Potty Training: Emotional Readiness

Over the last month, I’ve been sharing the kinds of “readiness” that pediatricians argue is critical to potty training. Previous posts have dealt with physical and cognitive readiness. Today we’ll tackle the third and final: emotional readiness.

Emotional readiness for potty training means a willingness to cooperate. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the likelihood of such cooperation increases after the first birthday with the emergence of the following:

• A desire for independence and self-mastery
• An interest in imitating others
• A desire for approval

Once these fundamental characteristics in place, all that’s necessary is motivating children to cooperate. In other words, anything that increases the willingness of toddlers to embrace potty training automatically creates the emotional readiness that the AAP says is essential.

So, how does one help a 1- to 2-year-old get excited about potty training? Here at Baby Signs we’ve given that question a great deal of thought. Based on what we know about development, what we’ve experienced ourselves with our own children and grandchildren, and what we’ve heard from many parents, we’ve put together a set of materials designed to do just that—inspire even 1- to 2-year-olds to “climb on board the potty train.” They are all included in a kit entitled Potty Training Made Easy with the Baby Signs Program.

A highlight of these materials is our All Aboard the Potty Train DVD featuring our popular DiaperDoodle characters who slowly act out a typical “potty routine” that incorporates five helpful potty-time signs: POTTY, MORE, ALL DONE, WASH, and GOOD JOB. Additional motivational components include a lift-a-flap board book, conductor’s whistle and stickers.

To review: If children are physically and cognitively “ready” for potty training between ages 1 and 2 and can be inspired to cooperate using fun materials, why wait! Help reverse the diaper-industry-inspired trend toward later and later potty training by getting your child out of diapers by age 2. Your child, the environment, and your pocketbook will all thank you!

Happy Signing (and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook)!

Linda

Linda Acredolo, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, UC Davis
and
Co-Founder, The Baby Signs® Program

Potty Training: What About Cognitive Readiness?

I've started out this year with a series of postings about potty training, a topic we here at Baby Signs care about so strongly that we've created a potty training program that incorporates signing in order to make it possible to potty train children at earlier ages. In my last posting I pointed out that the American Academy of Pediatrics cites three factors as indicators that a child is “ready” for potty training: physical, cognitive, and emotional. In that post I focused on physical readiness, pointing to the fact that children used to routinely be trained by 18 months as clear evidence that children are physically ready much earlier than they are currently given credit for.

Today I’m taking a closer look at the second factor: cognitive readiness. According to the AAP, in order to actively participate in potty training, children must understand what it is they are supposed to do and be able to communicate about it. That is, be able to:
• Associate the need to eliminate with using the potty
• Understand simple instructions
• Signal an adult when they need to go

Again, the fact that children in the past were routinely trained by 18 months indicates that the first two of these abilities are both available quite early and certainly by 18 months.

As for signaling an adult, that’s easily dealt with through the use of simple signs! Just as children can learn to let their parents know when they feel the internal pangs of hunger, thirst, and even illness using simple signs like EAT, DRINK, MILK, MORE, and HURT, they can equally easily signal the urge to eliminate using a simple sign—POTTY. We’ve seen it work ourselves and have heard success stories from countless parents.

Bottom line? Using simple signs helps provide children the “cognitive readiness” they need to take an active role in potty training well before age 2.

Happy Signing (and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook)!

Linda

Linda Acredolo, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, UC Davis
and
Co-Founder, The Baby Signs® Program

Potty Training: What Does “Ready” Really Mean?

Last week I talked about the trend toward later and later potty training and the role that the diaper industry has played in persuading parents that waiting is a good idea. After all, the longer children are in diapers, the more money they make! To help reverse this trend, we here at Baby Signs have developed a potty training program that uses signing to enable babies to signal the need to go long before they have words. In fact, our goal is to help parents get their children trained by age 24 – 30 months.

But are children “ready” that early? The question arises because parents frequently hear that it’s best to wait until a child is “ready” for potty training before beginning the process. But what exactly does the term “ready” mean? For the answer we turn to the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) Guide to Toilet Training (2003). According to the AAP, parents should watch for readiness in three specific developmental domains: physical, cognitive, and emotional. Over the next few postings, we’ll take a closer look at what’s required in each case starting with physical readiness.

