Opening of Convenience.

Photojournalist Wendell Phillips took this picture of a child in China, and wrote:

To many, this is called the opening of convenience as demonstrated by this young girl in Shanghai

Actually, I've seen firsthand that this is quite common in China. I guess if you can't get diapers (or if they're not affordable), then this is the next best thing!

http://www.wendellphillips.com/china/04.htm | See more of Wendell's photos


Diapers are a good thing, just like antibiotics? and just like CFC`s? and plastics? and carbon bioxide and global warming? Hey Alex, I don`t know if you are just naif or plainly stupid! Half of the World is NOT half of your redneck neighborhood. Actually there exist plenty of other countries and cultures some of them as ancient as the chinese, and people surely more wise than your mom. I wonder if it was not a happy experience for her even having you.
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I think I've heard of this. It's pretty standard in some places. If you look at ancient Egyptian artwork, for example, young children are almost always nude regardless of their social standing or the theme of the picture. It was just easier, I guess, than messing around with diapers, or for that matter clothing that they would outgrow all too quickly anyway. A number of years ago, I was watching Ingmar Bergman's film "The Seventh Seal" with my mother. (For those who don't know, it's a Swedish film about a knight of the Crusades who returns to find Sweden ravaged by bubonic plague. Throughout the film, he meets up with Death, who plays an ongoing game of chess with the knight.) In addition to the central characters and the knight's family & friends, there is a small family of traveling actors who provide philosophical commentary. The family has an infant child, and all he ever wears in the movie is a shirt. At some point I said, "Every time we see this baby, we're looking at his bare bottom." Mom, who knew a lot of Swedes from growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, said, "I don't think they're really big on diapers in Sweden. Just let 'em run naked & free."
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"I guess if you can’t get diapers (or if they’re not affordable), then this is the next best thing!"

How patronising of you. oh, look at the peasant children. Gee, I guess if you're smart enough to know how to bring up children without nappies, it's actually THE best thing. If you're dumb enough to be suckered into buying a product which keeps your kid in a sack of poo because you're too ignorant/lazy/selfish to learn how to raise a baby, then stick with nappies.

Shocking ain't it. Half the world gets by without using nappies. Turns out, they're the normal ones!

http://www.natural-wisdom.com/about.htm
"Throughout most of human existence, parents have cared for their babies hygienically without diapers. In many cutures around the world, mothers still know how to tune in to their infants to keep them clean and content. Your baby, too, can enjoy the comfort of this natural approach, whether you use diapers or not.
This comprehensive guide with over 40 photos shows you how."
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I disagree with you, Jon. Half the world doesn't get diapers because they can't afford them. My mom reared me without diapers because she couldn't buy one - and she did not think it was a happy experience! She got diapers for my younger brother.

Diapers are a good thing, just like antibiotics.
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Yeah... that's all well and good for the hippies on the commune, but what about people who live in developed civilized areas? I doubt anyone I know is going to put his or her pantless baby in the family car, in a shopping cart at the grocery store, or in a restaurant seat (not that it would be allowed) to freely pee and poop all over. Please. That's disgusting. Not to mention unhygienic.
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Plastics are a good thing. And so are indoor plumbing. Heart surgery. Bottled water. Think about the world without plastic. Or indoor plumbing.

What is the argument against diapers and plastics? Is it because they fill landfills and don't biodegrade? Then you should know that William Rathje of the University of Arizona (the famous Garbology project) actually bothered to dig landfill and see what's filling it up: surprise, surprise. He found that most landfills are packed with paper and not plastic.

And Miguel, we can disagree without resorting to personal attacks (especially on my mom) can't we? Just makes you look bad.
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Miguel... What's "carbon bioxide" or for that matter "naif"

I don`t know if you are the one who'se just naive or plainly stupid.

Please do us all a favor and next time, just because you can blog.... it doesn't mean you should. Alex is right you're the one who sounds bad when you resort to personal attacks. Normally I don't, but the blatant irony of your comments needed to be commented on.
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I don't see why attacking someone over how the diaper will be in a landfill applies to a "diaper or don't diaper situation". Pampers haven't been around as long as diapers. There is such a thing as a clothe diaper. :)
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As an American living in China who just had a baby I can tell you that in most area's, rural and industrial, there is a healthy mix of people who go with both options. That being said my wife and I, who is Chinese, tried to go the non-diaper route, but after your kid pee's/poops on the couch, bed, or floor of the local market for the 5th time diapers become a necessity. I also get tired of watching other parents let their kids pee/poop on the sidewalk, street or on the grass of the park you regularly play in. It is un-hygenic and just plain disgusting. Of course diapers can be expensive to people who only make about US$1800/year or less, so is understandable that they do not have diapers on their kid - but that still does not preclude it as the best option.
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cloth diapers, elimination timing, and just trying to connect with my child's rhythms all at the appropriate time worked well with my son and was not so financially draining either. Plus, breastfeeding, helps to make what babies eliminate not so gross. Being so aware also helped me, and the people at the care centers to gauge health (especially when the child is still learning how to communicate clearly via spoken language).
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