By Kelly Hoover of Mommy Dearest, Inc.
A Los Angeles family, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, is speaking out about the bullying their 16-month-old son fell victim to at a Westside L.A. daycare last week. The family claims he was taunted, bitten, pushed and viciously drooled upon because he was seen wearing a generic brand of diapers instead of a popular name brand diaper that claims to be more environmentally friendly.
“I can’t believe I missed the warning signs,” the child’s mother tearily reports. “I already switched our food over to all organic, non-GMO and gluten-free because one day I sent a regular juice box and some pre-packaged pretzels in his lunch and his best friend kicked him out of the play kitchen for a week, but I never even thought about the diapers. I guess I was just too busy trying to figure out how to make a compost bin for all our food waste at home. Sometimes it’s just really hard to keep up.”
Though the daycare claims they do their best to monitor these situations, they admit they are seeing a rise in this kind of peer pressure starting younger and younger. “It used to just be the older kids who teased each other if they had plastic sippy cups instead of stainless steel or shoes that weren’t Toms, but now we’re seeing it start even with the babies,” claims the owner of the daycare. “I think it’s lovely children are taking an interest in saving the planet, but I don’t think bullying others is the way to go about spreading the message.”
For her part, the mom says she’s considering giving up one of her $35 per class workouts each week so that she can afford to buy the more expensive diapers. “I know I can’t protect him from everything, but I’d hate for him to be teased this young about something he has no control over. I’d like to shield him from further attacks until he’s potty-trained — sorry, potty-learned. I just don’t know how much more money I can spend in order to do so. We’re already dipping into our savings so that our older daughter can attend a summer camp where they turn their old plastic toys into reusable bags for shopping at the Farmer’s Market.”
As a comparison, our reporter visited a local box store to research prices. One hundred sixty generic diapers are priced at $24.99, whereas the same amount of the eco-friendly diapers cost $69.95. “I actually did try those diapers before when he was a newborn,” the mom claims. “But they didn’t fit him as well and I felt like he had a lot of leaks. Maybe in this day and age, though, it’s more important to protect the environment and my baby’s feelings rather than keep his pants dry or my credit card balance down.”
The mother says she has not reached out to any of the other parents for their thoughts because she’s currently applying to preschools in the area and doesn’t want to be ostracized further.
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About the Author
A wine, SoulCycle and Christian Slater enthusiast, Kelly is also a Reality TV Producer who rarely watches TV. There are currently four penises in her family (husband, two sons and a dog) to her one vagina, so her girlfriends are very important to her sanity. Find more of her parenting sarcasm at MommyDearestInc.com or on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.