According to the AAP, in order to actively participate in potty training, children must be physically able to:

• Sense when they need to eliminate
• Delay elimination long enough to get to the potty
• Sit independently on a potty chair

At what age do these skills typically appear? This is an easy question to answer based on the information about the history of potty training I described in my posting last week. If you’ve had a chance to read that entry you may remember the fact that before the invention of the disposable diaper in the early 1960s, children in the United States were routinely trained by 18 months! Is there any reason to suspect that children have changed so radically over the last 50 years that they’ve completely lost these physical abilities? Obviously not! If that was the norm up until the 1960s, then clearly children today are physically ready for potty training well before age 2.

In other words, it’s simply a cop out (as my son would say) to use a lack of “physical readiness” as an excuse to delay potty training until children are 3-years-old.

Stay tuned for discussion of cognitive and emotional “readiness.”

Happy Signing (and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook)!

Linda

Linda Acredolo, Ph.D.
Co-Founder, the Baby Signs Program
and
Professor Emeritus, UC Davis

Late Potty Training: Legacy of the Diaper Industry

Back in the 1980s when my children were young and not yet potty trained at 30 months, my mother-in-law would gently chastise me by saying that her kids were all trained by 18 months. At the time I thought that was pure exaggeration—the result of faulty memory or the desire to inspire me to get the kids trained. Now I know she was telling the absolute truth!

It turns out that before the 1960s children were routinely trained by 18 months—some estimates being as high as 95% of children. Given how distasteful and time-consuming it was to deal with the cloth diapers of the day, such an early age is understandable. Cloth diapers had to be rinsed out in the toilet, laundered in strong detergent and hot water, hung out to dry, folded and stacked—all steps that had to be repeated just a few days later. No wonder moms were eager to get their children out of diapers!

All this changed in the early 1960s with the invention of the disposable diaper. The good news was that their absorbency meant that babies stayed dryer and their ease of use meant that parents’ work was reduced. There was good news for the diaper industry’s bottom line, too, given the rapturous response parents had to this incredible new invention. It shouldn’t be a surprise, therefore, to hear that the industry began promoting the idea of later and later training.

By persuading both parents and pediatricians that later was better and by creating bigger and bigger diapers, the diaper industry has managed to move the average age of completion from younger than 18 months to over age 3—and still climbing! Most recently the industry introduced a size 7 diaper that can accommodate 6-year-old kids! And don’t let the name “pull-ups” fool you. They are simply disposable diapers in the shape of underpants.

The trend toward later and later training would be fine if it was good for children—but it’s not! It’s not good for children or their parents—and it’s definitely not good for the environment.

I’ll explain all this soon. Stay tuned. . . .

Linda

Linda Acredolo, Ph.D.
Co-Founder, the Baby Signs Program
and
Professor Emeritus, UC Davis

New Year’s Resolution: Potty Time!

The new year is closing in on us and, if you’re like me, your mind is gravitating toward “New Year’s Resolutions.” (It’s a given that two of mine will be to exercise more and eat less—and this year I mean it!)

But as I let my mind drift back, it returns to a New Years over 20 years ago—1988 to be exact--when my son, Kai, was 2 ½ and I was facing (no, dreading!) the challenge of potty training. I had been asked by my mother-in-law over Christmas why he wasn’t trained yet and I told her he “wasn’t ready” and that my pediatrician had assured me that Kai would let me know when the time was right. But darn it, he seemed perfectly content to let things continue as they were! The problem with this was that I needed to enroll him in a new child care program more convenient to the university where I taught and they wouldn’t let him in unless he was out of diapers.

So, I made a New Year’s Resolution to start in the Spring. Ready or not, here I come—with the potty! By that time he was closing in on 3 and really not interested in wasting time using the potty when he could be playing and just using his diaper as he had been doing for the past 30 months. Problem was that the child care enrollment deadline was looming and he simply had to get trained!

Fortunately, the passage of time has dimmed my memory of the struggles that ensued (and there were struggles)—with one exception. I remember vividly promising the director of the child care center that he was, indeed, trained—and then feigning surprise when they would inform me that he had had an accident again. “Oh, I’m sure it’s the stress of starting a new school,” I lied. I’m not proud of myself for lying to them, but, like many parents before and since, I was desperate!

Since that time I’ve learned a lot about potty training, enough in fact, to feel comfortable creating a whole program designed to make it easier for parent and child alike to get potty training done by age 2. It's called The Baby Signs® Potty Training Program and has been successfully used by thousands of parents. The secret? It includes both step by step instructions for parents and fun things to inspire the little one to get on board with the enterprise. That's what "ready" means, after all--willingness to cooperate.

