I’m riding the bus and sitting in the back with a woman and her what looks to be one and a half year old. The mom wrinkles her nose and says “Ohhh. Kaki?” The little girls laughs and lays across three empty seats. The mom then changes the child’s nasty-assed shitted diaper right there on the seat.
The bus now stinks to high heaven. A few stops and the bus fills with more people. The smell does not fade. A passenger goes to sit on the impromptu changing table.
“That woman just changed a shitted diaper there. I’d look real good before I sit.” I say.
“People need to mind their buisness.” says the shit-cleaner.
“People need to not do their buisness on a bus.” I counter.
Then other passengers start mumbling about the stinky shit.
I admit I said what I said, not so much for the person about to sit (I don’t think the mom left any e-coli infested filth on the seat. I didn’t look that closely) but because the mom disgusted me. In other words-- to be rude.
I think you were rude. A one and a half year old has no control over where he “does his business” and it would be neglectful, even abusive to allow him to sit in a shitty diaper. Sorry about the smell but the kid had to be changed and there was nowhere else to do it. If there was no shit left on the seat then I think you were overreacting.
I take you don’t have any kids? You might have a different perspective on this if you were a parent. I’ve had to change diapers in uncomfortable situations as well. That’s what responsible parenting requires.
What do you think the lady should have done differently? Let the kid sit in his own shit? Aside from the discomfort and nastiness for the baby you still would have had to endure the smell. The funk does not just stay sealed in that diaper you know.
What could the mom have done? Put a blanket/towel/something down on the bus seats first. I agree the diaper needed to be changed, but other passengers should not have to risk sitting in shit.
No a one year old has no control over where she does her buisness but her mom sure has control over where she changes the diaper. On a seat in a public bus is not the place.
I’ve had kids with shitted diapers. It stinks only if you are sitting next to the kid-- not all over the place.
You know many “responsible parents” who change their kids where ever and whenever they crap? Really? At the dinner table? In the middle of the street? Please. A responsible parent changes a diaper in the appropriate place and that place is NOT on a public seat where other people have to sit.
You, like most people, are totally without heart. An urgent bodily function that needs to be dealt with just cannot be put off. I’ll bet you’re one of those people who would give me a dirty look just for masturbating at the laundromat. :eek:
I used to be with the OP on this topic, until I had a 1.5 year old. The problem is if you let the dirty diaper go too long the child can get sore. Extremely sore. Screaming, howling, no-sign-of-relief in sight sore. And if the kid doesn’t get sore, stuff has a tendency to creap out the leg hole or up the back of the diaper. And then the clothes are soiled, which is disgusting.
That, coupled with the fact that the parent of a toddler is enured to the smell and really doesn’t recognize it as a bad thing any more puts me on that mother’s side. Dirty diaper + plenty of room to lay the kid out = diaper changing time.
But the mother could have been a little more understanding of your discomfort.
I disagree. A baby can wait 10 minutes in a dirty diaper until the parent can find a more appropriate place to change it, like a public restroom. Changing a dirty diaper on a public bus seat, where other people are going to be sitting, is just not appropriate, IMHO.
It’s incredibly rude to lay your child, who has soiled his/herself, across seats where someone will be sitting. It’s also rude to expose your child’s feces-smeared ass and diaper to the bus, giving the entire thing a distinct scent of shit and making people wonder why they didn’t just walk. And it’s just stupid to get upset that someone would dare call you on such inappropriate behavior.
Get off the bus and change your stink-ass kid somewhere else. He can wait a few minutes, alright?
I know babies are cute and all, but their asses and their feces are not. Bodily functions should be taken care of in the appropriate facilities.
I mean, women don’t go around changing their tampons on the bus.
Incontinent adults don’t change their Depends on the bus.
They do so out of consideration for others and because privates should remain private. I don’t know why parents with babies shouldn’t have to follow these rules too.
When I ride the bus, I don’t expect to smell shit or look at anyone’s shit-smeared bottom. Nor should people have to worry about remnants of shit being on their seat.
Nope. Shouldn’t change kid on bus. Diapers are made so that you can hold on till you get to a restroom, etc. Unless of course it’s one of those up the back and out the legs kind of shits, then you really do have to change right away. I’m a parent who currently changes diapers, FWIW.
I can’t imagine dealing with smelly shit on a bus. I mean, come on.
I used to have a job where I helped care for developmentally disabled adults. Some of them wore Depends. They sometimes had to be taken places (outings, the store, the doctor’s office). When one of them soiled their Depends, I did not change them right in the middle of the store, in the doctor’s office, or in the car where others could see. I got them to a bathroom (or preferably home) and did it there. I see no reason why this situation should be any different.
yes, a public bus seat is not an appropriate place to change the child. Yes, one needs to do so pretty promptly, but that does not mean “right now, even if there’s no appropriate place”, as has been pointed out.
3 years ago my son was at the pediatric ward getting prepped for surgery. We were in a room w/him sitting next to the bed that was going to wheel him into surgery. Another parent and child (who was also going for surgery) were in the same room, the other side of the room. Suddenly, this other mom picks up her toddler, plomps her onto my son’s ‘going to surgery bed’ and changes said tot’s diaper.
I’ve often wondered how she walked with balls that big.
The orderly changed the bed for my son.
Hypothetically, if I was going to be on the bus another, oh, 45 minutes or so, I’d change my kid. A lot of kids (not mine) can get diaper rash REALLY easily, and I wouldn’t be risking that solely because some people don’t know how to slide down a bus window. Babies are people too and I don’t see any point in allowing them to be uncomfortable in a situation like this. If it were only 5 minutes, though, I’d wait.
Did she pass the diaper around the bus? Wave it in the air like a flag? No, I’m willing to bet she put it in the diaper bag. Big deal.
And I don’t know about where you live, but if you’re riding the bus where I live, smelling a dirty diaper is gonna be the least of your worries.
You think it’s bad on a bus? Try having people do it right in their seats on an 8-11-hour trans-Atlantic flight. Especially on certain flights that tend to have lots of small children on them (like Atlanta <-> Gatwick). In economy class, by the end of the trip, the stench can be so bad that your hair, your clothes, and even the clothes in your carry-on smell like shit.
(FTR, in case anyone wonders, there are in fact baby changing stations in every toilet on the plane. There is no excuse for changing the baby out in the open.)
Yes there is. Prolonged turbulence which keeps people trapped in their seats for extended times, and which would make it dangerous to change a kid on a table in the bathroom while the plane pitches and rolls.
Now said event is uncommon, but it does happen.
I agree with biggirl tho. It ain’t appropriate on a bus in those circumstances.
Buses make stops. At one of those stops there may well be a department store or other place with a public restroom that is suitable for changing diapers. If there is no such facility Mom can wait till she gets home. Changing diapers in an enclosed space like a bus or plane is disgustingly inconsiderate to everyone around you (I have also experienced people changing their kids’ diapers in their airline seats because they are too lazy to take the child back to the restroom).
“Babies are people too.”
And parents are presumed to be adults, with social responsibilities that extend outside the immediate family circle.
As mom of two small kids, I say it was rude. She could have waited a few minutes until she got off the bus. Failing that (a long bus ride, perhaps), she should have put something on the seat, such as the changing pads that come with diaper bags or a towel/blanket, and apologized to all and sundry for the inconvenience.