Why I Use Cloth Diapers

This original piece was published on May 9, 2015 via social media for the Real Diaper Association. Link to post here.

It's about more than saving money. It's about doing what we can to leave a healthy environment for our children and beyond. I don't want my children's first, and longest lasting impression on the planet to be a pile of dirty diapers in a landfill.
In the early 1980s, my parents used cloth diapers on my sister and I. They had a diaper service but kept some of the diapers for use as dish rags, cleaning cloths, and hand towels. I grew up with the idea that cloth diapers were normal.

When my friends and cousins started having kids, a few used cloth and I learned about "modern" diapers. When I had my first child, one friend gave me part of her stash and another gave me a copy of Changing Diapers. I had something to start with and a way to learn more, but not much of a support system. I muddled through for most of that first year, washing diapers almost every night so I would have enough clean diapers to send to daycare. Then I discovered my local chapter of RDA,  Lehigh Valley Diaper Circle.

LVDC is more than just a cloth diapering support and advocacy group. They are a family support system. We have play dates and parties. We talk about parenting and life. When a member is in need, we lift them up and help out with meals, childcare, sympathetic shoulders, and more.

I do cloth because it about more than saving money. It's about family and the environment, the past and the future. Some of those same cloth diapers my parents saved thirty-something years ago now get used on my children. That's a lasting impression I'm happy to leave.