In the Diaper Underground, I have watched several cloth diaper generations* reinvent the same diapers several times. It is fascinating to see mothers meet similar situations with similar solutions. I don’t see a problem with us all finding personal solutions to the fact of babies’ elimination, but I would suggest that we don’t necessarily need to reinvent the solutions. Women (and, yes, I mean women) have been creatively addressing this need for a long time before the internet made the Diaper Underground possible. We may not be able to reach easily into the deep past, but we have several generations of knowledge just waiting for us to ask. Even if your mother diapered you in the passing era of throwaway diapers, your grandmother should know cloth diapers. Ask her.

Asking your grandmother, interviewing her, and collecting a cloth diaper oral history from her is the point of Real Diaper Association’s project Your Grandmother Should Know. This year-long project is the RDA’s annual educational campaign to fulfill the mission of the organization. This year, we “connect current cloth diapering parents to the long history of cloth diapering.” We will support members in collecting interviews during this year, then collect those interviews in various formats the following year. What we do depends on what we get, but we have an active DJ looking for audio and a Real Diaper Circle creating an instructional video already.

We don’t have to convince ourselves that it is necessary to reinvent cloth diapers. The knowledge was never lost. You can learn about cloth diapers the same way your grandmother and her grandmother did, face-to-face from the women with experience.

Would you like to participate in the project by interviewing your grandmother, your mother, or any other person who remembers using cloth diapers? Join us. You don’t need to be an RDA member to participate (though we would love to have you join). To start, read about the project and make a plan. I have created Project Guidelines available as a book ($10.95) or as a free download for you to print yourself.

* A diaper generation is about 2 years — the time it takes one child to grow out of diapers.

Your Grandmother Should Know:
An Oral History of Cloth Diapers from RDA

Do diapers make you laugh? I admit I have occasionally found a diaper funny, but this is usually the happy-amusement sort of laughter. It really hadn’t occurred to me that some might find diapers so odd that they use laughter to relieve their discomfort.

My daughter learned the hard way that diapers make children laugh–an extension, I imagine, of the general popularity of bathroom humor. (If I say “butt” to my 5-year old, he’ll laugh no matter what the context.) My daughter told me recently about a conversation between herself (then 7 years old) and two boys (about 8 years old) in the playroom at our grocery store. This happened a while ago. She waited before telling me about it.

“What does your dad do?” asked the boy.
“He dyes fabric so my mother can make diapers.”

They laughed at her. Actually, they were probably laughing at the word “diaper,” but she felt it was at her. She hadn’t expected this response, but she’s heard it a couple of times now. Though some kids thought it was interesting, that isn’t what an 8-year old focuses on. She has learned to mention my other so-called careers instead. Her new canned responses:

“What does your dad do?”
“He’s a scientist.”

“What does your mother do?”
“She teaches at the university.”

I told her I’ve learned my own version of this. We talked about learning how and when to people want to hear particular versions of our lives. “I sell cloth diapers” requires a bit of time and context to fit into most people’s version of reality.

Lest you think this phenomenon isolated among children, a representative from an environmental news service called me last week. Adults titter at the mention of diapers, too.

“Had you heard of our service?”
“Yes. I receive daily email updates.”
“Is it possible you might use our service to publicize a press release?”
“Yes, that is possible.”
“May I ask what your business is?”
“I manufacture and retail cloth diapers.”

She laughed!

“Is that funny?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Really. I would think that someone like yourself would understand the importance of cloth diapers as an environmental issue.”

I’ve heard similar responses, but not from someone whose job is to publicize environmental issues. When people ask what I do, I just raise an eyebrow and say, “I sell cloth diapers.” I actually enjoy seeing the responses. Some people just let that be a minor point in a conversation and some people take it as a criticism of themselves. The laughter was a new one, though.

With only 3-5% of the baby population in cloth diapers, how do we make diapering choices a serious issue? Some of us already talk about cloth diapers and issues of cost, health, and environment. We aren’t on a soap box all of the time, though. Can cloth diapers just be normal, mundane, and part of a conversation without being particularly funny?

Have you encountered this? What do you do?

Today is the first anniversary of opening Real Diaper Association.

Cloth diaper buyers generate a lot of energy about this simple item of clothing. I had the idea that there should be an organization to harness that energy and take it face to face to new parents who need to know that cloth diapers are still around and easy to use. I dropped the hint for years. When people said there should be a guild for the diaper manufacturing cottage industry, I heartily agreed. I wanted to join. I waited to join. I waited for someone else to start it. I kept talking about it myself. Eventually, we gathered speed and there it was. That’s how it happened: idea, hints, discussion, gathering, planning, and, after a 4-year gestation, the birth of Real Diaper Association on August 11, 2004.

Real Diaper Association is an incorporated, 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization of volunteers with a growing number of local advocates. Check the website’s Resource Center for brochures and postcards to keep in your diaper bag, for when someone sees you with a cloth diaper and asks, “What’s that?” It’s easy to go further with simple advocacy tips, or a full-0n local campaign to get people to ask you about cloth diapers or to teach children why to choose cloth diapers. On the RDA website there are

Before this just turns into a site map I need to stop and say, RDA ROCKS! (If I may say so even as Chairperson.) These are some positive people who’ve really hit a groove together. I hope I don’t make it sound too easy to start and run RDA. It is a lot of work, and we would welcome your help and your membership. Hey, donate money. All donations are tax exempt.

Who knew a simple cloth diaper could matter so much?

Happy Anniversary, Real Diaper Association.

For, what, a couple of years? Two of my friends and colleagues in the Diaper Underground have dropped big, stinky hint bombs that I should be blogging. I easily ignored these. As a matter of fact, I easily ignored both their blogs (family life of the Sanders5 and the tragic misadventures of VeryMom). I only read their blogs when tricked.

Now, they’ve tricked me into writing even when I won’t read.

I give in. I see the light. I write. So Google me.

I can’t say that I know the future, but I believe you can expect to find here posts about business, organics, family business, my customers fabulosas, and the Diaper Underground.