I have always found the notion of potty training a toddler to be too much. I didn’t feel right pushing my daughters to do something that I felt would eventually come naturally. At three years old, both of my daughters were potty trained…not because I read books and rushed them to the china every time I suspected they had to. They knew what the potty was for. They knew when they had to go. They would figure it out on their own! Well, by God, they did!
Sure, we got a little stupid every time they were successful users of the throne and garnered rewards and praise just like the kids who were put through a regimen of potty training tactics fit for Patton’s soldiers. But we never made it a big problem in our house, and consequently it never became a problem.
I have known parents who felt they had to potty train their babies at two years old or even earlier to enroll them in preschool. We, on the other hand, found a great preschool that accepted children in diapers. His philosophy was that children still in diapers would naturally learn to go to the bathroom by watching other children do it. I guess it worked. I never really gave it much thought. Potty eureka just happened around here on its own.
I have heard that little girls are easier to potty train than little boys. Any readers out there want to comment? We’d love to hear from you, especially if you’ve trained both a boy and a girl.
As for bedwetting after age four or five, some children just can’t help but wet the bed at night. It seems that these precious ones are not emotionally unstable, wrecked by low self-esteem or any other old wives tale logic. They just don’t have the ability to hold urine and sleep deeper than most. If you have a child who cannot stay dry at night, there is a remedy. Talk to your child’s pediatrician.
Copyright – 2000-2005 – Rexanne Mancini