If a diaper needs changing, it needs changing. The choices are a 2 minute or less diaper change or the remainder of the trip spent with a shrieking and miserable (and smelly) baby followed by who knows how many more trips with a shrieking and miserable baby with a horrific rash from sitting in a dirty diaper. I'm all for boundaries but not at the expense of actually hurting someone to please someone else's sensibilities.
Would you change a diaper, for example, on the pattern book table at the fabric store? (I didn't witness this one, but apparently it has been done.)
Why is "on the train car" acceptable?
Even though many BART stations do not have toilet facilities (a separate problem), I think that diaper changing should happen in the bathroom.
And regrettably, it was not a "two minute" change - it was a family occupying 8 seats between 3 adults, one infant, an SUV of a stroller and a seat used for diaper changing without benefit of a changing pad, exposing all further patrons to the risk of a soiled seat, and the changing process took no fewer than three stops.
The difference is that there IS an appropriate option at the fabric store and there's not on BART. Leaving the fabric store is also far more feasible. It is not a separate problem that there are no bathrooms- it's the root of the problem. I'd much rather change a diaper in the bathroom- when there is one. When there isn't, what's your preference? Shall II leave her smelly and screaming? Or should I never dare take public transit where we might bother more important people?
If I change my baby, someone will bitch. If I don't, someone else will bitch, I'll be miserable and she'll potentially be in pain. Good parenting will require that I roll my eyes and ignore anyone who thinks I ought to leave her sitting in filth. All the rest of what you listed is not part of changing a diaper. Changing pads ought to be used even in a bathroom on a table. Taking up too many seats and huge strollers are nuisances. Neither is related to taking proper care of a baby which yes, might well require changing them in public now and again.
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Why is "on the train car" acceptable?
Even though many BART stations do not have toilet facilities (a separate problem), I think that diaper changing should happen in the bathroom.
And regrettably, it was not a "two minute" change - it was a family occupying 8 seats between 3 adults, one infant, an SUV of a stroller and a seat used for diaper changing without benefit of a changing pad, exposing all further patrons to the risk of a soiled seat, and the changing process took no fewer than three stops.
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If I change my baby, someone will bitch. If I don't, someone else will bitch, I'll be miserable and she'll potentially be in pain. Good parenting will require that I roll my eyes and ignore anyone who thinks I ought to leave her sitting in filth. All the rest of what you listed is not part of changing a diaper. Changing pads ought to be used even in a bathroom on a table. Taking up too many seats and huge strollers are nuisances. Neither is related to taking proper care of a baby which yes, might well require changing them in public now and again.
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