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Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –
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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News
Beijing, December 26 (Xinhua) — Where can I change my baby's diaper and wash them? How can I prepare formula and feed my baby when they're hungry? Several years ago, fathers, left alone with their children in public places, often felt confused and embarrassed by the "No Men Allowed" sign on the door of the "Mother and Child Room."
Recently, "Father and Baby Room" or "Family Baby Care Room" have quietly appeared in many public places in Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, aiming to alleviate the awkward situation of fathers in caring for babies and promote their participation in this process.
"Before, when I went for a walk with my child, I often had to hide in the restroom to change his diaper. Now, shopping malls have spacious and hygienic 'Father-Child Rooms,' equipped with a changing table and bottle warmer. This has saved me a lot of trouble," shares a Beijing resident surnamed Fan, adding that when he went shopping with his one-year-old son at a mall in Beijing's Chaoyang District, the new 'Father-Child Room' was a great help.
"My husband and I often share childcare. We used to go to the 'Mother and Child Room' in many shopping malls, and some of them had a sign on the door that said 'No Men Allowed.' In those cases, Dad would just sit on a bench outside and laze around, while I had to do everything myself," said a working mother named Xu.
On the door of the baby care room on the fourth floor of this shopping mall in Beijing's Chaoyang District, there are two signs reading "Shared Baby Care" and "A Room That's Not Hers Alone," each featuring a man and woman holding a baby together.
A sofa, a sink, a crib, a changing table for changing diapers, a bottle warmer… Everything you need to care for babies is here.
Furthermore, the room is divided into two areas: one for infant care and one for breastfeeding. A sign reading "No Men Allowed" and a curtain are placed at the entrance to the separate breastfeeding area. Over the course of half an hour, a total of seven families with their babies visited the "Shared Child Care Room," three of which had a man accompanying them.
For a long time, public childcare facilities in China were almost equivalent to "mother and baby rooms." These spaces were originally designed to protect the privacy of breastfeeding women, so the "No Men Allowed" sign became common practice.
However, with the development of society and changes in family structures, fathers' involvement in childcare has increased significantly. This is especially true for millennials, those born in the 1990s and even 1995s, who currently represent the main demographic force. They are more inclined to share childcare responsibilities equally within the family.
“The paradigm shift from the ‘Mother and Child Room’ to the ‘Father and Child Room’ appears at first glance to be a differentiation of the functions of public spaces, but in reality it reflects a breakthrough in concept – the transition of childcare responsibilities to ‘joint distribution between parents’ and ‘sharing of responsibility by society’.”
In recent years, the concept of shared parental involvement in childcare and upbringing has become increasingly common in China. Data from a Chinese family tracking study conducted by the Institute of Social Research at Peking University shows that fathers of the post-1990s generation with children under 10 spend an average of 2.39 hours daily on childcare, which is approximately 16 percent more than fathers of the post-1970s generation.
Liu Xiao, a father who had just changed his one-year-old daughter's diaper in one of these rooms, expressed his approval of the space. "It's very nice that such amenities have been created. It's also one of the reasons we chose this particular mall for shopping," he said. "I believe the traditional idea that 'men earn a living, while women run the house and look after the children' is becoming a thing of the past. Fathers should be involved in raising their children. My daughter is very attached to me, and I get great satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment from this process."
According to most Chinese respondents, the transition from "Mother and Child Room" to "Father and Child Room" or "Family Child Care Room" signifies more than just a change of name. It represents a significant step in humanizing urban infrastructure and, more importantly, serves as a mirror to profound transformations in Chinese families' understanding of childcare and upbringing. This transformation, realized through spatial forms, subtly redefines the role of fathers and moves society toward a more egalitarian model of shared childcare responsibilities.
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