I lifted this priceless quote from the Dear Headmistress over at the Common Room. She does not claim the statement as her own, but she has carried it about in her head and pulled out to share with us, so I do consider it to belong to her. Please do her the favor of a visit, and read her article on teaching the mechanics of punctuation.
It’s like potty training- you can work really hard at it, spend much time,
attention and training on a daily basis, and your child will be toilet trained
at 24 months. Or you can let nature take its course, wait until the child is
ready to proceed at his own speed and he’ll be potty trained at two years.
I feel exactly this way about both potty training and reading. I’m so glad to know I’m not the only one.
Bingo. In most cases it’s the parents who are trained if it occurs any earlier than that. A child has to be ready both phyisically and emotionally.
I love it! Actually, it isn’t unusual for a boy to take as long as 3 years. The thing to remember is that no healthy child gets on the kindergarten bus in diapers!
Five of ours were ready at 3-4 months after they turned 2. They just had no idea of what to do before that, and we could see when the whole concept clicked for them – they were trained in a day or two with relatively few accidents.
One daughter took much longer, but it really was obvious that she just wasn’t physically ready.
I just can’t see the reason to rush it – diapers are so much easier than a half-trained toddler, and training itself is much more pleasant for all involved parties if the child is ready.
Too funny! I was going to say it’s usually 36 months or 3 yrs in our house.
Really, I prefer to wait until the child is old enough to understand me the first and only time I have to say, “look, sweetie, diapers are really no fun,and you are a big girl/boy now, and Mommy would love it if you would use the potty from now on.” Ideally, the child is able to respond, “Certainly, Mother, I shall begin now and forthwith and henceforth I shall always use the toilet.”
Has that happened yet, Headmistress, ma’am?
Actually, pretty much.=)
One of the Progeny who was adopted was old enough to be toilettrained when she came home- but she hadn’t been potty trained because of her previous home situation. After I thought she’d had time to adjust to the new home we had this conversation:
Me: Do you know that Mommy does not like to change diapers?
She: You don’t?!?!?!
Me: Nope. And you’re a big girl, big enough to use the toilet.
She: I don’t like the toilet. I’ll use the potty chair.
Me: Okay.
And she was toilet trained. A couple months later we had this conversation:
Me: Did you know that Mommy thinks emptying out the potty chair is gross?
She (shocked): You do?!
Me: Yes. It’s really a disgusting chore. And I think you are a big girl now and can use the toilet. What do you think?
She: Okay.
And she did.
Our son was potty trained when I wanted to go back to cloth diapers with him after reading about the dangers of disposables on boys. Hubby was convinced of the dangers, but he hates cloth. So he said to the boy, “Son, I think it’s time to use the toilet like Dad.” And the boy, who was just two, said, “Yeah!” And he did. Not at night, but during the day.