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From: steven@luke.UUCP (Steven List)
Newsgroups: net.kids
Subject: Re: Potty training
Message-ID: <253@luke.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 28-Jun-85 14:59:41 EDT
Article-I.D.: luke.253
Posted: Fri Jun 28 14:59:41 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 2-Jul-85 05:55:51 EDT
References: <2797@decwrl.UUCP> <174@SCINEWS.UUCP>
Reply-To: steven@luke.UUCP (Steven List)
Organization: Benetics Corp, Mt.View, CA
Lines: 45

In article <174@SCINEWS.UUCP> ned@SCINEWS.UUCP (Ned Robie) writes:
>My 4 year old son pees in the toilet fine and rarely wets his bed.
>But he still hasn't taken to the toilet when he needs to poop.
>
>Does anyone have any suggestions?  Is this a common *problem* among 4
>year olds?

I'm not sure if any of this will be helpful, but since both of ours (4 and 2)
are potty trained and attending preschool I figure we must have done
SOMETHING right.

First, there is a book titled "Toilet Training in Less Than a Day".  I
looked at it, but didn't use it.  I do have a friend who both used it
and recommended it.  He used it with his daughter with great success.
The major drawback is that it requires total dedication for a day, a
play area that is close to a bathroom, and preparation.  The obvious
upside is that it seems to work a lot of the time.

As far as getting your son (who is, unfortunately, already partially
trained) to move his bowels on the toilet, I think that patience and
encouragement are your only options.  The encouragement, however, is no
small matter.  Taking your son to the bathroom periodically and sitting
him on the pot and suggesting that he take his time and just relax might
help.  Also, being alert to his visible signs of impending drop is
essential.  If you can tell when he's about to, or even when he's
started, getting him on the toilet and whooping it up when he even
FINISHES there helps.

Being aware of the symptoms is probably the most useful thing.  I'm not
quite so good at it, but my wife is outstanding.  She'd look up at one
of our children, say "uh oh", jump, grab, run, strip the kid, and plop
him/her down on the pot.

As I said, I'm not sure that this stuff works for anyone else, but we've
had great success.  Our two-year-old son is attending preschool five
mornings a week, and rarely has any accidents.  The ones he has are due
to the teachers not taking him to the bathroom periodically.

Good luck.
-- 
***
*  Steven List @ Benetics Corporation, Mt. View, CA
*  Just part of the stock at "Uncle Bene's Farm"
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