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How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

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Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#11

Post by echelon »

HPsquared wrote: post #8

Babies and childcare can cost either a huge amount, or not very much at all.

Modern American middle class norms are that babies cost a fortune.

The best nutrition, daycare, early childhood learning, classes, tuition, etc. Extreme expenses.

All throughout history, children have been cheap, and if you look back far enough - disposable. And even parents viewed kids as a free source of labor.

Kids used to be left to roam the woods, streets, and neighborhoods. Now a lone child will get a call from CPS, fines, and jail time.

The parents that favor strong government intervention and high expense parenting basically set the rules for all other parents.

In developing countries, children do not cost this much. Those countries are growing and do not face generational collapse with the younger generations being too small and inadequate to pay for their elders.

We did okay for hundreds of thousands of years. Did Big Advertising get the best of us and make us needlessly devote expenses and energy?

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#12

Post by cowpig »

I feel like the time demands of modern life are the main culprit here. Today families mostly need two working parents, which means nobody to take care of the baby full-time.

If you have someone taking care of them full-time, toilet training early is usually easy and a net time save.

But if you can't ever invest that time because of the time version of the poverty trap, you are in diapers until the kids are developed enough to make the transition themselves or by seeing other examples (at daycare, etc), or are just old enough that it can be explained to them.

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#13

Post by delecti »

glimshe wrote: post #2

Now that I think about it, Big Toilet Paper is a threat to democracy by robbing billions from unsuspecting high-fiber food eaters.

As a high-fiber food eater, I think Big Toilet Paper actually gets less money from me than they would otherwise.

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#14

Post by josh_p »

abustamam wrote: post #5

We're using cloth diapers for our daughter (6m). She's still exclusively breastfed so no solid poops but so far I estimate we've saved over $100/mo by this decision. The story may change when she starts on solids but I recommend everyone to try out cloth diapers, just make sure you have a routine and system in place to make it less overwhelming (we have two diaper pails next to the changing table, one for disposable…

We tried with "hybrid" diapers for all three of our kids, a cloth shell with a disposable liner. They worked, but they're still a lot of extra work. We always kept disposables on hand for when we couldn't keep up. Our second and third kids are twins (2 for 1!!) and that was a lot harder to keep up with. And I ran into problems where I didn't set the diaper right and they would leak overnight, making more work. We had to give up on cloth just to stay sane. I guess my point is, yes, try it if you're able to. But also when you've got a new baby, do what you gotta do for your health, physical and mental, so you can take care of your family.

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#15

Post by noemit »

My mom toilet trained me at 3 months. She had me on a schedule and she would hold me one toilet during the determined times and I would go. This was right after communism fell so she only had access to cloth diapers, and cleaning them was so annoying she did it as early as she could. She was shocked at how long my kids stayed in diapers. I asked her how, and well there is a slight difference between us. She had 2 years of parental leave. I had 1.5 weeks with my second. I did a board meeting from the hospital with my first. Let's just say I don't have the time to dedicate to it. It takes 2 weeks of dedicated focus, repeatedly putting them on the potty, rewarding them, and cleaning up. I know it's possible. Modern life tends to build on these conveniences and efficiencies until it's no longer possible to go back.

I have tried "underwear weekends" with my 2nd so he seems what it's like to pee himself but it's just not enough. He needs 2 full weeks and I'm sure he'd get it. By the end of the weekend he's just starting to grasp it, and then on Monday I put a diaper on him again and it's more confusing than helpful.

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#16

Post by cowpig »

echelon wrote: post #11
HPsquared wrote: post #8

Babies and childcare can cost either a huge amount, or not very much at all.

Modern American middle class norms are that babies cost a fortune. The best nutrition, daycare, early childhood learning, classes, tuition, etc. Extreme expenses. All throughout history, children have been cheap, and if you look back far enough - disposable. And even parents viewed kids as a free source of labor. Kids used to be left to roam the woods, streets, and neighborhoods. Now a lone child will get a call from…

Yeah keep up the fight against big baby keeping our child labor rights down.

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#18

Post by jwrallie »

Forgeties79 wrote: post #7

That does strike me as pretty early but hey, I’m sure it happened and it still happens! But I do agree with the core thesis that people seem to be waiting a very long time. How long is “too long“ is hard to determine though if you ask me. Potty training is not just about when your kid is ready, it’s also about when the parents have capacity to handle it because frankly it is an incredibly intensive, involved, messy p…

I had almost the same experience, with around 18 months it felt possible but ultimately it was frustrating for everyone so we waited more, a few months later we tried again and it went smoothly. The main factor was she could understand what we were doing much better just because she understood more words. I think 2 years is a sweet spot.

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#19

Post by kQq9oHeAz6wLLS »

noemit wrote: post #15

My mom toilet trained me at 3 months. She had me on a schedule and she would hold me one toilet during the determined times and I would go. This was right after communism fell so she only had access to cloth diapers, and cleaning them was so annoying she did it as early as she could. She was shocked at how long my kids stayed in diapers. I asked her how, and well there is a slight difference between us. She had 2 yea…

> don't have the time to dedicate

I hope it's worth it

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#20

Post by echelon »

cowpig wrote: post #16
echelon wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern American middle class norms are that babies cost a fortune. The best nutrition, daycare, early childhood learning, classes, tuition, etc. Extreme expenses. All throughout history, children have been cheap, and if you look back far enough - disposable. And even parents viewed kids as a free source of labor. Kids used to be left to roam the woods, streets, and neighborhoods. Now a lone child will get a call from…

Yeah keep up the fight against big baby keeping our child labor rights down.

Kids should have jobs in high school. It's a fantastic way to learn budgeting, work ethic, entrepreneurship, and gives them a drive to study harder.

For kids without two stable parents, it soaks up their time and keeps them out of trouble.

Since when did we start viewing this as bad?

I worked at 14 doing lawn work for neighbors to save money for video games. It taught me a lot. There's nothing wrong with that.

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