Plain and simple, training someone to use the bathroom properly wasn’t in my job description when I began my professional career over twenty years ago. However, when I left that corner office and started over as a stay-at-home dad and primary caregiver a little over seven years ago, I made a decision to embrace these new, uncharted, often muddy waters with the same veracity as anything in my previous life.
Potty training isn’t something that I went to school for. There were no extensive studies on proper wiping that held my interest, nor Cliff’s Notes on how to avoid skidmark alley on a playground in the dead of summer.
The only thing I could do is climb aboard the control center of my brain and activate the button listed as ‘common sense mode’ and act accordingly.
For generations, parents pass down simple instructions to their children about how to vacate their bladder and bowels successfully, with grace and dignity, in hopes that no one will ever need to find the opportunity to critique that special moment of privacy in a public forum.
But even after you’ve potty trained your little one and he or she is shipped off to Pre-K or elementary school – it doesn’t mean that our jobs are over.
Being supplied the knowledge to ‘do something’ doesn’t always mean that you’re able to do it with 100% accuracy or efficiency – PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT.
As that primary caregiver for our household, I handle the bulk of the laundry. I’m the guy that checks to make sure there isn’t any loose change, love notes or candy stashed away in your jeans in that slot that was originally designed for a pocketwatch…
…But I’m also privy to the dark side of washing and drying clothes. I have the unfortunate obligation of having to take notice when I see a pair of ‘skidmark alley’ underwear that look as if they were used on the lead lap for 500 miles at Daytona.
My entire purpose in potty training was to not only give my kids the tools to avoid having accidents, but when using the bathroom successfully – come out of the experience unscathed.
If my children aren’t practicing good bathroom practices at school and away, my wife and I will hear about it a day or two later – in the form of a rash.
As a kid (and quite candidly, as an adult), there’s nothing worse than realizing that you didn’t take the extra two minutes to ‘take care of business’ and become forced to endure the rashy-chaffy suffering that follows.
Thankfully, Boudreaux’s Butt Paste® has fallen from the sky and landed in our laps – so close to the actual problem at hand that it’s hard to ignore.
You down with BBP®? (cue Naughty by Nature) How can I explain it? I’ll take it frame by frame it…
Butt Paste is formulated with 40% Zinc Oxide, over two times the rash fighting ingredient of the original formula. It starts relieving diaper rash on contact, providing a thick barrier of protection.
It’s free of dyes, parabens, preservatives, phthalates and talc and is pediatrician recommended.
I can’t get upset with my little ones if they experience this problem – their little T-Rex arms can’t always reach back there to get the job done and that’s where I keep up with what they can’t.
I carry Butt Paste™ in my backpack (not really mine) all the time – whether we’re going to the beach, the gym or a Saturday morning exploring the back roads of coastal Virginia.
You just never know when you’re going to have to kick some rash – and it’s better to be prepared.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This was a sponsored post on behalf of Life of Dad and Boudreaux’s Butt Paste® and their #KickingRash campaign, however the pain and suffering of my kid’s not wiping properly is all mine. For more information about the Boudreaux’s Butt Paste®, check them out here, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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