Sunday, April 15, 2012

Potty Time

Decker is potty trained! He has by far been the easiest one of the four boys to master this task. I know that he is very young. I know this is not possible for most newly-turned 2 year olds. I also know that we will have ups and downs.

As a preschool teacher, I have parents constantly asking me how to potty train their child. Then there are the  parents that send their almost 4 year old to me for 2 or 3 days a week, hoping that I will be able to do it for them. I have a secret for all of these parents....

Stop buying Pull-ups and diapers! Your child knows that you will change them. They know that they can continue going about their day without having to take a break to go potty. When I was younger, I potty-trained fast. Do you know why? Answer: In the 80's we wore more cloth diapers and felt the poop and pee and thought it was nasty!

There is nothing worse than having to change a 40 pound child with a huge poop. Why are you doing this to yourself? If a 3 year old is walking up and telling you that they have a dirty diaper and need to be changed, then throw a pair of underwear on them. Who cares if your child knows the whole alphabet and can speak spanish if they can perform basic life skills, then something is wrong.

As I am finishing my potty rant, I would like to add that some children do have developmental delays that prohibit them from mastering certain tasks at such an early age.