Parents will go out of their way to help their children be safe and comfortable. They will step outside of their own comfort zone at times in order to achieve it.
There are also times when a parent may take things further and they create a stir as a result. That is what happened recently when a mother publicly announced that only the parents would be changing her baby’s diaper. In other words, the grandparents are not allowed.
It all got started on a British parenting website, Mumsnet.com. A parent came on to ask the question if ‘only the parent should change nappies.’ It ended up creating quite a debate on social media.
The mother wrote: “I’m very keen on consent and protecting my baby’s privacy and prefer that only myself and my partner are the ones to change DS [darling son’s] nappy.
“Obviously I understand if we’re not available due to nursery eventually or if someone else is babysitting then I’m happy for someone else to do it however this has not yet been the case.”
She also revealed that there was a time when her mother-in-law changed her baby’s diaper without asking for permission first. She said:
“[The baby] continued crying throughout the change and she gave him back straight after but it annoyed me as it wasn’t her place to change him.”
The mother also said that she didn’t mention anything at the time because she was trying to be ‘nice and friendly.’ Now she is trying to draw more of a hard line with the mother-in-law.
People started debating the subject immediately. They said that they didn’t understand the logic, saying that if she was worried about privacy or consent that she would never use a nursery.
Others took the side of the mother-in-law and said that they felt sorry for her. They added that if she had not changed the diaper, she likely would have been branded as uninterested or unhelpful.
These types of debates happen often and they usually don’t go much further than arguing. It will be interesting to watch this one for a while.