To teach a baby to use a pot is a necessity that mothers all over the world face. And although the problem is one, solutions in each country are different, sometimes non-standard from our point of view. It's all about the so-called differences in mentality, the peculiarities of the national "childbearing." But this does not mean that we can not borrow something from foreign experience and successfully apply it! Many of what is offered "from abroad" is worth learning , - first of all, calmness and confident advancement to the cherished goal without self-flagellation ("Ah, I'm a bad mother, because my child does not know how to use the pot in six months \ year \ 2 years"). Can not - learn, and do it then , when the time comes, when it will be ready! Therefore, the first a useful rule, which we borrow from the mothers of other countries: calmness, only calmness! Everything has its time!
With the world in a thread
There are several methods for teaching children a "potty" skill in Eastern Europe alone: all of them can be classified, which was done once by Professor P. Accardo of the Virginia Medical College (USA), who identified 3 groups of techniques:
Accustoming to a pot from the first weeks of a child's life. This technique is based not so much on learning how quickly to accustom a child to a pot, how much on the development of certain reflexes in a mother who learns by some external signs (groaning of the baby, anxiety) to recognize when the little girl wants to go to the toilet.
Accustoming to a pot at the age of a child is about 18 months. It is focused on the child, it is to this age that the final physiological and psychological maturation takes place, thanks to which the child can control urination and defecation.
Accustoming to a pot at the age of 3 years. This "lazy" technique is being introduced at that age of the child when he begins to imitate the adults and finally, puzzles with the question: "Why am I in a diaper, and my mother and father are not?".
Early? Early. Early!
In our country, as in many countries around the world, until the middle of the last century, preference was given to the first method - the so-called early training. This was justified: there were no diapers, washing machines, too, and my mothers were very interested in learning how to use the potty quickly. It remains a mystery why, unlike the whole progressive world, we still often adhere to this approach? Why is the simple process of accustoming to a pot (when it occurs in a timely manner and without coercion) causes so many emotions and so much controversy. Probably, because our grandmothers and mothers, who at one time were deprived of such useful achievements of civilization as diapers and washing machines, continue to consider this to be correct. And what are the slanting views of others when it is found that on your child, to whom - about the horror! - a year already, is still wearing a disposable diaper. And now the young mother begins to doubt herself and unfolds a real "battle for a pot."
But this is exactly what is evil. Do not believe me? Refer to the book, published in the distant 1930s, Gessel's "Manual on the Mental Development of the Child," from which the school of potty training began, based on the physiological aspects of the development of toddlers, according to Gessel's research, conducted on twin children, where one was taught to the pot is early, and the second - after 15-18 months, early schooling to the pot did not bring a positive result.That which mothers paid much attention at an early age did not lead to a persistent fixed skill, and in the older age dos It was easy and without effort, so it is asked, then why torture yourself and the child? "Benjamin Spock, who first introduced the concept of the child's readiness for mastering this skill, recommended making his contribution to the withdrawal from early training in potter science, and in this connection recommended parents not to hurry up .
Better late than never?
Studies on the teaching of children to the pot were carried out practically throughout the whole of the last century, and all this led to the fact that gradually the early technique in the West ceased to be successful, and the age from which the children began to master this wisdom shifted from 7 to 20 months. At the same time, what is important, the attitude of parents towards this issue has also changed - the level of their intervention in the process has been reduced. In other words, moms and dads stopped worrying about how the child's relationship with the pot develops. At present, in the West, the stage of self-service training lasts for a long time between 18 and 36 months, and depends on how the parents treat this process.Someone, and in a year and a half it seems that it's time, and someone in the 3 quite calmly refers to the fact that the child is constantly in a diaper.For example, it was revealed that the accustoming to the pot is not only related to the country of residence and the family's income, but also - the housewife is working or working.It is believed that if a woman works, she rather begins to accustom the child to the pot because it is more interested in getting him to become independent sooner.We probably think this approach is strange, but it only says that there is nothing terrible in the care from early schooling to the pot. On the contrary, the child grows calm, and the mother does not exert herself too much hassle, and the training starts from 18 months, when all the signs of the child's readiness to master this skill appear (the ability to consciously control the work of the intestine, the ability to express one's desires verbally, i.e. ask for a pot, the desire to behave "as big.") In other words, the child is ready, he does not mind learning new things, and begins to do it gradually and without pressure from adults.
And still it is necessary
Now, it would seem, if everything is so magical and easy, why not even stop worrying about it? Well, you think, there will not be a child to use a pot at 2 years old. In the same Turkey, for example, they begin to teach children to self-service at 22-28 years, and in Sweden and Holland - at 32-37, and nothing, no one has grown unadapted.
Yes, to worry, of course, is not worth it. But it's also not necessary to let things go by themselves. In everything it is necessary to adhere to common sense. So, too "lazy" attitude to pottery science leads to the fact that the child loses the need for such a skill, that is, in 3 years or older it is already unclear why he should use the pot if before that he coped well with his own affairs with the help of a diaper and is used to this state of things.So, pediatricians state that too late accustoming to a pot can cause resistance from the child (like resistance at an early age), lead to a categorical refusal to use the pot and toilet, especially if we apply these terms to our reality, it remains unclear how, in such a case, to give the child to a kindergarten, if there is a demand that the child should come to them already with primary skills of self-service (he could walk on a pot) .
Summing up all of the above, we will single out that the golden mean is the most acceptable option.
Too early training of a child to a pot - rarely gives results and delivers a lot of trouble for both mom and baby.
Too late - leads to the fact that the parents miss a period of natural readiness to learn to pot, and after that - the process of mastering the potter's skill is accompanied by difficulties. Focus on the development of your baby, listen carefully to whether he is ready for "adult science." And as soon as you see this readiness (on average, a year and a half crumbs), gradually and unobtrusively begin to teach it.