After three accidents in quick succession on Monday, I decided to wait until today to start again. And… to be honest, I haven’t started yet (that means Bethel is still in her jammies midmorning).
Earlier, I decided to do potty training in the morning, and pullups in the afternoon. That’s because it’s all I can handle, not because I think it’s the best way to deal with the challenge. But now I think I’ll do it Friday and Saturday. That way Lee can help take care of David and Laurel. Better yet, maybe he can do the potty training while I watch the other two. I think the experience might be helpful for his practice. 😀
When you read about potty training, there’s a subtle but unmistakable fear of pushing the child. If you do, “they” say, you’ll make it a control issue, and you don’t want that. It goes along with the self discovery, self guided learning, they’ll learn when they want to philosophy. However, I have come to the conclusion that potty training isn’t intrinsically fun. And if the child doesn’t fall for the stickers and candy, you’re left with a child who has to get through the uncomfortable process of learning something.
At some point, you have to say, “I know you don’t like it, but you have to do it. And when you learn, you’ll be glad you did.” I guess we could apply this to instrument practice, multiplication tables, and any number of intrinsically boring tasks. I’m all for making learning fun, but not all learning is fun. So as I work on this challenge with Bethel, I think it will be helpful to be prepared mentally when she says “I don’t want to wear big girl underwear.” That’s okay, kid. That’s a part of growing up.
I am certain this post was biblical, but I haven’t thought of how. sigh…