Brace yourself. This blog post is going to sound crazy. I know it is nuts. I have been talking with my husband about this off and on for a few days now, and he continues to roll his eyes and stifle laughs. So, I know I am off my rocker with this one. But, I need to work through it, so I am going to write about it anyway. Consider yourself warned.
I think I am grieving the end of my favorite diapers.
Last week, I posted a note about my disappointment with the "improvements" that Pampers has made with their Swadders & Cruisers diaper line. I was disappointed. I was complaining. I thought I was doing it in a funny way.
Friends let me know that I was not alone in my lamenting. A quick Google search showed me that there are many, many folks who do not like the new diaper style. Some are furious and fighting the company publicly. Others, plan to switch brands and move on.
I was planning to just switch brands and move on. My "baby" is 19 months old already. I can move him into Pull-ups now, if I wanted. I can try him out in other diapers. We are really only talking a series of months (possibly greater than 12 months) before he is potty training anyway. He is a toddler. I am at the end of my diapering life anyway.
Even though I dealt with the sudden diaper rash problem, I thankfully did not deal with the chemical burns, blisters, or other traumas that some parents report. Some children are more sensitive than others. My 3-year old wears the diapers at night with no problems at all. I know just enough about business strategy to realize that the company reached a plateau in their profits, and needed an image change to booster sales. I have nothing personal against the company or their business decisions. I think it was a dumb decision. And, I think they are not handling the public outcry very well. Other than that, it is not personal, it is just business. Companies make good or bad business moves all the time.
But, man, am I disappointed! The entire world has just lost a superior product. It is gone. There is nothing to replace it. Nothing comes close. I know many Moms who are happy to share the diapers they like to use, and their reasons for using them. There are all kinds of online discussions about brand, size, cost, character, and comparison.
It is all just apples and oranges.
All of the other diapers on the market are like comparing apples. Red, green, yellow, sweet, tart, crisp....Pampers Baby Dry, Luvs, Huggies, Fisher Price, Up&Up, and the warehouse brands....thin, cheap, plastic...functional. They are all close enough to the same thing, that it really doesn't matter.
And, now, we can just add Pampers Swaddlers and Pampers Cruisers to the list. The "improvements" have only succeeded in making them just like every other diaper on the market. Some folks will like them, and some will not, and it really doesn't matter. A disposable diaper is a disposable diaper, and there really isn't much to compare and contrast anymore.
The Pampers Swaddlers and Cruisers that I have been using for over 6 years now were oranges. There was nothing else like them on the market. There was no comparison to other diapers. They were a superior product. (I have only now just learned that this is because they owned the patent on the mesh insert that was in their diapers, which kept moisture off little bottoms and absorbed better). I actually better understood the position of Moms who use cloth diapers instead of disposable, because I was attached to Pampers Swaddlers with THAT level of intensity. Apples and oranges.
Now that Pampers has gone and changed their superior product to compare to all of the inferior products, I am hearing about more and more folks who felt the same way I did. Pampers just lost an entire base of loyal folks who have not switched diaper brands in years. We all just throw up our hands and say, "oh well, I guess I'll buy the cheapest diapers now, because they are all pretty much the same." There is no more quality in the disposable diaper industry. Sad.
It is just a diaper. So why am I so upset about this?
That is what I have been mulling around in my head for days. I realize now, that it is not about the diapers....it is about superiority.
I am hitting the ground after my fall with superiority. I've been falling for quite a while now. I've posted before about how I keep finding myself in situations where my parenting choices are required to change...often to the opposite extreme. I've laughed. I've cried. I've been embarrassed. I've been frustrated. I've been amused at the irony. I've dealt with it and moved on.
But, I have always had my diaper idol to hold on to. I have always had that "superior" product that I have used for years. The diapers were my last stronghold.
Not any more. (We are not suppose to be holding on to false idols anyway.)
None of MY parenting choices are any better than those of my peers.
It is true that I must constantly make choices and decisions for the care and well being of my children. I am responsible for their nurturing and training. Motherhood is an awesome responsibility, and I take my job very seriously.
But, MY choices are to be what is best for MY children....for the children whose care God has entrusted ME with.....not for everyone else's children. What works for me may not be the best choice for another family. What works for me with one of my children may not even be the best choice for another of my children. And, as soon as I start to feel superior on any level with my choices, then I am in the wrong. As soon as I start to think that I have found the "best" product on the market...As soon as I think I have found the "best" way to care for a child...I should know better. There is no "best" for everyone.
And apparently, I have not been quick enough with this lesson, because it keeps repeating in my life.....right down to the choice of diapers I use.
I am actually thankful, now, that Pampers has made such a terrible mistake. I don't wish any ill will on the company itself. Their blunder was large enough for me to see that I don't need a superior diaper. I don't need a superior anything. I need to cast off the things of this world. Cast off the products, brands, labels, and philosophies. They are distractions that cloud my judgment and my focus. I should not be following a company, an author, a brand, or a movement.
