Book Review: The Potty Boot Camp: Basic Training for Toddlers
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 12:04PM
This book is only 58 pages long so I read it in a day. I am going to start the 3-5-day "boot camp" next week when my portable potty arrives. I bought this one.
Meanwhile, I must say, I did enjoy this book. It is short, concise, and has easy steps to take. I was utterly shocked and appalled at this piece of information though:
"Do you know that the average age of toilet training has increased every single decade for the past sixty years? Here are some truly amazing statistics: On average, in the 1940s children began training at four or five months! In 1946, Dr. Spock published his famous child-rearing book that discussed waiting until children could sit up at seven to nine months old. At the time, this was a scandalous and shocking concept! In 1957, 92% of children were toilet trained by eighteen months. Human biology has not changed - just societal norms."
What!? She advocates starting at 18 months. Mo just turned 18 months last week so we're going to give it a go. I'll post updates here on MommyBeta. Wish me luck!
Reader Comments (7)
Can't wait to hear how this goes!
A good friend of mine who is well-educated and very informed about child development recently potty-trained her 18-month-old son. He took to it pretty quickly during their boot-camp, but as the weeks rolled on his little brain just would NOT remember to go when he needed to (he's a very active little guy). She reminded him at least every 30 minutes for at least a month while this was going on, but she still had so many wet pants, clothes, chairs, rugs, etc, that she stopped and is going to try again when he's older. So don't despair if it's too early for your LO, or if you reach a "saturation point." haha I think a lot depends on the kid's personality and also the parent's ability to stay on top of it for weeks or months on end.
Those studies don't tell us the conditions that led to children being potty-trained so young in the fifties, but you have to wonder if there was a lot of shame and fussing going on when children had accidents. It seems to me that a lot of today's parents are well-informed about the benefits of positive psychology like rewards instead of punishments. That could be why it's harder to train kids these days - there is not much shame associated with being in diapers or having accidents while training. But that might not be a bad thing.
I just bought the Kindle version and will be trying this on my 2.5 year old and my 11 7/8 month old ;)
I usually start potty training whenever my kids could sit and stand because according this is an indication that toddler are ready for this task. Anyway thanks for sharing.
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I believe potty training is a stressful experience between the parent and the toddler. But we parents should double our patience for the toddler to be successful in this task.
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Hey Natali, how did the potty boot camp go? Details please! According to my mother, I was potty trained by 18 months. I didn't walk until 14 months, but she said that as soon as I did, I'd take off my diaper. She figured I was ready and I was. She says all her 4 kids were different though. My little sister didn't potty train until 3 and had many accidents throughout her childhood. My youngest sister potty trained at 2 and my baby brother at 2 1/2. I think it's really up to the child and the parents upkeep too. I would like to try with my daughter at 18 months, but I'll just have to see how it goes.
I think the key element in this, as with so many things in parenting, is to know your child. Don't allow books or even other parents to tell you when it's right to take the next step. As a parent, especially a new parent, there will be no shortage of "advice" on how you should do things with your kids. But we found that so much of it tended to be more concerned with making things convenient for mom and dad rather than actually helping kids develop at their own natural pace. We waited until both our kids were older to do potty training and for us, and our kids it was the right way to go. The level of frustration for everyone involved was almost zero and there was never a risk of inadvertent shame like Mary mentioned. But what was right for us may not be right for you. By all means, run the potty training gauntlet. But if it's not working be ready to back off. Don't allow the voices of how it "should be" force you into frustrating and painful parenting. (Jim, Daddy of Emma -5 & Ian - 9)