Dad Puts Men's Bathrooms Without Changing Tables on Blast

Chris Mau didn’t exactly intend to lead the crusade for diaper changing dads. But after a particularly unsanitary experience while changing his 8-month-old daughter in a public restroom, he vented his frustration on Facebook: Why don’t most men’s rooms have changing tables too? A friend urged him to make his post public. And now, well, thousands of people are sympathizing with his plight.

“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,” Mau writes on Facebook. “It’s crazy to imagine, I know, but there are guys who take care of their kids too…If it’s a public place with public restrooms in the generation of equality among genders and races then how about making sure us fathers can change our children’s diapers on a goddamn changing table like the mothers can? Am I asking too much?”

The 144,000 users who shared his post certainly don’t think he’s asking too much.

In a follow up post for Love What Matters, Mau explains he was surprised the restaurant, which had a play place, didn’t extend the family-friendliness into the restrooms.

“I took my daughter out of her seat and grabbed the diaper bag and entered the stall, only to find nowhere to change my daughter,” he says. “I was immediately frustrated with the ignorance of the facility and with Kali 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. 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. I felt like they honestly don’t think a father is responsible for diaper changing or whatnot, and I recalled times in the past where we had traveled and run into similar situations where the public restrooms did not have changing stations resulting in the hassle of trying to change a diaper in the car, on a floor or looking for another place to try, hoping they had one.”

This discriminatory issue doesn’t discriminate among dads. Ashton Kutcher has previously expressed his frustrations with lack of changing tables in men’s rooms, even starting petitions to get them in major stores.

Until all men’s rooms offer changing tables, or until family restrooms become more prominent, resources like DadsWhoChangeDiapers.com can help you locate facilities with changing tables dads can actually access.