By: Keri Nichol

So Memorial weekend was just here and we headed to the beautiful Lake of the Ozarks with the family. Although the water was a little on the chilly side we couldn’t kick off the summer right without swimming. I dug out the Splashers that I had left over from my daughters when they were little and figured they would work for my 10 month old baby boy since no one at the lake would care (or see) that he had Dora the Explorer on his diaper.  After getting him all dressed in his swim suit he sat with his Papa while we got the girls ready for the day and after about 10 min. Papa said that his shirt was wet. He swore that Jacksyn, my little boy, had peed on him. But how could that be, I had just put him in a brand new Splashers so I thought maybe it was a spilling Sippy. So we get into the car and get to the dock where we swim and carrying Jacksyn on my hip I became soaking wet. He had peed through that Splashers all over my side as if he was in nothing but underwear.

To be fair, I chalked this up to the idea that I had used my daughters old Splashers which are girls. I assumed the idea of boy/girl Splashers were related to the design of either Dora or Diego but just maybe they were made different to. Maybe the absorbency in the girls is more in the bottom and the boys is more absorbent up in front. This is the reasoning I gave for these not working.

When I got home from the lake I looked it up online to see if I was right about my theory with the absorbency location thinking maybe I could get by with turning the Splashers backward to still work for my  son since I still had a large package left and didn’t want to waste them. I was super surprised by what statements I found online from the company.

If you go their website at http://www.pampers.com/splashers-swim-pants?utm_campaign=bazaarvoice&utm_medium=SearchVoice&utm_source=RatingsAndReviews&utm_content=Default and read the customer reviews you see that there were several issues with sizing and also people complaining about the absorbency (and yes they were using the correct sex diaper). The part that shocked me was that they say the diapers were designed to help children in the pool and not to swell like ordinary diapers when wet. They are not to be worn like ordinary disposable diapers. However, what is the point in putting a diaper on a child if they are going to have urine running down their leg the first time they potty. Doesn’t that mean that that urine is getting into our swimming pools? I could save myself $10 and just let my baby go in the nude.  And, just for the record, nothing I found distinguished anything different between the girl/boy Splashers other than the printed design. It doesn’t appear to be made different at all. I also found that many people recommended the use of Huggies swim diapers over Pampers even when they normally prefer Pampers disposable diapers on a regular basis. Maybe that will be an upcoming review as well.

Are you making the most of your time or are you a daily “fire fighter”, running around putting out “fires” all day?  It is one thing to understand the principles of time management yet task management seems to be elusive to many.  We all have the promotional notepads with the To Do list boxes already printed on them, but do they really help?  Maybe if you are going to the grocery store.

The best way to manage your tasks is to first understand how you think.  If you forget anything that you can’t see, a notepad isn’t likely to work.  For these thinkers, I recommend the Sticky Method.  With this type of task management, you write your tasks on 3×3 sticky notes.  You place the sticky notes on a large dry erase board mounted to the wall.  The board should be divided into realistic time frames (i.e. Today, Tomorrow, Next Week, etc).  Place the sticky notes into the appropriate category. Move them around as necessary.  Take it one step further by color coding your papers.

Here is an example: today you have an appointment to take your children to the dentist but the office calls to tell you the doctor is out sick today.  You will take the dentist paper and move it to the coordinating day of the rescheduled appointment.  When you are away from your office, take the sticky notes with you.  These can easily be placed into a pocket calendar or a day planner.

How you manage your tasks isn’t nearly as important as the fact that you do it.  Your system doesn’t have to look like your neighbors, and if you read about one in a book and it doesn’t work, it’s ok.  Take a system that sounds good then make modifications where necessary to make it your own.  You are the only you in the world, only you know what will work for you!

Have a Neat day!

Jennifer Snyder

Owner & Organizer

Neat as a Pin! Organizing Experts

(254) 715-3888

www.neatasapin.net