POTTY TRAINING

Everything I have ever read that makes sense to me about potty training says to let the child decide. Get a small toilet. Ask the child if he/she wants to go potty once in awhile, especially around normal “bm” time--but don’t make an issue about it--don’t have a stake in what the child chooses.

Peer pressure will take over eventually. Meanwhile, diapers are OK with the child and all the frenzy over potty training causes unwanted stress on both child and parent.

Remember: Young children are very, very intuitive. A child knows when you are up tight. Therefore, getting up tight over potty training sends a “not good enough” signal to the child. Self-esteem and personal power are crushed with such signals.

It may seem like forever--the diapers thing--and, it isn’t. Today, I went to a party across the street from the home where I raised my children and lived for 25 years. Standing in a haze of memories of water fights, cars, chores, reading stories, first formal dances, graduations from Jr., high school and finally college......wasn’t it.......yesterday?........or the day before? And though I love my new life without kids, those were the days I would not have traded for any other adventure or school.  

Chill! Ride the river; it knows where it is going.

Copyright (C) Sandy Spurgeon McDaniel, 2000