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Good Going!
Successful Potty Training for Children in Child Care
by Gretchen Kinnell |
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Do you think potty training one kid is tough?
How would you feel about potty training 6, 10 or even more kids at the same time?
Although the average parent won't have to face such a challenge, daycare providers are faced with potty training large groups of children every day.
And surprisingly, many parents make no effort towards potty training and give their daycare provider total and complete responsibility for getting their kids potty trained.
When asking parents if they have thought about or started potty training during well child visits at 18 or 24 months, I very often hear parents say 'no, they will do that at daycare.'
And isn't that part of the reason that you pay for daycare?
Not really. While daycare providers are expected to work on potty training, such an attitude can actually make the process much more difficult, so that it takes longer for your child to become potty trained.
In preparing their book, Good Going! Successful Potty Training for Children in Child Care, Gretchen Kinnell and the Onondaga County's Toilet Learning Task Force identified 'things parents did which made potty training difficult for children' and their daycare providers.
What kinds of things do parents do that can interfere with potty training?
One of the most important is being inconsistent and either not starting potty training once their child is ready and the daycare has started, or potty training using a very different method.
Another 'frustrating' problem that daycare providers face, is parents who dress their kids in clothing that actually makes potty training difficult because they are hard to quickly remove. These clothes include bib overalls, pants with belts, one piece outfits and jumpsuits, onesie-type undershirts and tights.
I was surprised to read that there were 'good clothes and bad clothes' and I'm sure that many parents are also uninformed and make the mistake of using 'bad' clothes, not because they want to be difficult, because they just don't know any better.
And that brings us to the main purpose for Good Going!, to provide information and advice for parents and daycare providers so that together they can form a 'partnership' to make potty training easier.
In addition to the lists of good and bad potty training clothes, Good Going! provides important Readiness Indicators, so that everyone can learn to recognize when a child is ready to start potty training.
Other chapters discuss routines to help children get started with potty training, how to choose an appropriate potty chair, and how to practice good hygiene, which is especially important in a group daycare setting.
Also important are the chapters that discuss how to develop partnerships between day care providers and parents and dealing with problems, such as if a child refuses to use the potty and the common problem where a child refuses to have bowel movements in the potty.
Unlike other books which stress a rapid or quick approach to potty training or starting early, before most toddlers are ready, Good Going! empasizes a 'gradual process'. that begins when a child is ready and ends with children mastering this important 'self help skill'.
Although your child, unless he has developmental or medical problems that interfere with potty training, will likely eventually learn to use the potty, reading Good Going! will help parents and daycare providers avoid common mistakes and become true partners in helping a child learn to use the potty with confidence and ease.
Rating: 5 stars
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