JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – This Father's Day, dads can be more proud of the work they put in for their kids. Until recently, finding changing tables in the men's restroom was rare, but one Jacksonville father changed that.
Eight months ago Donte Palmer started a grassroots campaign pushing to get baby changing stations installed in men's restrooms. Squat For Change started when an Instagram photos of Palmer and his youngest son, Liam, went viral. The photos shows Palmer awkwardly, but successfully changing Liam, while squatting against the wall in a mens bathroom stall. He improvised because there were no changing tables in the men's restroom at a Jacksonville restaurant.
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On Father's Day he announced his partnership with Pamper's and Koala Kare to install 5,000 baby changing tables in public restrooms across the U.S. and Canada by 2021.
On Monday, Pampers celebrity spokesperson and father of two John Legend joined everyday dads in a video sharing how they improvise using makeshift changing stations when there isn't one available.
"Dads have to resort to all these maneuvers because there's no changing stations in our restrooms," Legend says.
Procter and Gamble Co. helped promote the #LoveTheChange campaign and the #SquatForChange movement. The company has already identified high-needs public locations. 500 locations have already been selected at parks, recreation centers, community centers and libraries in Cincinnati, Dallas, Philadelphia and Detroit.
The campaigns encourage dads to share their own bonding experiences with their children during diaper changes using pictures and video with #LoveTheChange or #SquatForChange.
In May, Jacksonville City Councilman Crescimbeni filed a bill requiring changing tables in all new construction across Duval County. That legislation is still under review.
In 2016, President Obama passed the Bathrooms Accessible in Every Situation, or BABIES, Act, which mandated changing tables in some, but not all, public bathrooms in a building.