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Pass secret messages on diapers

in: Uncategorized

Who says every hack must solve a problem? From Sara:

The other day after "school" I was surprised at changing time with a message on J's diaper:  "My Last Diaper!"  — a message from one of her teachers that we needed to bring in another batch of diapers.  The next day we sent her to school with replacement diapers and a response "Have a good day!" We kept up the message passing day after day — "I [heart] Mommy and Daddy," and an homage to Miss J's winter coat: "I am the cutest purple marshmallow in the world."

Her Dad and I even carried it into the weekend and wrote short love notes to each other.

I'm not sure about the more practical applications of this hack — use it to remind your spouse or caregiver of a medicine dose or doctor's appointment, perhaps? — but I highly recommend it for plain, old, lighthearted fun.

Ain't love GRAND?

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About Asha Dornfest

Asha Dornfest is a writer, parent, and insistent optimist living in Portland, Oregon. She is the author of PARENT HACKS, co-author of MINIMALIST PARENTING, and co-host of the Edit Your Life podcast.

Comments

  1. Elana says

    March 26, 2007 at 9:59 am

    I LOVE this. On the next diaper change, Eoin’s gonna get tagged. 🙂

  2. Jill says

    March 26, 2007 at 2:04 pm

    Diapers now and paper lunch bags later. Send your love wherever you can!

  3. Marketing Mommy says

    March 26, 2007 at 2:59 pm

    From personal experience, let me warn you NOT to use Crayola Washable Markers for your diaper decorations! Just last month my daughter and I had a blast drawing pictures on her diaper only to have her pee dissolve the ink. It ended up migrating through the diaper (Huggies) and onto her skin.

  4. Multi-tasking Mommy says

    March 26, 2007 at 5:25 pm

    Wow! Thanks for that amazing idea. I love writing notes and now I have a new place to do it.

  5. Randa Clay says

    March 26, 2007 at 9:04 pm

    This is a great shower activity while the mother-to-be is opening gifts. Give everyone a diaper and a sharpie, and have them write whatever they want. It makes those diaper changes in the middle of the night a little more interesting anyway.

  6. brooklynmommy says

    March 26, 2007 at 9:07 pm

    My daughter generally wears 7th Generation diapers which I like b/c they’re chlorine-free AND b/c they aren’t emblazoned with mass-culture children’s icons–or, indeed, anything; they’re plain brown.

    My kid, however, has on occasion sported a Huggies and whenever that happens, she’s a bit reluctant about going back to 7th Generation plain-Jane. So, to make them appealing again, I entice her by letting her choose a design and then I draw it on the diaper for her with a marker.

    We now sometimes personalize the diaper with stickers or she draws on it herself (before putting it on) or, as when we started this, I do it.

    It sure beats the I’ll-only-wear-the-one-with-the-cat-on-it (and not the other 4 designs in the pack) and it lets her see that you can create what you want rather than waiting for the (corporate) man to give it to you…

  7. Barb says

    March 27, 2007 at 10:08 am

    My daughter is only in nighttime diapers now, and enjoys the pictures that come on them. One night we got a cheap pack from the grocery store and they were all white – no picture. I knew my daughter would be disappointed, so I grabbed a pen off the nightstand and drew hearts all over it. She loved it! She grabbed another diaper and her brother grabbed another one, and they drew pictures on the diapers for the next couple of nights.

    It reminded me that we used to do this when my oldest was in nighttime diapers and the diapers came without pictures. We used tattoo-pens that we’d gotten from the local mega-mart. With these pens (which I’m still not sure what I think about these for skin), they could have fine lines and color – yay! I need to see if I can find them again. 😀

  8. RookieMom Whitney says

    March 27, 2007 at 9:32 pm

    Love it! Look for a mention of this on RookieMoms.com soon!

  9. anj says

    March 28, 2007 at 7:34 pm

    great idea, but i don’t know how it would work on cloth.

  10. MS says

    March 30, 2007 at 6:04 pm

    My mother-in-law stayed with us for a month when our daughter was born. She was kind enough always to stay up for the last feeding of the evening while my wife and I went to bed.

    I took to writing her little messages on the baby’s diaper:
    “I love you Grandma”
    “Thanks Grandma”

    but then my juvenile mind took over and I started writing:
    “Guess who just made a poopie?”
    “Do you smell something?”
    etc.

  11. Holly Jo says

    April 11, 2007 at 12:15 am

    I used to work at a daycare and we wrote on the diapers to let the parents know their child needed more diapers. I LOVE the idea of using it as a message center type thing. This is such a good idea!! When my husband and I have another child I will have to remember this!!

  12. HP says

    April 11, 2007 at 5:32 pm

    This is a goldmine .. walking post its ! , some kids poop like clockwork , it could be used as useful reminders , such as : ” for the love of good buy condoms !” or : we could write fun facts on them … “children are evil” or even cooler try out what different kinds of objects can travel unharmed throug the digestive system.. just write down what you feed them and check the list …peas ,no
    corn , 3, oh no 6 .. 15 ?
    coins 10 cents
    dollarbill . sadly no- cant afford more corn ..
    Conclusion : recycle corn
    i tell you its great !

  13. wombat says

    May 7, 2007 at 8:07 pm

    we saw it here first and went to change our sone the other day after daycare only to find the following (we were at my mother’s birthday dinner – extended family HOWLED with laughter): http://www.flickr.com/photos/sillysilers/485812534/

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