks.
"I was immediately frustrated with the ignorance of the facility and with [my daughter] crying I had to make the hard choice between either making her wait until we found a facility that had a changing station, or ease her discomfort and change her in the bathroom anyway," he said in a post on Love What Matters. "The condition of the bathroom was less than sanitary, but the crying of my children eats at the very fiber of my being and I had to help her. So I grabbed the towel, laid it out and changed her in the stall, all while my mind raced at how unnecessary and preventable this entire situation is."
Facebook users commented words of affirmation.
"Ugh! I agree," one woman wrote. "I had to stop at a gas station to change my daughter and even I had to change her on the floor! Cause no changing table... They need to be everywhere!"
Not only do they need to be in all bathrooms, but they also need to be cleaner. The UK's Real Radio found that 92 out of 100 changing stations had cocaine residue on them, and they're also often used as dirty diaper bins, garbage tables, and worse (read: a place to toss used condoms), according to BabyGaga.
The point is that all restrooms, regardless of gender, should be offering clean, dedicated spaces for changing their babies' diapers.
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AnnaMarie Houlis is a multimedia journalist and an adventure aficionado with a keen cultural curiosity and an affinity for solo travel. She's an editor by day and a travel blogger at HerReport.org by night.
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