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Strollerderby
We’ve all been there: holding a toddler on our laps while we pee. Sheparding a preschooler into the potty and hanging out reading a picture book while she does her thing. Being barged in on by an older kid with a suddenly urgent need to show you her homework problems Right Now, nevermind that you’re on the toilet.
Welcome to the family toilet. Probably no one warned you when you welcomed your bundle of joy into your life that peeing in private was about to become a luxury.
Tracy Moore has a hilarious piece up on Jezebel about peeing with her toddler in her lap rather than force even a brief separation from her very Mama-focused baby. I so completely hear her. My kids are a little older than Tracy’s, and I wish I could say it gets better.
What is the worst place you ever had to change a diaper?
Changing diapers is a part of parenthood, and when you’re home, it’s nothing more than another duty. But when you’re out and realize your child needs a change (now!), it can be quite a dilemma.
Some venues do accommodate parents and have clean diaper changing stations available, but I’ve found this to be rare. Far more common are the dirty or just plain inconvenient places most moms are expected to take care of their child’s diaper hygiene.
How absorbent are these very thin diapers anyway?
When my first daughter was born, I used Pampers or Huggies. They were thick, plush, absorbent and I felt they were decent quality. Five years later, I added Luvs to the mix, depending on what was on sale that week. By the time my son came along, five years after that, I pretty much stuck to those brands as well. I did notice that they quality of diapers changed throughout the years. Sure, they made diapers that were thinner and more comfortable, but certain brands, like Huggies gave my son rashes. It seemed to me the more “improvements” that were created, the less benefits they had. It seemed they skimped on quality.
According to Consumer Edge Research, sales fell nearly 3% in diapers overall in 2010. Some say the change reflects that parents are buying less diapers and keeping their kids in soiled diapers longer because they just can’t afford the expense. Continue reading »
All parents should really be consulted before some products are made available
Sure, there are folks out there who were clever enough to invent things like baby monitors with an OFF button, and Benadryl.
But then there were people who inexplicably thought they had good ideas that have turned out to be the bane of parenting.
Take a look at the very worst parenting inventions ever:
For some, ABCs are easier than not wetting your pants.
A 3-year-old in Arlington, Va., was kicked out of school for being, um, a 3-year-old.
Back in December, Zoe Rosso and her mother were escorted from her Montessori preschool at Claremont Elementary, an Arlington County public school, after she peed her pants one too many times. The principal told Zoe’s mother, Betsy Rosenblatt Rosso, that the girl had to take a month off from school and bone up on her bladder control before she could come back.
Of course, Zoe’s family would still need to pay that month’s tuition, $835. Continue reading »
Play while you pee!
There are so many potty training techniques being bandied about: potty training videos, potty training books, rewards systems (OK, bribery), late potty training, early potty training, sign language, potty training boot camps and even “elimination communication.”
Sure, handing out M&Ms or stars on a chart every time your child uses the toilet can be an effective way to get kids to ditch the diapers. But, my money’s on this one: Toylets.
You heard it here first, folks: Toilet training is going digital.
Word on the streets of Tokyo is that the entertainment company Sega has installed toilets in public places featuring urine-controlled games. How do they work? There’s a digital screen at eye-level, with a pressure sensor in the toilet/urinal. In order to play the games, you need to hit the sensors with your urine stream.
Cloth diapers are better for the planet.
Cloth diapering isn’t for everyone, as Babble’s hilarious article from one mom who tried going cloth shows. It is work, and it’s work that involves handling your kids poop in a way disposable diapers let you largely avoid. Perhaps not for the easily disgusted.
Cloth diapers are best for the planet though, and arguably better for your baby. There’s a popular myth that the resources used to clean cloth diapers balance the scales of resource consumption, but it’s just not true. It’s a claim that was made 20 years ago in a faulty study. Not only was it never true, it’s less true now than ever. Washing machines have come a long way, as have diaper manufacturing processes. Both cloth and the disposables have gotten greener in recent years. But cloth is still better.
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