The next day, after Lee got home from school, they were there, on his bed, a whole stack of boxes, each containing 64 diapers. 'Huggies Size 8', they announced, 'for children 6-8 years'. The packaging was subdued with a light blue colour scheme and three kids on the box. The first looked around 6, the second, taking up the most space on the packaging, could have been in Lee's class, and the third - Lee took a closer look - yes, definitely an older kid, he could pass for a 6th grader, maybe. Despite what it said on the packaging, the diaper companies were clearly pushing these at kids Lee's age and over.
Lee's hands trembled as he stretched the polythene bag until it snapped. Inside were more individually wrapped packets and he tore one open, putting his nose to the packet and inhaling the fresh laundry scent. He slid a hand in and felt the rich, yielding softness. It felt, he thought, like a hug in a bag. Not completely inappropriate given the brand name. He took one out. The waistband was elasticated, but if anything looked like it might be a little large on his slim waist. He almost giggled with joy as he slipped out of the cheap supermarket's own brand and stepped into the puffy new diapers. He slid them up his legs, reveling in the sensation. They felt so thick, like a wall between himself and the world.
He looked at the stack on the bed. Ten boxes, each containing 64 diapers. Right now he was using, on average, two to three a day, one overnight and one for school, with a change if he needed it, which had been once a week but which was now getting on for every other day. Assume he was able to make them last. Two a day. That means his current stash was worth 320 days of absorbent bliss. Not even enough to get him to his 9th birthday. It seemed criminally unfair. He told himself he could cross that bridge when it came - who knows, maybe he could wangle a weekly allowance before he turned 9. Then he could buy his own, guilt-free.
Later that night, he found himself wandering the deserted halls of the school. He had the odd feeling that he was expected in Maths class. He ran down the corridor, looking for the classroom. The door he found wasn't the one that normally housed Mr Pauls' lessons, but he became oddly convinced that it was the right one. He opened it and found himself in the bathrooms. They were bright and clean, and he gravitated to the urinal. He lowered his trousers and began to wee, and the sensation suddenly jarred him out of what he realised at once had been a dream. He had wet the bed again.
"No, no, no," he moaned softly, turning the light on to inspect the damage. But there was none. The higher-quality diapers had completely contained the spill. There was barely even an impression of dampness inside. In the past, he had tried everything to avoid recrimination from his parents - airing the duvet out of the window (on one occasion resulting in it becoming wrapped around a neighbour's shed), scrubbing it with a sponge... Now - no need. The outside of the diapers was bone dry, the sheets below him unspotted. He yawned, turned over, and went back to sleep.
---
"The problem with these new diapers," Dr Phil opined, "is that they are just too good. With old-fashioned cloth diapers your kid learns a nasty lesson when he wets himself. He learns not to do it because the feeling of being wet and cold is unpleasant. They are part of the toilet training process. All the major brands now have some kind of double-lock mechanism that seals the moisture away, so no-one feels it. The worst repercussion is some of them have cartoon characters which disappear when your kid wets himself. For the new sizes for older kids there's nothing. We need diaper-manufacturers to be more responsible."
"I'm sorry, Dr Phil, but I disagree," retorted Amy Blanque, PR Manager for Superzorb. "We and other diaper companies are just delivering a more refined, efficient product. We're not to blame for how kids and parents use them. And the notion that diapers SHOULD be unpleasant to teach some kind of lesson? Sorry, but that's not how capitalism works! Whether it's Superzorb or Huggies or any other brand, we wouldn't last ten minutes if we produced a brand that deliberately tried to make children feel wet and horrible. We produce quality absorbent products and are going to continue getting better and better. What did you say last week, 'your child will learn at the appropriate time for them'? In the meantime, Superzorb and other brands are making the journey a little easier."
Peter Cross shifted in his chair and fiddled with the remote until he found a WW2 documentary. "Superzorb," he mulled. "That the one you got for Lee?"
"No," his wife said from the chair, reading through a legal brief. "I went for Huggies's biggest size. Superzorb have ones going all the way up to age 10. I didn't want to give Lee the impression he can stay in those things for years."
"What's the age they recommended to start training?" Lee's father asked. "9, was it?"
"I think so," she said. "I remember when they said five or six. Do we think we've been bad parents, not training him earlier?"
"No. We're both professional people. You did exactly the right thing showing him how to change himself and not pushing the issue, just like the shrinks said."
"Good. I wouldn't want to think I was being lax as a mother."