Parenting Room in the Ladies Room

[~Bec~]

We were at Toombul shopping centre today and went to find the parents room. It turned out that the parents room was actually in the ladies toilets, as was the only disabled toilet. There were no chairs to sit down in, no area for older kids to play if you needed to feed younger ones, just a row of change mats, a microwave and a sink. I assume if you need to go to the toilet and had a pram you had to use the disabled toilet.

DF went into the mens toilets and confirmed that there were definately no parenting facilities in there.

I can't believe in 2008 (nearly 2009) and the parents room is in the female toilets. I mean just this morning DF took James to another shopping centre, what if he needed to change his nappy?

We checked on the directory and there was another parents room but it was accross the other side of the shopping centre. We didn't find out if it too was in the ladies room.

FFS, I really thought society was past this.

[drewid]

Toombul is quite old (and a bit of a hole really) so that doesn't surprise me much. It is disappointing, especially when the facilities in other shopping centres are more evolved. Have you sent them a complaint? Doesn't hurt to make your feelings known....the more people that speak up, the more likely they will do something about it.

[Benji]

It's pretty pathetic isn't it

My X has taken DS into the men's toilets and my poor little man has had to sit on horrible, big, smelly man toilets because of this sexism!

[JabberJaw]

Not good at all. I would complain. I often see dads changing bubs or heating bottles and stuff in the parents room, i think its great. Our one has a few different comfy chairs to feed in and also a screened room if you are not into 'public' type feeding. Also the play area for kids which is great to lock kids in while feeding bubs.
But yep, i would be having a whinge for sure.

[c2p08]

We were at Toombul shopping centre today and went to find the parents room. It turned out that the parents room was actually in the ladies toilets, as was the only disabled toilet. There were no chairs to sit down in, no area for older kids to play if you needed to feed younger ones, just a row of change mats, a microwave and a sink. I assume if you need to go to the toilet and had a pram you had to use the disabled toilet.

DF went into the mens toilets and confirmed that there were definately no parenting facilities in there.

I can't believe in 2008 (nearly 2009) and the parents room is in the female toilets. I mean just this morning DF took James to another shopping centre, what if he needed to change his nappy?

We checked on the directory and there was another parents room but it was accross the other side of the shopping centre. We didn't find out if it too was in the ladies room.

FFS, I really thought society was past this.

hey that sounds exactly like my shopping centre here, half of it was built 20 years ago, and the other half over the past 5 years, and its exactly the same.

about 2 mths ago i had to change a very smelly baby, the closest toilets were about 1-2 hundred meters away (big city type shopping centre) and the next ones were accross the other side of the centre, niether of which have baby change areas, i think the only ones i have found in my local shopping centres to change bubs is one of those change mats hanging off the wall that you fold down, but they are in the middle of everything, and not very private, i'm lucky that i dont have to breast feed anymore coz she is older now, coz i have yet to see soemwhere to do it...

The day i had to change bubs stinky nappy at the shopping centre the lady that i spoke to about change areas said there were none (on that side of the centre, they were about a 7-8 min walk away) and she wasnt sure if it was or not, this was their cleaning telling me, and she told me to change bub on the floor of the disabled toilet!

i'm lucky i had this massive big change matt with me and it protected bub from the sinks, coz i jsut put her down in the middle of the bench and changed her, and everyone in the toilets complained to the cleaner, i told them i was sorry she is small and cant use a toilet yet, so i had to cause they didnt provide adiquate facilities for children... i was told to bring a potty! DD was less then 18 mths old at the time and not even bothering wiht potty's...

oh, did i mention tat while this was happening my lunch at the cafee where i was, and my partner waited went cold because of so much stuffin around..

[xkwzit]

The other one that you mention is actually separate from the ladies toilets, but it still is not what you would consider a good parents room. There are nappy change facilities, but I can't recall a place to sit and feed and nowhere to corral a toddler. It is a little prehistoric that way

[Little Gorilla]

I always think that the lovely plush parents rooms that we have are a bit of a luxary anyway.

I mean, what did our parents do when they went out and needed to feed or change a baby? They were able to find a solution without parent rooms.

I remember going into the new parent rooms at Eastgardens in Sydney about 6ish years ago to take DP's daughter in....WOW swish! I couldn't believe it.

I sometimes change DD in her pram, I bottle feed, so I don't feel like I need the privacy of a parent room to feed.

[~Bec~]

I always think that the lovely plush parents rooms that we have are a bit of a luxary anyway.

I mean, what did our parents do when they went out and needed to feed or change a baby? They were able to find a solution without parent rooms.

I remember going into the new parent rooms at Eastgardens in Sydney about 6ish years ago to take DP's daughter in....WOW swish! I couldn't believe it.

I sometimes change DD in her pram, I bottle feed, so I don't feel like I need the privacy of a parent room to feed.

I'm going to visit my Mum today so I shall ask her.
I agree we are lucky to have these facilities but then society has changed a lot over the last 20-40 years. The concept of my Dad taking us out as babies to the shops just wouldn't have happened. I was born when fathers didn't attend births, they were busy at work and saw the baby through a window at the hospital. Father's usually didn't change nappies or really do much tending to the babies at all.

We also go 'out' a lot more these days too, it's become a 'hobby' if you like. In the instance described above what would a father do if he needed to change a nappy or warm up a bottle? Where would a mother go if she wanted to bf her baby in privacy and comfort? (The toilet??? ) What if she had other small children to look after while she fed a baby?

Not only that but having the disabled toilet in the hallway to get to the ladies toilet means that a wheelchair using man would have to partially enter the ladies toilet to get to the disabled toilets. How undignifying (is that a word??) would that be!

Anyway, it's me sufficiently that a can feel one of my angry letters being written... stay tuned...