Hmm. That's not really a simple question and more of a complex one at that but none the less a stirring one. Long before I discovered what I was (ARDL) and that there were others like me, I always thought that I was some kind of freak. Without a support system like the diapered community, I thought that I had a dark secret that I had to keep hidden deep within me (Like Dr. Bruce Banner having to keep his dark secret of his alter ego, the Hulk, from the rest of the World ->
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9MysTXM_P4). I guess that it might be some sort of insecurity that I have that has lead my life to the way it is currently (Please don't laugh as I'm "Spilling my guts out" to you all). Whenever I feel depressed or insecure, I turn into a baby (toddler) and live out my fantasy of being safely secured and cared for without any adult cares or responsibilities in the World. When I feel sufficiently "Rejuvenated" or self confident again, I end my fantasy and return to the "Real World" to face another day's challenges (Please feel free to chime in with me if you feel the same)!
If I were to be a parent, first off, I would try to foster into my child the notion of self-confidence and of security of family from day one since he or she was born (Don't get me wrong, I have good loving parents but sometimes there are areas where I feel they could have done a better job - But then again, no one's perfect and babies don't come with instruction manuals). Honestly, I would think that I would have done a good enough job of raising my child so that he or she doesn't become "One of us" mainly because of the difficulties in life that each of us has experienced among our families, friends and the outside World (There really are a lot of people that hate our diapered community at dA! as well as in the outside World - Sorry for mentioning problems outside this site but unless you've been living in a cave these past few years, you know exactly what I mean). Pandel, did you give your former nosy, annoying lady neighbor a last look at your diapered butt and blow her a kiss (As I mentioned in the last part of post #13 in ->
https://diaperedanime.com/forum/show...247/index.html) before moving?
For those of us already in the community, don't knock it and enjoy it (Being in diapers) for as long as you can and if you're one of the extremely lucky ones like Pandel who is married to a partner who doesn't seem to mind (Hell, that fosters!) the other partner's lifestyle (
Not the same as "Way of life" as the former is an individual's choice while the latter is inherent within a culture e.g. the LGBT's community has a way of life that is distinctive to them and even more distinctive within each of the different groups of people that form that united community) then "More power to you" but for the rest of us (Including those of us who are members of the LGBT community) who feel that they must eventually settle down, get married and have kids of their own then this is not a lifestyle that I would encourage in my kids. I would not wait until they are in their teens and let them drop this kind of bombshell onto my wife and myself. Yes, I know. I sound like a hypocrite but as we all know, the diapered lifestyle is not an easy one to talk about to or deal with potential family members much less friends or the outside World. For many of us, it's just not practical - At least not until an over whelming majority of the free World accepts our diapered community's lifestyle in a positive light like they finally have now with the LGBT community's way of life (e.g. Not until a person can tell another one that "I am an AB/AR/DL" and not get a confused look or a look of disgust and/or hateful anger). I never told my folks though I think that they kind of knew as they saw me do the laundry with a few additional articles of clothing (I use adult, flat fold, cloth diapers, the softest kind of diaper - No disposable can even come close to them in terms of softness since I just keep adding more and more fabric softener with every subsequent wash load (See post #4 in thingywhat's thread ->
https://diaperedanime.com/forum/show...385/index.html) and I used to hang my diapers in the bathroom to drip dry in my later teen years many times (When asked, I used to tell my mom that they were wash cloths for cleaning my computer equipment, collectibles and other nick-knacks. My dad never asked but I think he also knew). I cleaned my room once a week back then - I'm one of those peeps with a mild case of
OCD.
I can provide an example of a person with a similar thought process using a famous person: Madonna was a wild party girl during the '80s. I remember that she used to "Finger" herself" and spread her legs apart to show off the sides of her
Labia majora while on stage in some of her many live concerts. In the following more recent video, you can see her do all of that and even hear other women cat calling at her that she has a "Nice ass, baby." ->
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3xLjNuWM7k yet she did not allow her daughter, Lourdes, to be raised with the same kind of exotic, carefree lifestyle as she herself lived. Quite the opposite - She tried to raise her daughter in a private, strict, sheltered, traditional Roman Catholic upbringing (She sent her daughter to an all girls boarding school when she was old enough) away from the public's view (Imagine the "
Material Girl" doing that despite having been criticized by the Roman Catholic Church for having performed the "
Like a Prayer" provocative [For that time, since it had a "Black Jesus" and "Burning Crosses"] video and having conceived her daughter out of wedlock with actor
Carlos Leon.) because she probably wanted her daughter to have every opportunity not to turn out in the same way as she did (Not that Madonna wouldn't support it if her daughter did turn out like her anyway. Madonna didn't do bad for herself but then again, how many "Madonnas" are there in the real World?). If it turns out that my child is "One of us" then I can be most understanding and supportive while hoping that he or she will eventually come to the same conclusion that I have over the many years that I have lived on this Earth. One of the insights that remind me that I have to eventually give up the diapered lifestyle (Especially if I am to "Man up", get married and start a family) is a passage in the Bible (Book I of Corinthians, Chapter 13 Verse 11 ->
http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/13-11.htm) which says "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me." It sounds painful but it is a truth that I cannot deny (Though hope to delay for as long as I possibly can). I think that a good wife should stand by and support her husband whenever he feels insecure or not confident about himself. I think that if I am lucky enough to find the right person, that she will be my strength in times of personal weakness (And I too, will be hers in her times of personal weakness) and that I will no longer need to turn to my diapers to fill the temporary lack of security or loss of self confidence to face the next day's problems. Going back to the subject of having children - Assuming that my wife passes on before me (Not that I would want that to happen), who will bury and remember me if I leave no children behind in this World? Here's another bit of wisdom - As long as you are remembered, even long after you pass on, you never really die since you continue to live on in other people's memories. When no one on Earth remembers you then you are truly dead to the World and
oblivion is yours (If you've ever been to the cemetery and noticed some old, unattended graves that have chipped, cracked, dirty tombstones with weeds growing out of the grass as though no one ever cares to visits the entombed anymore since all those that would, have themselves passed away long ago then you'll understand what I'm talking about). I guess that's why some peeps try to make a name for themselves in the history books so that they will never be forgotten. It's a kind of immortality (e.g. - Most folks know about "Alexander the Great", "Leonardo Da Vinci" or "Nostradamus". If you don't know any of those people then you really need to "Google" it!).
Pandel, as a woman and not a man, you don't have the added responsibility and pressure of having to "Continue your family name." (My folks don't say anything but I can sense their thoughts on the subject) but I, as a man, do. On the flip side, as a man, I won't have the unmentioned expectation from other family members of having to give birth to the next generation in the family tree (Unless I do a "
Junior" type of thing!
).
