We all need to have a good moan now and again and being a stay at home dad gives us a different outlook on the world and provides us with more things to find fault with and complain about. So this is your opportunity to join in, let off some steam and find out about issues that really annoy other home dads.
Each month the Rant will be on a different topic and you will have the chance to add your comments, views and gripes on that particular issue. To add your comments to a particular Rant please type them into the Comment Box underneath that rant
Also you are quite welcome to suggest or write your own Rant.
To add your own Rant go to the Contact Me page, select Reader Rant and type in your thoughts. All input is welcome and I will add as many as possible onto the site.
One thing that really annoys me when I take the children out anywhere is the lack of public toilets and baby changing areas.
For instance the small town where I live only has one public toilet block, which has a very small gents & ladies toilet. The gents are so small you can barely squeeze a buggy inside the door and it only has one cubicle and no baby changing facilities at all. The ladies is not much better, not that I have been in there, but I am told by my wife that it is equally small, with only two cubicles and also has no baby changing facilities. So having a toddler and a baby in tow this means the toddler can go and use the one cubicle in the gents, if it is free, and the baby either has to stay in a wet nappy or be changed in the pram, which is not ideal.
If I take the children to our neighbouring town which is only about 2 miles away to go shopping then the problem of toileting doesn’t get any easier. This town has a population of over 20,000 but guess what, it doesn’t have any public toilets! Yes there are some toilets in the town but they are all associated with certain buildings. There is a tiny toilet at the bus station, only one cubicle again, but that is always so filthy I wouldn’t even let a dog go in it. Outside Waitrose there is another small toilet but that always seems to be out of order and again just has the one cubicle and no baby changing. Woolworths does have a toilet but you have to eat at their restaurant to be able to get the code to use it. Finally there is one in Sainsburys that is clean and a good size and amazingly even has a baby & toddler room separate from the gents and ladies. However, as these are the only decent toilet facilities in the whole town it is always busy and you can be queuing for quite a while to get to use the baby & toddler room, especially if the ladies is out or order and all the women are using the toddler toilet instead. Standing in a queue for the toilets for ages with a screaming baby and a toddler who is about to wet themselves is no fun at all.
It’s not a problem that is just confined to where I live. Whenever we go anywhere there always seems to be either a lack of toilets or of baby changing facilities that are not just in the ladies toilets. With more men taking their children out and becoming more responsible for them it’s about time local authorities provided decent public conveniences for all of us to use.
"Nice rant! I wish that they would make the doors to the toilets a bit wider and easier to open. Trying to get a buggy through those heavy, narrow doors is a nightmare, especially if you have a load of shopping to carry as well. Also when you do get in there is never much room inside them."
Simon, Cornwall"I am a stay at home dad with 2 girls, 1 is a year old. I live in St Neots and there are only 2 public toilets here, one does not have baby facilities and the other one does but it is in the ladies toilet so I can't go in. I am also training to be a childminder so I dont have a clue what I will do then. I think this is ridiculous in a town of our size."
Peter, Cambs