Last week I went to my local library's toddler story time. It was packed. Baby M and I were sitting on the floor happily singing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" when the woman sitting next to us, just inches away, pulled a little red potty chair out of her bag. She proceeded to pull off her daughter's panties, sit her on the potty and exclaim happily when she produced. Then the woman stood up, lifted the alarmingly full bowl of urine over my head and walked to the bathroom to dispose of it.Now I know that potty training is difficult process and I understand not wanting to take your child to a public bathroom (although I've been in that library bathroom and it's exceptionally clean), but couldn't she have taken her daughter to the corner of the room? Or at least somewhere where she wouldn't have to navigate a room full of dancing toddlers while carrying a bowl full of pee? Yes, it was probably preferable to a puddle of pee on the floor, but I would have voted for moving away from the crowd, even if it involved a bit of fussing from my kid.
I mentioned this incident to a friend and she laughed and said, "I guess potty training is the new breastfeeding." She has a point. Some of us (including myself) nursed our children whenever they were hungry, wherever we were. I nursed in libraries, restaurants, even on the Wild Animal Park Safari Train without apologies. I was discrete, but I certainly didn't run off to the bathroom or cover myself with a tablecloth when it was time to nurse. Maybe with potty training you just have to whip out the potty when your kid needs it, no matter where you are. Of course what do I know? I've been sitting Baby M on the potty for 2 months now before his bath and when he asks to go (well the one time he asked to go), and we haven't seen a drop in that potty yet.
3 comments:
LOL! It has never occurred to me to haul our potty anywhere. That is mind boggling. I'm not judging, but someone needs to teach their kid to use a seat cover and hover and not to pee in the middle of story time. As a former 4th grade teacher, I can see how this approach to training might lead to unforeseen complications in the future. :-)
i bring along our potty everywhere; it is a travel one by cool gear. when you are potty training you are desperate to not have accidents so you let your little one do it where-ever-they-please. it is only temporary. my daughter would only pee in her pink baby bjorn potty for a few weeks so it became our constant companion during that time. it was only a phase. my mother mantra is "do whatever works".
I was in a botanical garden a few weeks ago, and I saw a woman holding her bare-bottomed toddler up in a squatting position over a bush next to the main entrance to the garden, defecating.
Okay, I'm just getting to the whole potty training phase with my little one. But from what I understand, certain developmental milestones have to be reached before a child is ready for potty training (or "learning") (for instance, the ability to pull down one's pants, to be familiar with the feeling of needing to pee, etc.). One of those milestones, I have to believe, is the ability to hold it for the 3 minutes it takes to move the portable potty and the toddler into the public restroom.
Also, breastfeeding is not the same as urinating. Breastfeeding is a beautiful act of physical and emotional nourishment. Urinating and defecating involve bacteria and waste. While they're both natural and necessary acts, they aren't really comparable.
Even if they were, though most of the moms I know at least make a minimal effort to be discrete. I mean, come on--even animals adhere to certain courtesies when it comes to urination and feces.
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