Order Only

[alt_nymphadora]

Sorry to the blokes: I'd make this a private message, only I want to address it to more than two.

Alice, Molly, Madam P?

I've just been reading up on toilet training, and...

Surely we're not really meant to use compulsions on Bea to get her to see what she's meant to do? I thought it was just nonsense when I read those pamphlets, but I picked up two books on my way from work this morning, and that's all they recommend, either.

What on earth?

Comments

[alt_nymphadora]

Well, she's old enough to tell us when she needs changing, but I don't know whether she would grasp the other side of things--preventing the situation, I mean. What age should we expect? The pamphlets and the books all say the earlier the better, and suggest we could have begun any time after her first birthday. But she's twenty months now!

We wouldn't even be thinking of it if they didn't keep sending us those things. A Sodden Leap Forward. Nappies No More. Ex-Changing: Putting Pooey Pants in the Past. Waste Not: The Practical Efficiencies of Toilet Training. I'm not making this up, I promise.

And they all make it seem we've failed her by waiting so long to begin.

[alt_alice]

We normally start encouraging training around twenty-four months, but it varies from child to child. The boys always take just a bit longer to get the hang of things, and some children are eager to start early.

We don't have a book here, but you can certainly talk to Jacinda about her experiences when you come to train this weekend, as she's seen her share by now.