When it comes to injecting substances into one's body, "experts" tell us that giving people a choice in the matter is evil.
But when it comes to changing the diapers of infants, parents should never do so without requesting and getting the consent of the non-verbal and often cranky newborn.
Parents should ask babies for ‘consent’ before changing their diapers: experts https://t.co/fg2c2uIEdt pic.twitter.com/4bYRJZaGUR
— New York Post (@nypost) November 17, 2025
Welcome to the topsy-turvy world of "experts" who demand the right to rule your life and make absurd experiments with it.
It’s a move that might stink to some parents, but there’s a new-age way to change a newborn’s undies.
Drenched diapers are no longer messes that need to be ripped off a baby’s bottom posthaste, according to new advice by early childhood development researchers in Australia.
Instead, the experts encourage moms and dads to request an infant’s consent — you read that correctly — before changing their diaper.
Anybody who has spent more than a little time with babies knows that changing diapers is not just an unpleasant chore for the changer, but also one that the changee resists for any number of reasons.
You and I may rightfully object to the stink, the mess, and worry about the prospect of diaper rash. Babies, not so much. Sometimes they want to be changed, and sometimes not. It turns out that babies are not great judges of what is good for them.
It’s a move that might stink to some parents, but there’s a new-age way to change a newborn’s undies.
Drenched diapers are no longer messes that need to be ripped off a baby’s bottom posthaste, according to new advice by early childhood development researchers in Australia.
Instead, the experts encourage moms and dads to request an infant’s consent — you read that correctly — before changing their diaper.
But in a world where infants in the womb can be said to know that they are transgender, it turns out that the "experts," or at least the ones who are getting the attention of the woke, have decided that "my body, my choice" applies even to those whose ability to make rational choices may, if we are lucky, rise to the level of puppies.
When it comes to making bodily choices, it is the babies who should rule. Except, of course, when they shouldn't, such as in medical procedures that are favored by those same experts.
having heart-to-hearts with rugrats every time they go No. 1 or 2 could fall under the ever-controversial category of gentle parenting.
It’s an ultra-permissive, anti-authoritarian approach to child-rearing that prioritizes empathy, respect, connection and communication over rules and punishments.
The softy strategy is popular with Gen Zers and millennials — mothers and fathers under age 46. However, it’s been widely bashed by online critics who claim the overindulgent, unconventional parenting style turns untamed tykes into knee-high “hellions.”
The new research additionally recommends inviting babies to participate in the grooming ritual, asking them questions like “Can you please lift up your bottom so I can slide your nappy out?”
“These habits plant the seed of the idea that a child has the right to say what happens to their body,” assured the academics.
Eccentricity notwithstanding, Yamalis Diaz, a clinical child psychologist with NYU Langone Health, suggested to The Post that verbally involving a baby in the diaper-changing process is great practice for future discussions about body autonomy — even if the infant can’t yet high-five a parent for a diaper-changing job well done.
“This is more about integrating the teaching of consent into the [adult’s] parenting practices early on,” Diaz said. “It’s aimed at increasing the parents’ awareness of all the ways that the need for consent occurs in a child’s life.”
Imagine taking this approach to parenting, and then imagine the results, and you get something like the worst of Gen Z.
It's an approach that violates everything we know about human development. We do not come into the world fully equipped with the knowledge of what is good for us and what is, indubitably, bad. Instead, we mature by developing habits instilled through observations and instruction, and as liberals keep reminding us when arguing that we shouldn't hold people as old as 25 for their actions (sometimes, but not others), our frontal cortexes are not fully developed until our mid-20s.
When we see spoiled children, our instinct is to blame the parents because children naturally make bad decisions. In fact, making bad decisions and facing the consequences is often how we learn what is good and bad, in addition to parental instruction.
Aside from feeding and housing kids, that is the primary job of the parent.
"Gentle parenting," as with so many awful ideas, is built on a foundation of extending a good idea way too far. It is true that one way parents help children mature is by not being tyrannical themselves. Finding a balance between just telling kids what to do and letting them run wild and make bad decisions is one of the most difficult, but most important parts of parenting.
And the level of freedom kids should enjoy varies by age. The rather stricter limits we place on infants and toddlers should be eased over time, and, ironically, the same people who "gentle parent" often hover over their kids and schedule their every moment.
Which brings me to my point: it is not so much that these theories make no sense at all, but rather that, in many cases, letting "experts" guide or enforce behavior is insane. It's not that there aren't realms of life where expertise is the key to success—I would shudder to think that bridges or skyscrapers were built without expert engineers guiding the process—but in others, "expertise" is just another word for having too narrow a focus to see the big picture. And that narrow focus blinds one to common sense and unintended consequences.
And, of course, "experts" love their theories and never face the consequences of their "oopsies." We see a million examples from the COVID era, during which we handed over our lives to "experts" and they screwed EVERYTHING up, causing permanent damage, especially to children.
We can't do without expertise, of course. But at least we can use our common sense to judge whether "experts" are actually wise.
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