Diaperless Parenting - Are you trying to make me feel bad?

Yesterday was a homeschooling challenge for our family. I had a dental appointment at 8:00am and struggled with a very numb mouth for the remainder of the day. We all worked hard to stay on schedule, but the kids were understandably distracted a bit by their mom's sagging lip and unintelligible speech.

"Tomorrow will be better," I vowed. But, I am only more aware of my parenting short comings today after reading that I should have potty trained my toddler over a year ago!

That's right folks, the latest and greatest coup de grâce in the "Who's the best mommy?" death match is diaperless parenting!


Reports reveal that there is

... a growing “diaper-free” movement founded on the belief that babies are born with an instinctive ability to signal when they have to answer nature’s call. Parents who practice the so-called “elimination communication” learn to read their children’s body language to help them recognize the need, and they mimic the sounds that a child associates with the bathroom.

Wow, I really have fallen short on this one. I wouldn't even know what grunt to begin with!

Although I pride myself in trying to interpret and anticipate the needs of my children, I will be the first to admit that I am no where near passing this parenting test. With the daily challenge of just keeping up with the location of each of our children, I have very little time for maintaining a constant "poop-watch" vigil for anticipatory grunts and body language.

I'd be lying to say that I never notice the signals of the secret language of poops, but seeing that this communication is usually very subtle, I regrettably concede that I am much more in tune with the not-so-secret odor of poops.

There are days when we are so busy that even the odor goes unnoticed for a while! (But as you can imagine, that's not often.)

After reading a bit about this potty training idea, I began to wonder why this story is considered newsworthy?

I seriously doubt that this technique is really an option for most parents. The experts and doctors both seem to agree that there is no scientific or medical basis for the belief that infants are even able to be potty-trained.

I guess they need something to report on... but come to think of it, aren't we still at war?

Don't we face an environmental crisis with global warming? Not to mention the our dwindling energy resources, rampant government corruption and an economy that continues to teeter on the brink!

I would imagine that these things would all be great topics for the aspiring investigative reporter, but I guess most people think it is more interesting to read about a 12-week-old infant pooping on a potty.

Actually, it is pretty interesting!