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
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Comments 94
WTF?! Judging much? My son is 3 and we have been making long roadtrips/flying since he was 2 months old. He's been potty trained for about 2-3 months and I'd put him in a diaper in a heartbeat for a roadtrip. Maybe not the 6 year old but a 3, 4, or a 5 year old? They're probably still using diapers at night anyway.
No way! My daughter is three & we will be taking our trip from New Windsor, NY to Oak Island, NC again this summer (a 12h trip without stops). There is no way we would put her in diapers for that! She is very vocal about when she has to go potty and has been fully potty trained since early September with very little accidents. We need to stop anyhow so she can stretch her legs - I don't expect a toddler to just sit in a car seat for more than half a day. Some people have unrealistic expectations of their children.
what's your source that people are putting 4 and 5 year olds in diapers? My son is nearly 3 and is potty trained but we are traveling around Asia and will be for another 6 months or more and they don't have much in the way of public restrooms so yea he's in a diaper. He goes diaper free when home but it's just more practical this way. I see nothing wrong with it.
When my son was 3-4 he was goin perfectly at home but ya car trips were iffy so I put his portable potty in the trunk in case of emergencies
No, I woudn't. My kids were potty trained at 2 1/2 (son) and 3 (daughter) and after each, we just never bought diapers again. My kids also never wore diapers at bednight once they were potty trained. I know some kids have issues with wetting the bed but I guess we just got lucky with ours. I did know one woman who son was potty trained for urine but would not have a bowel movement in diapers for almost a year. I was very hard on her so I don't judge if you have a kid who still needs to wear diapers for issues beyond your control. Every kid is different. Now, if you are putting fully potty trained kids in diapers more for your convinence than theirs, than I do think thats just lazy.