No need for begging and bribes. There’s an easier way.
That’s right. Stop stressing about toilet training.
Forget all those charts and stickers, the pleading and wheedling, and the desperate search for the perfect potty that your child will actually agree to place his or her precious bottom on (maybe the one that plays tunes will do the trick?).
Janet Lansbury, from Elevating Child Care, is one of the parenting gurus who believes that kids don’t need toilet training. Not that kids don’t need to learn to go to the toilet, but they don’t need adults to train them. There’s a difference.
According to Janet, adult-led toilet training is unnecessary. The headaches and power struggles aren’t worth it. We should just let our children decide when they want to stop wearing nappies.
She also believes adult-led toilet training is risky. Kids need to be physically ready – their bladders and bowels have to be up to it – and they need to understand what they’re doing.
On top of that, they need to be emotionally ready. If we try to push kids into toilet training, they can resist, for no other reason than the fact that they're toddlers and that's what toddlers like to do. In some cases, kids will just decide to hold on until they're severely constipated. Ow.
So what do you do?
Well, you talk kids through nappy changes, from the time they're born. You let kids see other family members going to the toilet. You make a potty available, and you offer the choice of nappies or underwear. But you never push or bribe. You trust your child.
