There are many types of dad in the world – and many types of dad blogger, too. Whether you’re married, single, gay, straight, working, stay-at-home – pretty much any dad, in fact – you will, in the first few years of your children’s lives, have come across the same issue:
Namely, where to change your baby when in public.
For reasons which are fairly understandable historically, but no longer relevant today, most baby changing facilities have traditionally been placed in Women’s toilets. Sure, if you were lucky you got a Disabled loo with changing facilities too, or on a VERY rare occasion a unisex changing area. But by-and-large, those little fold-out changing stations would be placed primarily in the female ‘facilities’.
For a lot of us, especially when out-and-about without mum, this can lead to some hair-raising changing stories. I myself have changed my children’s nappies in many bizarre locations, including the side of a road, the back of a furniture shop and many more. It’s annoying, it’s inconvenient and it’s probably not massively safe, either.
Thankfully, those times are slowly changing. And there are plenty of daddy bloggers getting behind the revolution too. Over in the US, my blogging-friend Scotty runs the site “Dads Who Change Diapers“, which helps you to find your nearest male-friendly changing station. And here in the UK, AJ Ferguson of The Dad Network has been working with Sudocrem to highlight the problem.
It is that second piece of work which has lead to the addition of a “Dad’s Toilet” category to the Care & Protect Baby Changing Room Awards – a category that Sudocrem would like your nominations for!
So if, like me, you have struggled with this issue – and have a memorised list of the best dad-friendly changing areas in your local town – why not nominate a few of them for the award? As well as giving the winner a lovely plaque, everyone who nominates a location will go into a prize draw. AND it’ll help to publicise the issue – hopefully leading to more shops, restaurants and public spaces offering a man-friendly baby change option, too.
So, if I’ve convinced you to get behind this great initiative, head over to the Sudocrem website and make your voices heard!