Are Changing Tables in Restaurants a Human Right Now?

Yes, any whim a person has should be turned into a law, enforced by police and military. This is the modern-day thinking process. You want something, demand a law that makes it happen. Of course, there can be no negative consequences to such laws! What stories like this should say instead are: “There should be a law making it mandatory for restaurants to have a changing room for children, even if that means the price of a meal in large places will increase by an average of 10% and the price in a small restaurant will go up by 20% to cover this new cost. I’m okay with reducing millions of people’s quality of life to have my whim of a change room realized. Also, I refuse to entertain the idea of being limited to choosing restaurants which cater to my specific needs of which there are many. Instead, all places, whether they are targeting families or not, must follow my orders!”

At least this would be honest. But instead of this, those demanding such things imagine their orders will have nothing but beneficial results. It would be as logical as saying “I demand that every restaurant I enter gives me a free appetizer! This is a basic human right!” and then expecting prices not to increase or there to be any negative side effects.

Would places which clearly do not cater to children be required to follow this law? What about downtown restaurants which are open late at night for downtown people? What about tiny small-business restaurants with a single small bathroom? Are they required to add a huge extension onto the tiny restaurant that will accommodate a change area?

One response to such questions is that the legislators should take those things into consideration or make precise laws that will meet the needs of the citizens or some other such pie-in-the-sky declarations. As we all know however, laws are almost never precise. They paint broad brushes.

The proper response to such a request is for businesses to provide changing tables in order to attract customers. Similar to this is many restaurants already offer free meals to kids if accompanied by parents. And many currently offer changing tables and many other services.

Another thing concerned people can do is form groups which ask for such things and say they will boycott anyone who fails to comply. That’s fine. Everything is voluntary. But to force a business to take on an expense which they do not believe is in their or their customers’ best interest is simply authoritarianism.