Children Are Our Future

The title is kind of a tongue twister isn't it?

As a teacher, I have said this saying many times, but now as a parent, it means even more to me. 

As a newbie in the world of blogging, I joined a writer's workshop hoping to improve my skills so people will actually want to read what I'm putting down. 

My first assignment: Write about a quote that means something to me. Well, there are tons of quotes that I have enjoyed over the years, but I wanted something that would pertain to my topic on this blog. I asked my friends on Facebook for their favorite quote, and out of my 200+ 'friends' I got three responses. Okay. So I turn to someone who is always there for me, my good friend, Google. I searched for environmental quotes and read through only a few before this one gave me goosebumps:

Because we don't think about future generations, they will never forget us.  ~Henrik Tikkanen

Deep, isn't it?

Anyone that knows me personally, knows I'm a bit of an environmentalist. I try my best to make good choices so that our Earth remains in tact for our future. 

Do you remember that movie, Wall-E? I took my nieces to see it in the theater and I am one of the only people I know who really enjoyed it. I was entertained and it opened my eyes even wider to the problems we are facing if we continue to abuse our Earth like we do now. 

When Jaelyn was two months old, we went on a two week vacation to visit family and friends in Oklahoma and Texas. I was nervous to use cloth diapers and travel so I decided that it would be easier to use disposables. Boy, was I mistaken!!

Almost as soon as I got to my aunt's house, Jaelyn had a blowout-her very first poop outside of the diaper experience. Disgusting, dirty and embarrassing! This was some of my family's first time meeting our baby and she was a stinky mess!

During the week, the trash was overflowing with used diapers and I could see how much actual waste paper diapers cause. Taking out the trash once a day and making sure I had enough diapers on hand so that I didn't have to run to the store was very annoying. 

The following week was more of the same-blowouts, washing little baby outfits in the sink, and taking out the trash. I was so ready to go home and use my cloth diapers again by the end of the trip.

I wonder if parents who use disposable diapers because they think the laundry is a hassle, or the poop will be too gross, or they are scared of leaks in public look into the future to imagine what the world will be like for their children. Most people say they want what is best for their kids' future, but it seems that's true as long as it's not an inconvenience today.

What would you rather look at? 

Disposable diapers at a dump

-OR-

Jaelyn's diapers line dried on our second vacation in Oklahoma

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The beginning of Bum Luxury

After eight months of cloth diapering my baby and sharing all about cloth diapers online and to friends at parties, gatherings and mom’s groups, I finally decided to get paid for these advertisements.

When I first got pregnant I had many questions, and like many people who have questions, I turned to Google. Through my wanderings and wonderings (yes, I know it’s not a real word) I came across Babycenter, a website that became a close friend of mine and stuck with me even after I ventured into the world of motherhood.

Who knew there were so many debates on parenting? I always thought you tried your best and that was that. Boy, was I wrong! Breastfeeding vs. formula, co-sleeping, cry it out, vaccinations, circumcision, inducing labor, epidural vs. natural childbirth, and on and on. I have my own opinions on these topics of course, but the debate that I was undecided about for most of my pregnancy was the disposable vs. cloth diaper argument.

Cloth diapers? Who used those? Nobody I knew had used cloth in the last, well, since I was a baby. Why would people use cloth now? What had changed since I was a child to fuel such a debate?

Now, I must tell you, I consider myself quite the environmentalist. Reducing my carbon footprint is a huge factor in how I live my life so finding the answers to the questions was a huge priority during my pregnancy. How could I, the Green Team teacher, be a hypocrite and use disposable diapers if there were cloth options available?

My research began on the Babycenter Cloth Diaper Board. And then I was lost. Completely lost. What in the world was a BG, FB, BSRB, HH, OS, AIO, AI2, fitted, flat, etc? It still seems a bit foreign to me. So I started at the beginning and asked a ton of questions. When I finally started to understand what all the acronyms meant, another woman I worked with started talking about using cloth with her baby! I was so amazed. Someone in real life knew about cloth diapers!

She introduced me to a local store and my husband and I took a cloth diaper class. It was so important that my husband went because he looked at me with the same look everyone else gave me when I mentioned that I was thinking about using cloth on my baby. He thought I was crazy. That all my years of making him recycle had really turned me into some crazy environmentalist lunatic. Well, he sure has changed his tune now!

Not only was he impressed that we would save hundreds if not thousands of dollars using cloth, he was glad he wouldn’t have to ever go to the store and buy diapers again. After learning about all the types of diapers, he was the one in the store trying the diapers on their teddy bear. He loved how soft the Fuzzibunz diapers were and we were both amazed at the adjustable elastic in the legs and waist. We were sold. I had finally committed to using cloth with my child.

I could not be happier with my choice. My husband is an advocate now too. I love that he defends our choice to his coworkers and comes home to tell me about it. The lack of blowouts and last minute rushes to the store are his favorite points to make. I think with a little more encouragement, we will have some friends in cloth soon!

Bum Luxury was created to share the love of cloth diapers and show people that they can be just as convenient, if not more, as today’s disposable diapers. We hope to educate others about the choices available today and convert more homes to cloth.

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