Questions about Toilet Training
As a longtime Co-Counselor, I sometimes subscribe to the somewhat “magical thinking trap”—that if I (or the people around me) could simply discharge enough, then everything would fall perfectly into place without any additional effort.
However, I suspect that there are certain things (for example, mastering a musical instrument, learning calculus—and, perhaps, transitioning from diapers to toilets) that require education, training, practice, and experience, and that while counseling and discharge will help us learn, master, and perform these things more effectively, discharge does not replace the need to learn and practice.
I would love to hear what folks have figured out about toilet training their children. How active or proactive have you been? What mistakes have you made? How much of it is “get out of the way of a natural process” versus “we have to actively set up the needed conditions”?
Thank you,
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for leaders of parents
(Present Time 203, April 2021)