Parents of young children who are of the opposite gender face a perplexing question: which bathroom do I take my kid into when they need to go? It’s even more difficult for men with young daughters because if they take them into the women’s bathroom, they might be seen as a predator.
However, men’s rooms rarely have any changing tables for dads that need to put on a fresh diaper.
Parenting blogger and self-proclaimed dad-vocate, Muhammed Nitoto, has no problem taking his young girls, Zendaya and Zuri, into the women’s restroom.
The first time he had to take his daughter to a restroom, he chose the men’s, and it was the last time he’d ever make that decision.
“Now I’ve been to a men’s bathroom millions of times but walking in with your daughter makes you look at it completely different,” he wrote on Instagram “Men’s bathrooms are DISGUSTING. They smell like pee and nothing is set up for a woman or a person with a child. The changing table was right next to the urinal which means my child literally would be next to where men pee while she’s being charged. Not to mention that there are men going in and out while you’re in there.”
Now, Nitoto only takes his daughters to the women’s room or a family room if the establishment has one.
“After doing that one time I decided I’d never take my daughter’s to the men’s bathroom again. I use the women’s bathroom when I’m out with them,” he wrote.
Nitoto says that when he enters a women’s restroom, being respectful is his number one concern.
“I try to be as respectful to women as I can while doing so which consists of knocking on the door before entering and announcing myself. Making sure if someone is inside that they know I am a dad coming in with his daughter and making sure they are comfortable with that,” he wrote.
He also makes sure that he announces himself whenever any women enter the bathroom.
“Now once inside our stall, I still am aware of the door and whenever I hear it open and someone new is coming in I announce myself again and make sure they know I’m inside with my child so that they aren’t surprised,” he wrote.
Nitoto wouldn’t have to take his daughters to the women’s restroom if men’s rooms were designed with fathers in mind. But sadly, most of them aren’t. It’s pretty sexist to assume that men aren’t interested in having a safe, clean place to change their children. The lack of facilities for men also makes it so women have to take on most of the public changing duties.
His post also highlight the fact that men often have to deal with facilities that aren’t as clean as those provided for women. Men deserve to have clean bathrooms, too.
“Women’s bathrooms are so much cleaner and set up perfect just in case they have children,” he wrote. “The changing station is usually inside a stall instead of just in the open and it’s always clean. As a girl dad, I can’t help but want to protect my daughters from all things that aren’t for them and the men’s bathroom is 100% one of those things.”