| The Politics of Potty Training |
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| Written by OHmommy | |
| Tuesday, 30 September 2008 19:00 | |
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Disclaimer: I am not a psychologist, pediatrician, or potty training expert. I know that next to nursing a child, potty training is the next most "controversial" mommy topic. And I want my side documented on the Internet. She might still occasionally drink her milk from a bottle and use a pacifier but my 20 month old is pretty much potty trained. For the last couple of weeks, since the other two started school, I have been "secretly" potty training my 18 month old baby while at home. Why? It's very simple. Consider two puppies a six month old and a one year old being house trained. The one year old understands you better but the six month old is easier to house train. When I was training my first born before his second birthday my mom told me, "You were out of diapers at 18 months." I don't think she was lying. In the 1950s 95 percent of children were potty trained by 18 months. The disposable diaper was introduced in the 60s and that number has been falling ever since. It is much easier and more convenient giving my baby her milk in a bottle. It is much easier and more convenient for me to keep her in diapers too. Potty training should be considered just another milestone. You encourage your infant to crawl even before they are truly ready. You purchase toys for your child to pull up on and stand even before they are ready. You place spoons in their chubby fingers encouraging them to independently eat even before they are ready. We never rush these milestones but yet we encourage them even before they are ready. So why not potty train? I have been around mommy-blog potty training posts before and understand that I am in the minority and the majority say, "Well, they won't go to kindergarten in diapers and I'm not going to push them." True. They probably won't go to school in diapers. But I believe that the season for training peaks at about 18 months when the child acknowledges out loud that they are wet/dirty. There is no way that I could have potty trained my overly stubborn and head strong Lola at 3 years of age as easily as I trained her at 18 months. I really do believe this. No stickers. No candy. No charts. No plastic potty chairs. No pressure. No punishment. No rushing. No negativity. Yes to role modeling through books. Yes to dumping diaper wastes in the toilet. Yes to sitting on the toilet. Yes to clapping and screaming, "Bravo!" Yes to encouragement. Yes to following at their pace. It can be done with most children. Sure it takes a longer time and accidents happen. But in my opinion, encouraging a younger child for me was far more simple and less stressful for both parties. With my third child I started sitting her on the toilet at 18 months old after her nap. It was my three hour window of time that I knew I was home waiting for the school bus to arrive with my son. We were home and I was able to religiously place her on the toilet every hour. I did this for fours weeks just during that three hour window of time. I had to be consistent for once you start you can't turn back. Shortly after those initial four weeks passed she was able to tell me herself or walk up to the bathroom herself. At this point, I opened up our window to include our hectic mornings. Because she never had a plastic potty chair she was able to go anywhere. Potty training: training the child to use the potty and not waiting for them to. Every country outside of North America has potty trained toddlers because they can not afford diapers. It really can be done with some consistent encouraging, time, and lots of love. It took two months of consistent encouraging and I have a 20 month old that uses 2 diapers a day (for sleep). So, when my children are parents and I tell them, "You were potty trained before two." I can direct them here for proof. |