So, for those of you thinking about Potty Training in 2013, I urge you to do as I say and not as I did some 20 years ago. In other words, climb on board the "potty training" sooner rather than later!
Happy Signing (and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook)!

Linda Acredolo, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, UC Davis
and
Co-Founder, The Baby Signs® Program

Thank Goodness for Early Potty Training!

One of the things I’m most proud of is my development, with Dr. Susan Goodwyn, of the Baby Signs® Potty Training Program. The whole goal of the program is to (a) convince parents to potty training earlier than is typical today, and (b) to provide materials for both them and their toddlers to help make it happen. And, just recently I witnessed for myself exactly why training early is such a good idea. Here’s what happened.

It was 2 weeks ago that my husband and I accompanied my step-son, daughter-in-law, and twin grandchildren on their first ever camping trip. The twins, just a bit over 3 years old, were like whirling dervishes—running, jumping, and even somersaulting as they explored the tent, air-mattresses, and the great outdoors. Lay down for the usual afternoon nap? Are you kidding, Grandma?! Don’t throw the sand or the stones? Are you kidding, Grandpa?! Come eat food not cooked or served in the usual way. No way, Mom! Or more accurately, “Noooooooooooo!”

Don’t get me wrong: The twins are wonderful kids—but they are also typical 3-year-olds who have developed what psychologists call a “sense of self,” meaning that they are, for the first time, able to think of themselves as independent beings who can have their own thoughts and can express (loudly!!) their own opinions. This major advance typically begins around age 2 but is in full blossom by age 3—and stays that way until reason begins to reign around age 4 and 5. The achievement of a sense of self is a wonderful and necessary milestone, but it is also one that carries with it the inevitable consequence of tantrums, stubborn refusals, and the increasingly frequent use of the word “no.”

Back to the campsite: Despite all the feverish exploration, uncontrollable energy, and battles of will over many things, both twins went potty predictably and happily in their portable potty chairs time after time after time! What made this happy situation possible was the fact that the twins had already been potty trained for over 8 months. For them, using the potty was just a fact of life, not a novel skill to be learned—or, as is all too frequent with older toddlers, resisted.

And I wasn’t the only one who noticed. Mom and Dad, in describing difficulties their friends with older toddlers were having, said more than once what a nightmare it could have been had they waited. At least in this one important arena, the word “Nooooooo!” was not a problem!

Happy Signing (and don’t forget to visit us on Facebook)!

Linda

Linda Acredolo, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, UC Davis
and
Co-Founder, The Baby Signs® Program

Potty Training Tip From Parent on the “Front Line”

Anyone who’s been following this blog for awhile has heard me talk about how little Julia, the 16-month-old daughter of staff member Bonita Broughton, is already using the potty quite consistently thanks to our Baby Signs® Potty Training Program. In addition to regular “It’s potty time!” announcements from Bonita, Julia uses her potty sign to let mom know she needs to go. It’s really working; in fact, in one email this week, Bonita proudly announced Julia had gone in the potty 8 times in a single day. What’s more, the whole office witnessed it ourselves when she began insistently (and appropriately) signing “potty” during our staff meeting. (She actually now signs “potty” when she has to go pee and holds her nose when she has to go poop!)

For those of you not familiar with our Baby Signs® Potty Training Program, the idea is to help parents train their children before age 2. To that end we’ve designed a great potty training kit that includes, besides motivational items to get toddlers “on board the Potty Train,” also a simple, step-by-step guide for parents. I’m proud of the Parent Guide with the many tips for success it includes, but I recently realized that we left one out! Bonita has come up with a super tip for parents that I just have to pass along. So here it is:

Consider having the baby wear cloth panties INSIDE the diaper or pull-ups.

Why would you do this? Because, unlike superabsorbent disposable diapers, the cloth panties retain moisture thereby increasing the child’s discomfort and alerting him or her to the fact that an accident has happened. At the same time, there’s less of a mess to clean up than if the child was naked or using the panties alone. And yet it still takes advantage of the fact that many children are motivated to keep their new “big kids’ underwear” dry.

But won’t children be confused because a diaper is still part of the process. That’s where pull-ups can be helpful. Don’t be fooled; they are simply diapers in another form. However, this new form when used with the cloth underwear inside can symbolize the transition away from the “baby diapers” used up to now.

There’s no one magic formula for potty training because there’s no “one baby” out there. Every situation is different. So, just consider this tip another strategy to add to your tool box as you tackle this universal parenting challenge.

Happy Signing (and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook)!

