Donte Palmer, of Saint Augustine, Forida, had grown accustomed to taking his son into the bathroom to change his diaper. However, as a man his only option is to change his baby on his lap as there are no changing stations in men’s bathrooms.
He thought nothing of it, until his older son snapped a picture of him and he showed his wife, who pointed out how unfair it was that he had to change their son in that way.
Now he wants things to change because it’s made him feel like dads who change their baby’s diapers “don’t exist.”
Speaking to Love What Matters Donte said:
“This particular day was like any other day. My family and I gather together in the car to do some much-needed errands throughout town. Wanting to treat my wife to a nice family dinner, because she’s a very hard-working mom, l decided it would be nice if the family ate out this particular night. After ordering our meal, the oldest, who is 12 years old, had to use the bathroom. I figured, let’s kill two birds with one stone. I took both my sons to use the bathroom and to be changed.
“I’m used to going places and changing my son on my lap, which is why, as you can tell in the picture, my son is comfortable with this routine of ours. The only difference is, my oldest son (who was my helper this time around), was not only handing me wipes and diapers, but he also took some snapshots in the mix of things.
“Once we got back to the table, he thought it would be funny to show mom ‘how daddy changes his little brother (on his lap).’ The family laughed about how comfortable he was just lying there, but also my wife took notice that she’s never had to change him this way. There’s always a changing table when she goes into restrooms. Especially restrooms in restaurants as ‘fancy’ as we were eating in.
“Changing my son like this is a norm to me. I really didn’t think anything of it. The only thing on my mind is ‘my son needs to be changed, let me change him.’ Not until my wife brought it to my attention, did I start thinking, ‘Is our lack of fatherhood that bad in our society where restaurants don’t even bother to put changing tables in men’s restrooms?’”
I’m glad that fathers like Donte are raising this important question. Dads do change their baby’s diapers and they should be able to do it in a comfortable setting.
Please share this important story to raise more awareness and hopefully the situation will change.