Birth of a Cloth Diaper Advocate

Day 5 – Birth of an Advocate.  Making a commitment to cloth diapering doesn’t just affect you and your immediate family.  You will soon realize that you will be teaching others about cloth diapers each and every day.  In the early days you will be introducing cloth diapers to your spouse and other family members (grandparents, aunts, uncles) and friends.  They will have similar questions and concerns as you do and it’s easy for use to fall back info disposables in an effort to not cause any conflicts amongst our loved ones.  But you have the power as a parent to teach these people instead of giving them a ‘get out of fluff free card.’

My husband wasn’t hard to educate since we were both learning together.  My mom was (and still is) one of my biggest supporters.  Having used cloth diapers on both me and my brother she was extremely excited to use these new modern cloth diapers.  My mom used a diaper service when we were little so she didn’t have to wash her diapers but she did have to deal with pins, pre-folds, and rubber pants.  She’s such a great supporter that she doesn’t even shy away from helping with the laundry.

Other people you may influence in your lives:

• friends
• caregivers
• babysitters
• day cares
• church nursery workers
• neighbors
• strangers (at the mall, restaurants, play groups)

Start simple – most people only need to know the basics.  How do you change them?  Where do you store the dirties? and What do you do with the poop?

How to handle the skeptics:

• Avoid being defensive and offer your empathy.  Really listen to what their concerns are.
• Learn the facts.
• Join an organization like the Real Diaper Association (RDA) which helps to train and educate parents about cloth diapers.
• Start your own local cloth diaper group and become a local educator and advocate to other parents in your area.

Our greatest opportunity for raising awareness about modern, reusable cloth diapers is to lead by example.  If we show other parents how easy it is to use cloth diaper they will be more likely to try them on their children.  Don’t shy away from using cloth diapers when you leave the house.  This is the only way we’ll ever win the diaper debate and prove that cloth diapers really are just as easy to use as disposables.  Will you take the challenge?  Are you ready to be an advocate?  Who can you educate about cloth diapers?

I’m a proud member of the RDA and help raise awareness of cloth diapering every day through my blogs and in real life.  For as little as $25 a year you too can be a member of the RDA.  The 2011 Cloth Diaper Calendar Photo Contest winners have just been announced.  The calendars will be available for sale on Cafe Press soon – to kick off the launch of the 2011 Calendar Eco Chic Parties will be having a Twitter Party on December 7th.  Sponsors and prizes will be announced soon!  Be sure to add the RDA Calendar to your wish list this holiday season!