I need to remain humble. Open to growth. Open to guidance. Open to being molded into the mother that God intends me to be.
I think I am grieving the end of my favorite diapers.
Last week, I posted a note about my disappointment with the "improvements" that Pampers has made with their Swadders & Cruisers diaper line. I was disappointed. I was complaining. I thought I was doing it in a funny way.
Friends let me know that I was not alone in my lamenting. A quick Google search showed me that there are many, many folks who do not like the new diaper style. Some are furious and fighting the company publicly. Others, plan to switch brands and move on.
I was planning to just switch brands and move on. My "baby" is 19 months old already. I can move him into Pull-ups now, if I wanted. I can try him out in other diapers. We are really only talking a series of months (possibly greater than 12 months) before he is potty training anyway. He is a toddler. I am at the end of my diapering life anyway.
Even though I dealt with the sudden diaper rash problem, I thankfully did not deal with the chemical burns, blisters, or other traumas that some parents report. Some children are more sensitive than others. My 3-year old wears the diapers at night with no problems at all. I know just enough about business strategy to realize that the company reached a plateau in their profits, and needed an image change to booster sales. I have nothing personal against the company or their business decisions. I think it was a dumb decision. And, I think they are not handling the public outcry very well. Other than that, it is not personal, it is just business. Companies make good or bad business moves all the time.
But, man, am I disappointed! The entire world has just lost a superior product. It is gone. There is nothing to replace it. Nothing comes close. I know many Moms who are happy to share the diapers they like to use, and their reasons for using them. There are all kinds of online discussions about brand, size, cost, character, and comparison.
It is all just apples and oranges.
All of the other diapers on the market are like comparing apples. Red, green, yellow, sweet, tart, crisp....Pampers Baby Dry, Luvs, Huggies, Fisher Price, Up&Up, and the warehouse brands....thin, cheap, plastic...functional. They are all close enough to the same thing, that it really doesn't matter.
And, now, we can just add Pampers Swaddlers and Pampers Cruisers to the list. The "improvements" have only succeeded in making them just like every other diaper on the market. Some folks will like them, and some will not, and it really doesn't matter. A disposable diaper is a disposable diaper, and there really isn't much to compare and contrast anymore.
The Pampers Swaddlers and Cruisers that I have been using for over 6 years now were oranges. There was nothing else like them on the market. There was no comparison to other diapers. They were a superior product. (I have only now just learned that this is because they owned the patent on the mesh insert that was in their diapers, which kept moisture off little bottoms and absorbed better). I actually better understood the position of Moms who use cloth diapers instead of disposable, because I was attached to Pampers Swaddlers with THAT level of intensity. Apples and oranges.
Now that Pampers has gone and changed their superior product to compare to all of the inferior products, I am hearing about more and more folks who felt the same way I did. Pampers just lost an entire base of loyal folks who have not switched diaper brands in years. We all just throw up our hands and say, "oh well, I guess I'll buy the cheapest diapers now, because they are all pretty much the same." There is no more quality in the disposable diaper industry. Sad.
It is just a diaper. So why am I so upset about this?
That is what I have been mulling around in my head for days. I realize now, that it is not about the diapers....it is about superiority.
I am hitting the ground after my fall with superiority. I've been falling for quite a while now. I've posted before about how I keep finding myself in situations where my parenting choices are required to change...often to the opposite extreme. I've laughed. I've cried. I've been embarrassed. I've been frustrated. I've been amused at the irony. I've dealt with it and moved on.
But, I have always had my diaper idol to hold on to. I have always had that "superior" product that I have used for years. The diapers were my last stronghold.
Not any more. (We are not suppose to be holding on to false idols anyway.)
None of MY parenting choices are any better than those of my peers.
It is true that I must constantly make choices and decisions for the care and well being of my children. I am responsible for their nurturing and training. Motherhood is an awesome responsibility, and I take my job very seriously.
But, MY choices are to be what is best for MY children....for the children whose care God has entrusted ME with.....not for everyone else's children. What works for me may not be the best choice for another family. What works for me with one of my children may not even be the best choice for another of my children. And, as soon as I start to feel superior on any level with my choices, then I am in the wrong. As soon as I start to think that I have found the "best" product on the market...As soon as I think I have found the "best" way to care for a child...I should know better. There is no "best" for everyone.
And apparently, I have not been quick enough with this lesson, because it keeps repeating in my life.....right down to the choice of diapers I use.
I am actually thankful, now, that Pampers has made such a terrible mistake. I don't wish any ill will on the company itself. Their blunder was large enough for me to see that I don't need a superior diaper. I don't need a superior anything. I need to cast off the things of this world. Cast off the products, brands, labels, and philosophies. They are distractions that cloud my judgment and my focus. I should not be following a company, an author, a brand, or a movement.
I need to remain humble. Open to growth. Open to guidance. Open to being molded into the mother that God intends me to be.
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