Abbie is 23 months old. Apparently, some folks think this is too early to potty train. Too early to try? I don't think so. Too early to expect perfection? Sure. Which is why I don't. But, I do want her to become aware of her bodily functions. She already has an interest in the potty, and in theory, understands the fundamentals of using it (pee/poop, wipe, flush, wash). So why shouldn't she be introduced to what is happening to her own body?
I'll be the first to tell you that I didn't expect this first round to be the last. And, I have no desire to force her to use the potty. But, I do want to give her the chance to learn, and I'm not doing her any favors by providing super-absorbent Huggies diapers.
Over the past two days, Abbie has peed in the potty 4 times, and had about 10 accidents. At first, I expected all of the accidents. No big deal. And, originally, she seemed fine with the pee going in the potty. But as time went on, she started to get anxious and actually seemed scared about the fact that the pee was coming out of her.
So, because I don't want to create anxiety over the idea of toileting, we are going to back off a little. Not stop. Just slow down. We'll switch to potty time twice a day and diapers/underwear of her choice during the rest of the day. Hopefully, this will give her time to regain her comfort with peeing in the potty without worrying about the fact that she had an accident a little earlier.
The average age for kids learning to use the potty is 2.5 years old. This is much later than it used to be, as back in the day, kids were potty trained by 18 months. And, in several other countries, parents use elimination communication to learn their children's indicators and teach the children to eliminate in a toilet/pot way earlier. But, here and now, we have gone for the convenience of diapers and the ability to be on the go for hours and not feel the need to tend to our children's bodily functions. Well, it's definitely a convenience, but I don't think that means that we should not help our kids learn how to use the potty. It's inconvenient, yes. But, important nonetheless.
Maybe I should go back to calling this process what it really is: Potty Learning. To me, this means that I introduce Abbie to the idea, and provide her the opportunities to practice without expecting her to get it right away. It took her a month b/w first steps and learning to walk, yet we still encouraged her to practice. I think Potty Learning shoudl be just the same. When she's ready, she'll do it. In the meantime, I will not stress!
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3 comments:
I heard that in Saudia Arabia they potty train kids at 6 months; ludicrous, eh?!
Not having the convience of disposable diapers or a washing machine babies like mine used to be trained much earlier. It was probably training the mother to watch for little signs,but it paid off. (I was lucky in that each of my boys had only one BM right after breakfast) If you had to rinse a cloth diaper in the toilet, put it in a pail of water to soak and then scrub it with a wash board until your knuckles bled, then boil it to be sure it was sanitized, let them cool enough to squeeze out the excess water before hanging them on the line outside your generation would start earlier too. I had the diapers put away by the time my babies were a year old. Call it survival. The babies also didn't like a wet diaper that got cold. (rubber pants were so unrealiable). Would I be a fan of disaposable diapers were I a new mother today - absolutely! Would I start training as soon as they could sit up - don't think so. Convenience is so wonderful and we take so much for granted. Maybe the Saudia Arabia mothers can't afford diapers. Don't judge them to hashly. Grandma
like all things with kids...every child is different. abbie will let you know when the time is right for her. follow her cues. i have a friend who had her girl trained right at 24 months. i know someone else who is using natural potty training and her son was going in the potty before he could sit on his own by attuning to natural rhythms and allowing him to associate the potty with elimination. (not for me, but fairly impressive...think pavlov's dogs...potty means go.) it sounds like you are doing everything right!
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