This thread was more fun when people were posting their loli-related fantasies.
Imagine a world where there's no pressure for parents to potty train their children. In fact, there's a widespread and strongly held belief that it is entirely up to the parent/guardian of a child to decide when (or indeed if) that child gets potty trained. Not only would a teacher or doctor never dream of telling a parent that they should let their 6 year old use the potty, but they would actively help to enforce the parent's request that said 6 year old be prevented from using the potty. Teachers could even get in trouble for allowing a child to remove their diaper and use the toilet without permission from the parents. Of course every school is set up to handle both potty trained and diapered kids.
Most parents still aim to potty train by age 3 or 4 because they don't want to be changing their kid's messy diapers, but there are a few who, for various reasons, decide to postpone potty training. There's a popular school of thought that it should be left entirely up to the child to decide when to start potty training, so there are plenty of 5 year olds, 6 year olds, and even older kids who are still diapered out of choice.
There are also quite a few parents who feel that diapers are a good tool for discipline. Not only is "we don't feel she's ready yet" accepted as a perfectly valid reason for an 8 year old to be waddling around in diapers, but "we're waiting until her behavior improves" is seen as equally valid. Even if she was the most meek and obedient kid in her class, her teacher would simply take that as evidence that being diapered is good for her.
Of course there are some parents who just decide that their little girl looks so cute wearing diapers and drinking out of a baby bottle that they can't bear to let her grow up.
Now imagine a certain little girl belonging to this last group. In a different world she would have been potty trained before she turned 3, but not here. She started kindergarten at age 4, still wearing thick babyish diapers and using them for everything. That was when she first learned that diapers are embarrassing. The teachers would never tell her she was too old to be wearing diapers, but the other kids made no secret of the fact she was the baby of the group, especially when she started sucking on her paci.
For the next few weeks, every day when her mom came to pick her up from kindergarten she begged to be potty trained, but she got rebuffed every time.
"You're still a bit too young for that, sweetie."
"Only big girls can learn to use the potty."
"Mommy doesn't have time to be cleaning up puddles of pee baby."
Eventually her mom offered her a deal: "if you can go all day at kindergarten without having any accidents and come home in a dry diaper, then I'll let you start using the potty."
This satisfied the little 4 year old, at least for a while. Every day she drank her bottle of juice with breakfast (strapped into her higchair of course) and then tried her very best to hold her pee in like a big girl. Naturally her parents had made it clear to the staff that she wasn't to use the potty, so she just had to sit there and watch as the other kids made their trips to the big girl room and her bladder got fuller and fuller. Most days she was soggy within an hour or two of arriving. Occasionally she made it as far as the 10 am snack break when they all got given more juice. Of course it was totally impossible for her little 4 year old bladder to last the day, but she still blamed herself and got upset every time she pottied in her diaper.
That was more or less the status quo until she was 6. She had jealously watched some of the other kids who had started kindergarten in diapers graduate to pull-ups and then to big-kid pants, but her only progress was from Pampers size 5 to size 8. Her mom still kept telling her she wasn't ready to start potty training and justified it by reminding her that she couldn't stay dry at kindergarten. The frustrated little girl tried her best to argue against the Kafkaesque predicament, but she never made any progress. At home the toilet door stayed firmly locked and she was now sent to kindergarten wearing a romper which buttoned up at the back to make sure her diapers stayed on.
She went through her kindergarten graduation ceremony still wearing thick diapers and even had a messy accident in the middle, much to the amusement of her classmates. As the family was preparing for her to enter elementary school she made a concerted effort to persuade her mom to let her start wearing big girl panties. At first she was dismissed with the usual excuses, but eventually her days of pestering seemed to produce a breakthrough. Her mom agreed to look at panties for her when they were shopping for her uniform.
The big day came and, much to her surprise, her mom kept her word. The thickly diapered (and rather wet) 6 year old was allowed to excitedly look through the racks full of big girl panties. Of course they were still obviously training panties, complete with extra layers of cotton and colorful prints all over, but they were a huge step up over the underwear currently squishing between her legs. She was allowed to pick out 7 pairs in total, and she couldn't stop smiling the whole way home. She was very slightly disappointed to learn that she wouldn't be allowed to wear them until school started, but that was only a couple of weeks away.
The time passed slowly for her, especially since she was still being treated as a very young toddler at home and had to spend a lot of it sat in her playpen or high chair, but eventually the first day of school came around.
She woke up and excitedly waited for her mom to change her out of her stinky overnight diaper. Soon enough her PJs were unzipped and she was on the changing table. Her uniform, and most importantly her big girl panties, were layed out for her on the bed. After a thorough wiping her mom helped her put one foot, then the other through her new underwear. It was a strange and exciting feeling for her as they were pulled up her legs.
"Do you like them sweetie? Do you feel like a big girl?"
"I love them mommy! Am I really a big girl now?"
She held her arms out, waiting for her mom to put her blouse on, but to her surprise she found herself getting lifted back up onto the changing table.
"Wha-" she started in surprise, then she noticed the diaper in her mom's hand.
"Wait, what are you doing?" she started to tear up "I thought you said I could wear my big girl panties today!"
"You can, baby. This is just so that when you pee in them you don't get the floor all wet."
The poor little 6 year old was confused and crying as her mom slid the fresh diaper under her bottom and taped it up over her panties. Then she was dressed in her usual back-button romper before the rest of her uniform was put on.
She was still red-faced and sniffling as she sat in her highchair and ate breakfast, which of course came with a big baby bottle full of juice.
"Don't worry baby. I've asked your teachers to let you keep your panties on when they change your diapers. I know how excited you are to wear them."