So anyway my 3 year old is in preschool (special ed preschool, she's mildly autistic) and one of the things they are working on is toilet training. So she has to have pull ups or training pants. The price of pull ups was becoming shocking to me (we can afford it, but still....) and they were thinking that the "dry feel" of the pull ups was slowing down her motivation with toilet training so they were very ok with me going and getting some real cloth training pants.
I figured, go out, buy the training pants at the local kmart, no problem. Except they had none. They had the plastic pants (I bought their last 3 packages) but no cloth training pants. They didn't know when they'd be getting more.
OK, fluke thing. And Baby Depot is just a few hundred yards away. We pack the kids back into the double stroller and away we go. And.......they don't have them either. Turns out they've discontinued both them and the plastic pants - they were a high theft item and just not earning any profit for the store.
Called Walmart and finally found them. God knows when I'll see them again so I picked up a dozen pairs. And they only had the cloth training pants - no plastic pants, so good thing I got them when I did. Turns out they have problems with theft too, but they sell enough of them that they are still profitable so they aren't considering discontinuing them yet.
I thought about it a lot. Really, what is the solution to a problem like this? Obviously, theft is always wrong, but certain kinds of theft I can more readily empathize with. Someone who is hungry who steals a loaf of bread, someone who is dirty who steals a bar of soap. Someone whose child needs clean pants but has no money.......
I hope that we would live in a society where if a hungry, dirty, needy-for-their-child person would approach a store manager and ask for something basic, they would be given that - I've seen arrangements like that (unofficial) at a dollar store I once worked at - for very basic items, survival goods only. I'm sure that some store managers would be "get lost, bum" but I think that many still retain their humanity.
But really, how many people would have the bravery and the humility to beg like that?
I think it's sad that in a society where we have food pantries, and WIC, and welfare, and rent controlled apartments, we don't really provide people with coping strategies for "end of the month and the food and the diapers are running out". So they feel like that is their only option. That's sad.
And if you are wondering, I found out that both the training pants and the plastic pant are available (for like half the price, when it comes to the training pants) on eBay. Problem is, I told my daughter we were going to get the pants today, and she doesn't understand about shipping delays and all that. But if Walmart ever discontinues them, and anybody needs them, you can find both on eBay. Yes, brand new.
And if anyone has any ideas on if there IS a solution for the complicated social problem of training pants theft, declining profit margins in this market, and reduction of good environmental and frugal choices for today's thoughtful parent (just one more marker of how things have gone terribly wrong in our world) I'd LOVE to hear them. So please comment!
Please.
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4 comments:
One of the more unexpected results of the times, I guess. That and too many people are hooked on those pull-ups.
I really thought when the twins were getting ready to potty train I'd find cloth training pants more easily since we were living in Lebanon. But they'd never heard of them! Same here. So we just used cotton or pull-ups when out or sleeping.
My boy's so old, I had no problem finding cotton training pants for him.
But, I only used one pullup while potty training him. He had promptly pooped in one and I said something about not going in his pants. He pointed at his pullup and said, "This is a diaper." LOL! That was it, off it came and I never put him in one ever again.
Hey! At the crisis pregnancy center I volunteered at, they gave away free diapers/formula/wipes etc to any parent who needed them.
Renee, now see THAT is really helpful and the kind of help from a crisis pregnancy center that really motivates people and changes attitudes.
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