A funny thing happens when you become a parent. The way you do everything changes drastically, and that includes how and where you eat and shop.

The first thing my husband and I do when we go someplace we haven't been before is to scope out the bathroom situation and in the few times we've discovered that both the men's and women's bathrooms have a changing table, an internal happy dance takes place. Can I just tell you how awesome it is when I'm in the middle of trying clothes on and our little guy needs a change and my husband is able to take him into the men's room to clean him up?

On the other hand, there's nothing more disappointing than when my husband takes our son someplace without me and there's not a changing table in the men's room and he has to leave the store or restaurant in order to find one. You'd think since it's 2016 that stores and restaurants would realize the potential financial loss and do something about it. If there isn't a changing table and you have to leave the establishment to take care of business, you may not go back in that day.

A 2013 government study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that  90% of dads who live with their kids "bathed, diapered or dressed their children every day or several times a week." And yet what's baffling is that there aren't any federal laws requiring public spaces to offer diaper-changing tables that are accessible to both men and women. Although more and more places are embracing the new ways of the world, more often than not, ladies rooms are still the only places a parent can change a diaper.

A guy in Maryland felt the pain of dads everywhere and wrote a letter to the CEO of Macy’s, sharing his disappointment that his local store didn’t have diaper changing tables in the men’s bathroom. One week later, the store’s bathrooms were renovated and changing tables were installed. And get this- Macy’s also sent the family a gift card as an apology for the inconvenience.

Is this what we need to do? Do we need to collectively write letters to the CEOs of all the establishments we visit that don't have changing tables available for dads? The old way of thinking was that only women changed babies, but that isn't the world we live in anymore. What about the dad who runs errands with his baby minus the mama? What about single dads? Isn't this something that all establishments should take into consideration and make accommodations for?

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