Duct Tape Parenting 101

So, our daughter has developed this horrible habit of unzipping her pyjamas, pulling her perfectly clean diaper to the side, and peeing all over the bed at night.

My parents were here over the weekend and a typical moment at 3 in the morning went like this:

Isis (My daughter): "Wah, wah, wah, wah."

Me: "Go back to sleep. Its still night. You want a cuddle? Oh lord. You're soaking wet."

Change her clothes. Start changing the bed.

Me: "Shit! Where are all the sheets for her bed?!?!? We have like thousands of sheets for this child's bed. Where the hell are they all?"

Isis: "Wah, wah wah wah."

My mom: "Maybe they're in the laundry."

I go to look in the laundry only to find my mother changing the sheet when I get back.

Me: "Where the hell did you find that?!?!?"

My mom: "Over there" waving to the whole room.

Its not pretty and we're getting pretty tired of the whole thing. So, my father comes up with a truly man solution.

Duct tape.

Only a man would think of solving a child wetting the bed with duct tape. I'm not sure, because I'm not a man, but I assume the logic goes something like this: "I fixed that problem I was having with my car engine with duct tape, this can't be that different can it? That was a leak. This is a leak. You can stop leaks with duct tape."

Being not-a-man, I immediately ignored this idea. My husband and I brainstormed things like putting a safety pin on her pyjamas so she couldn't unzip them, taking turns watching her all night long, and letting her sleep in the bathtub.

Finally, we revisited the duct tape. My father was helpful. "Don't put it on her skin." Thanks Dad. I was thinking of just wrapping her in duct tape. Problem solved.

So, the last three nights, we have put duct tape across the tapes of her diaper so she can't open them. (Not on her skin! Just the diaper.)

It works. Crazy, but it works. You really can stop a leak with duct tape.