Flats and Handwashing Challenge- Why are You Joining?!

I can feel the excitement around the internet in my small niche of cloth diaper lovers over the Flats and Handwashing Challenge. It has honestly shocked me; yet I am thrilled to have almost 200 people already interested in joining and even more who want to try it out when they can.

Already many of the bloggers involved are posting about the Challenge and why they are joining. I promised a Linky for the people who are in the Challenge so here is your first one:

Write a post about WHY you are doing the Challenge. It can be any reason. It doesn’t have to be my reason! If you have already written your “Why” post just check that you meet the Linky requirements and add that post.

So, why am I?

I started this challenge, and will be participating, because there is absolutely no reason a child should sit in any diaper for an extended amount of time to save money. Period.

Someone might say “Who are you to ask a mother, who is already stretched to her limit from working a job, caring for her kids, and cleaning/cooking, to then handwash diapers?!”

That mom, whether she chose to have children or that decision was made for her, has a responsibility to provide the best possible care for that baby.

Diapering is one of those responsibilities. Just as letting a child go hungry isn’t an option, neither is letting a child sit in filth because you can’t afford more diapers. Nobody said parenting is easy. Having children comes with many “inconvenient” responsibilities. Since most families aren’t willing or able to practice Elimination Communication (how do you think most families in third world countries buy diapers? They don’t.) cloth diapers provide the next best option in affordability. A set of flats and a few covers can cost less than 60.00 and this can last practically birth to potty training. That is just about the price of 1 large box of disposables. 1 box. 1 month.

I am very, very lucky in my life that feeding/clothing/ and diapering has never been an issue for me. I don’t pretend to understand how hard it is for those who are having that issue. However, my family had a hard time feeding and clothing me at many points in my youth and they did things to rectify that by using public assistance. I’d hope that if harder times had struck in my baby days my mother would have handwashed diapers rather than allow me to sit in a dirty disposable.

This isn’t one of those “pretend to be homeless for a week and now I know what it is like” stunts. It is an exercise in teaching others how to handwash, that it can be done, and that others can do it too.

And no one is saying it has to be all or nothing! If a family can just use cloth 3 times a day, like the Change 3 Things challenge, they can still save plenty of money for food and bills and spend less on disposables. 3 diapers a day means only handwashing every 2.5-5 days!

Challenge Resources so far:

Why are you joining?

Linky Rules:

Link to your post, not your main URL.

Link back to the Flats Challenge Announcement and make sure to explain it well, along with the dates. You never know, your readers might want to join as well.

Then add your link and grab the InLinkz to put into your own post.