"Diaper" Wearing Mom Has Trouble Potty-Training Daughter

Dear Readers:

I am on vacation this week! Please enjoy this classic letter that you may have missed the first time!

--T.K.

Dear Tazi:

I started wearing adult protective underwear (aka “adult diapers”) when I was pregnant with my daughter and having bladder control problems. Tazi, they were so comfortable I did not want to stop using them, even after I no longer needed them! I rarely soil them because I wear them for comfort, not protection, but they are a lifesaver when I am stuck in traffic and can’t “hold it in” any longer!

“Emily” is now three and I never knew she noticed my protective underwear use until now. I have been trying without success to toilet train her for over a year now when the other day she screamed that “if Mommy can wear diapers so can I!” I was terribly embarrassed because she screamed it in front of several people in the children’s department store where we were shopping. Blushing I explained to onlookers that she must be confusing sanitary pads with diapers. Several people laughed and I was able to leave without humiliation.

Tazi, I am a busy work-from-home Mom. I do not have the time to fight my daughter on this issue. I know she needs to toilet train, but how is that going to happen if I am not able to set the example she needs? Do I have to give up my comfort for Emily’s developmental health?

Signed,
Comfortable, Not Incontinent

Dear Comfortable, Not Incontinent:

Yours is one of the more unusual problems I have come across in my column. Could it be that your regular underpants are so uncomfortable because you are not wearing the proper size and/or style? Adult protective undergarments are styled to fit like real underpants, and are designed in the style of cotton briefs. For the sake of your daughter’s developmental health, you may want to try wearing cotton briefs in the proper size. Women’s underpants are sized as such: 5 = small; 6 = medium; 7 = large; 8 = X-Large; 9 = XX-Large, and so on and so forth. Full-brief panties should fit so that they sit at your natural waist without having to tug on them; they should fit in the rear so they do not pull up when you sit down or sag when you sit.


This is an example of a pair of ill-fitting panties


This is how you rock cotton undies
It’s time to face the truth: you’ve been busted by your three year old. You even admit in your letter that there are times you let loose when stuck in traffic, rather than hold it until you reach a rest stop. If you want to teach your daughter appropriate behavior you will have to teach by example. I suggest you make a trip to JC Penney, Kmart, or some other adult department store and make a presentation of buying “big girl” panties for both you and Emily, informing Emily of your decision that it is time for both of you to start wearing them. The one allowable exception to wearing them is if you are having bladder control problems or if you simply must wear them on a long car ride.

If you find that regular underwear is simply too uncomfortable to wear, regardless of style; size; or fabric, you can discreetly go back to wearing your protective undergarments; just make certain that your daughter is not aware of your decision or you will be changing her diapers until she is old enough to change her own.

Snuggles,
Tazi


Ask Tazi! is ghostwritten by a human with a Bachelors of Arts in Communications. Tazi-Kat is not really a talking feline.