Toilet training vital for a child
May 28, 2006
The music boomed and drinks flowed. It was party time! Although it was not a family get-together, many people had attended the party with their children.
The music boomed and drinks flowed. It was party time! Although it was not a family get-together, many people had attended the party with their children.
Two meters away, I overheard a four-year-old boy tell his mother that he wanted to visit the toilet for a short call. It was clear the boy knew the direction of the toilets and was only asking for the mother’s permission. As if oblivious of the environment, the mother unzipped the boy’s trousers and instructed him to go ahead with his ‘business.’ We watched in shock as the boy faced the wall near us and peed as if trying to outdo Owen Falls Dam!
Whichever way you view this incident, the ultimate question is: Is there anything wrong with letting a four-year-old child pee in public? If you do not see anything wrong with it, you are not wrong. It is because our perception is moulded by the society. Contrary to what most parents believe, in child training, nothing is taken for granted and nothing should be left to chance.
This incident hinges on a key component of parenting that many parents have ignored –– toilet training.
Has your child acquired proper toilet skills? Toilet skills enable children to know where the bodily waste belongs and how to dispose it off. It begins by using diapers, graduates to sitting on potty and advances to visiting the washroom.
Mothers have extra instinct that makes them read the signals a baby sends when he wants to empty bowels or bladder. Toilet skills do not come by accident –– it is a routine that takes training before it is mastered. By second birthday, any normal child has the capacity for bladder and bowel control.
If well mastered, the toileting routine remains part of the child’s life. A child who has mastered proper toilet skills will not accept to pee anywhere apart from the toilet. If your child wets their pants easily, there might be something wrong with your toilet training. Like many other skills, toilet skill is best learnt when the training begins early. Let us share some tips on toilet training:
l It is wrong to make the child feel embarrassed for failing to manage their bowel or bladder. Associating bowel and bladder with ridicule or shame might have harmful effects on the child’s self-esteem later in life.
l There is a specific place where bodily waste belongs. Toilet training enables the child to put the waste in the right place. Peeing on walls or attending to long calls in a bush might be a mark of an individual not groomed with proper toilet skills.
l Toilet training must be done with patience –– without giving the child negative messages about his body and waste. The child should understand that there is nothing to be ashamed of. Toileting is a physiological process not any different from eating or going to sleep.
Remember, in child training, nothing is left to chance and skills acquired in early childhood, leave a mark in the child’s personality. No housemaid is responsible enough to impart toilet skills on your behalf. Have you ever wondered why many people pee by the roadside shamelessly? They might have missed toileting skills at the right age. If you are to change the world, you must begin from your household. Till next week. Be a good parent.
jwagwau@newvision.co.ug
0772-631032
Two meters away, I overheard a four-year-old boy tell his mother that he wanted to visit the toilet for a short call. It was clear the boy knew the direction of the toilets and was only asking for the mother’s permission. As if oblivious of the environment, the mother unzipped the boy’s trousers and instructed him to go ahead with his ‘business.’ We watched in shock as the boy faced the wall near us and peed as if trying to outdo Owen Falls Dam!
Whichever way you view this incident, the ultimate question is: Is there anything wrong with letting a four-year-old child pee in public? If you do not see anything wrong with it, you are not wrong. It is because our perception is moulded by the society. Contrary to what most parents believe, in child training, nothing is taken for granted and nothing should be left to chance.
This incident hinges on a key component of parenting that many parents have ignored –– toilet training.
Has your child acquired proper toilet skills? Toilet skills enable children to know where the bodily waste belongs and how to dispose it off. It begins by using diapers, graduates to sitting on potty and advances to visiting the washroom.
Mothers have extra instinct that makes them read the signals a baby sends when he wants to empty bowels or bladder. Toilet skills do not come by accident –– it is a routine that takes training before it is mastered. By second birthday, any normal child has the capacity for bladder and bowel control.
If well mastered, the toileting routine remains part of the child’s life. A child who has mastered proper toilet skills will not accept to pee anywhere apart from the toilet. If your child wets their pants easily, there might be something wrong with your toilet training. Like many other skills, toilet skill is best learnt when the training begins early. Let us share some tips on toilet training:
l It is wrong to make the child feel embarrassed for failing to manage their bowel or bladder. Associating bowel and bladder with ridicule or shame might have harmful effects on the child’s self-esteem later in life.
l There is a specific place where bodily waste belongs. Toilet training enables the child to put the waste in the right place. Peeing on walls or attending to long calls in a bush might be a mark of an individual not groomed with proper toilet skills.
l Toilet training must be done with patience –– without giving the child negative messages about his body and waste. The child should understand that there is nothing to be ashamed of. Toileting is a physiological process not any different from eating or going to sleep.
Remember, in child training, nothing is left to chance and skills acquired in early childhood, leave a mark in the child’s personality. No housemaid is responsible enough to impart toilet skills on your behalf. Have you ever wondered why many people pee by the roadside shamelessly? They might have missed toileting skills at the right age. If you are to change the world, you must begin from your household. Till next week. Be a good parent.
jwagwau@newvision.co.ug
0772-631032