
Road trips with children are notoriously no fun. The last big one I took with my family was from Boston to Chesapeake Bay, which turned out to be 10 hours for what should have been an 8.5-hour trip. It wasn't SO bad, but the reason it was like that was because of bathroom breaks. Our 4- and 5-year-old seemed to have to pee every five seconds (was it all that juice we kept bribing them with?), so we were constantly in search of bathrooms.
That was a summer trip. Now, it's the dead of winter, and if we were going to take a long road trip, the weather would give me great pause and concern. I am not sure how we would deal with the frequent stops and the risk of bad weather. But one thing is sure — I wouldn't put my potty-trained kids in diapers.
It seems insane, right? But apparently, SOME parents are doing this on long road trips.
Never mind the fact that I am not sure I could wrestle my now 6-year-old daughter into a diaper if I tried. My 4-year-old son may do it. He may even like it, which, er, is about 90 percent of why I would never do it.
For my daughter though, it would be so undignified. I know how she feels about her body and she is proud of being a big kid. She would be humiliated and angry if I ever put her back in diapers. I mean, honestly, who would ever think of this?
Would you put your husband in a diaper for a long road trip? It seems borderline abusive. A lot of things are OK in parenting, but this just seems wrong.
Children take so much pride in the things they accomplish as they learn and grow. It's hard to imagine taking that away from them just because you want to get somewhere faster.
So, no. I wouldn't put a potty-trained child back in diapers for a road trip. The only exception MIGHT be if he or she specifically asked and brought it up on his or her own. Then maybe. But even then, I can't imagine saying OK. It just feels wrong.
Would you ever put potty-trained kids back in diapers for a car ride?
Image via Mai Le/Flickr