The other day, my ten-year-old got a fairly bad burn. Luckily, we keep diaper rash ointment in the house just for this purpose.
It does a great job of soothing and protecting the skin so it can heal, so I kept buying it long after my last baby grew out of diapers.
There are other things in the house with a similar story: We started buying these products for babies and have kept on using them for other things even though we don’t have babies anymore.
Baby wipes is top of the list. They are so cheap and versatile, and can handle any number of gross little cleaning jobs.
Baby powder is also really handy at the beach. Sprinkle some on wet, sandy skin and it absorbs the moisture, letting you brush the sand off easily without chafing.
I keep some of those rice rusk snacks designed for kids without teeth, because sometimes I want to make a decoration for a cake, and I want it to be edible but lightweight.
We even keep some teething toys around, because they’re just fun to fiddle with, and boy do my kids like to fiddle with things.
Anyone can buy these things, of course; but it might not occur to you to go into the baby supplies aisle and look for them.
The same is true for other things, not just products. I may not have babies anymore, but I haven’t gotten rid of the things babies taught me.
For instance, when a baby is crying without any obvious cause, you always ask yourself: Is he hungry? Is he tired? These are things that make a baby cry.
Guess what? These are things that make people of every age upset. Sometimes I’m incredibly grumpy.
Maybe I’m just having a bad day, or maybe I forgot to eat lunch! Yep, that’s it. Several grams of protein later, and I’m full of good cheer again. Or maybe I can’t stop running through a long list of lamentations about how my life turned out and how poorly everyone treats me.
Maybe I’m right! Or maybe it’s because I stayed up late three nights in a row, and I’m just plain tired. I go to bed early and wake up feeling like life is worth living after all.
It’s a little embarrassing to be confronted with this simple-beast evidence of your own fleshly weakness, but if it works, it works.
Sometimes I have to do something I don’t want to do, and I’m getting pretty mad about it. Yes, I’m too old for this, but I still get huffy when I feel like I’m being forced into something. Then I pull out an old toddler trick.
Rather than saying “Put your shirt on now,” you say “Do you want the stripy shirt or the puppy shirt?” Then the kid feels like he has some agency, and will be more cooperative – and is less likely to put up a fight about the next request, because the situation has been defused. This works for me, too.
If I have something I really need to do, I will give myself a choice between doing that or something else I really don’t want to do (and there is always something).
Whichever one I pick, pretty often I will get a little boost from having accomplished something, and then the second task magically becomes more achievable.
Sing a song about it. When I was surrounded by babies and toddlers, we had so many silly little songs meant to distract the kids from freaking out.
We had a macaroni song, a peanut butter and jelly song, a diaper changing song, a “get your shoes” song, and so on.
This absolutely works with me, even though I’m very aware of what I’m doing. It makes me feel like I’m in some kind of goofy musical play, rather than just slogging through chores.
The sillier the song, the better. It’s really hard to stay depressed when you’re the star in a private little Broadway show.
I’m sure you can think of more. I remember my mother telling me once that the secret of life is that nobody ever really grows up.
I think she was right. But half the battle is realising this is true, and making it work for you!
