A Changing Table in Every Men’s Bathroom?

Did you hear, there was recently some new legislation passed that impacts moms and dads?

In case you’ve forgotten because of all the coverage our two main Presidential candidates are getting, we still have a current President of the United States. He shows up to work and everything. I’m assuming he even keeps his classified emails classified and has paid his taxes over the last fifteen years. Anyway, President Obama recently passed a bill called the Bathrooms Accessible in Every Situation Act, clearly this bill was given such a strange name so it could go by the much simpler acronym, the BABIES Act. The BABIES Act requires that both men’s AND women’s restrooms in public federal buildings contain baby changing tables.

While my diaper changing days are long behind me, I’m very happy to see progress on the “diaper changing stations in the men’s room” front. Hopefully, future dudes turned dads will not endure the BS of taking a child outside a business (in the rain) to change a diaper in the backseat of a car, because a certain store didn’t have a changing station.

You ever try to change a baby in a backseat? Not easy. The natural slope of the seat from front to back, causes the child to roll without effort. It’s not even the kids fault, simply more of a gravity thing. The lone benefit to changing your kid in the seat, is hoping they find old snacks jammed into the seat fabric, distracting them long enough for you to change a diaper.

The trunk is an even worse place to change a diaper. If your trunk is anything like mine was, when I put my baby down it was competing for space with a spare tire, a few random tools, an old ice scraper, an air compressor, and several blankets. The trunk of my car was always about as clean as the floor of a public bathroom, so I’m not sure it was that much of an upgrade.

There’s only one downside to this legislation, it takes away the automatic excuse dads had out in public. No longer can a dad sniff out a diaper bomb, and say, “Hon, you KNOW I’d change that dirty, nasty explosive, nuclear diaper, but, you know, no changing table in the men’s room.”

Even though guys will now lose that excuse, the tradeoff is absolutely worth it. It’s nice to see dads getting some respect in the parenting department. Hopefully this is a trend that will continue beyond federal buildings.

-Pete

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