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John Legend’s crusade to make it easier for dads to change diapers

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Paul Drinkwater/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty ImagesAs the father of two young children, John Legend knows the diaper changing struggle is real, especially in public.  While most women’s restrooms feature changing tables to make it easy for mom to put a new diaper on her baby, men’s restrooms don’t have those facilities. That’s why the singer is promoting Pampers’ goal of installing 5,000 changing tables in men’s restrooms across North America by 2021.

Speaking to Romper, John says, “We’re excited to provide a physical manifestation that daddies can be part of the ‘change,’ and daddy diaper duty is a real thing, and it’s really going to happen, and there’s a place for that to happen.”

“It’s kind of assumed dads won’t change diapers, so facilities are built in a way that bakes that assumption in,” he notes. “And [that] then perpetuates the fact that dads won’t change diapers because they don’t even have a place to do it.”

John is all about fighting the parenting double standard: For example, he thinks haters who came for his wife Chrissy Teigen online after the couple’s first post-baby date night should have included him in their criticism too.

“People were shaming Chrissy for leaving the house, and didn’t say anything bad to me,” he tells Romper. “We’re both parents and we’re both going out. If you think that’s not appropriate — and first of all, you shouldn’t think that’s not appropriate — if you’re going to blame somebody, blame both of us, not just the mother.”

John says our cultural notions of parenting — what’s the mom’s job and what’s the dad’s job — are outdated and should be adjusted.

“All the times when we’ve lowered the bar and have said dad is babysitting when he’s taking care of his own kids — no, he’s not,” the singer notes. “He’s just parenting.”

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