Linda

Linda Acredolo, Ph.D.
Co-Founder, the Baby Signs® Program
andwhe
Professor Emeritus, UC Davis

It Really IS Potty Time!

As many of you know, we at Baby Signs are anxious to help parents get their babies out of diapers as soon as possible—hopefully by age 2, both for their own benefit and for a healthier environment. To this end, we’ve developed a potty training kit complete with materials to educate mom and interest baby. One of the steps we encourage is for parents to teach the “potty” sign (shaking the fist, with thumb between first and second fingers) so that their child has a way to indicate he/she needs to go potty even before words are available. Well, the following story is a funny example of how well it works.

I’ve written before about little Julia, the now 14-month-old little girl that attends all our Monday staff meetings with her mom, staff-member Bonita. Not only is Julia a super signer, but she’s also “On Board the Baby Signs® Potty Train” and already using the potty quite consistently. As evidence that she knows “what’s what,” here’s what happened a few weeks ago.

Bonita and Julia were at a baby store chatting with the owner about all Julia’s signs. The subject of potty training came up and Bonita launched into an explanation of the Baby Signs® potty training program and how Julia was learning to do the “potty” sign when she needed to go. As if to illustrate the point, Julia cooperated and did the potty sign—whereupon Bonita said “Yes, that’s the potty sign” and continued her explanation of the program. That is, she continued until she noticed a warm and wet sensation spreading down her shirt and pants! Clearly, Julia wasn’t just showing off that she knew the sign; she was using it as it was intended—to let her mother know she needed to go! Needless to say, Bonita learned a valuable lesson that day: When a baby signs, pay attention!

Happy Signing (and don’t forget to visit us on Facebook)!

Linda

Linda Acredolo, PhD.
Co-Founder, the Baby Signs® Program
and
Professor Emeritus, UC Davis

The Proof is in the Potty!

Guess what arrived in my email in-box last Thursday! And given the fact that I’ve been posting about potty training since the first of the year, it’s incredibly timely! It’s the email below from Vanessa, a mom from Prince Edward Island in Canada, describing her own success with our potty training kit, Potty Training Made Easy with the Baby Signs Program.

"My daughter started this program exactly 1 month ago, she is now 1 yr and 2 weeks old! She had never signed before and now proudly uses all 5 signs from the DVD. We have not changed a poopy diaper in 3 weeks, and she even stays dry during her naps! She has an average of 2 accidents a day, some days she has none! This was a wonderful way to train her, she has never cried or been frustrated. We will be saying buh-by to diapers any day now! (She’s not even “old” enough to fit into commercially available “pull-ups” or training pants J)."whe

The DVD she’s talking about features our animated Baby Signs DiaperDoodle characters climbing aboard the “potty train” and demonstrating the important components of the “potty routine” while also modeling five relevant signs:

1. Interrupting play to notice the need to go POTTY,

2. Walking to and getting on the potty,

3. Detecting when they need to go MORE and then are ALL DONE,

4. Hopping down to WASH their hands…

5. And feeling proud of having done a GOOD JOB.

Add to these demonstrations real children modeling the signs and catchy music, and you’ve got a resource that obviously inspires even 1-year-olds to follow the DiaperDoodles’ lead.

So, how about helping the toddlers in your life climb aboard the potty train? With our help, it’s not as hard as you think it might be!

Linda

Linda Acredolo, Ph.D.

Co-Founder, the Baby Signs Program

and

Professor Emeritus, UC Davis

Potty Training and Emotional "Readiness"

Emotional readiness for potty training means a willingness to cooperate. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the likelihood of such cooperation increases after the first birthday with the emergence of the following:

• A desire for independence and self-mastery
• An interest in imitating others
• A desire for approval

Once these fundamental characteristics in place, all that’s necessary is motivating children to cooperate. In other words, anything that increases the willingness of toddlers to embrace potty training automatically creates the emotional readiness that the AAP says is essential.

So, how does one help a 1- to 2-year-old get excited about potty training? Here at Baby Signs we’ve given that question a great deal of thought. Based on what we know about development, what we’ve experienced ourselves with our own children and grandchildren, and what we’ve heard from many parents, we’ve put together a set of materials designed to do just that—inspire even 1- to 2-year-olds to “climb on board the potty train.” They are all included in a kit entitled Potty Training Made Easy with the Baby Signs Program.

A highlight of these materials is our All Aboard the Potty Train DVD featuring our popular DiaperDoodle characters who slowly act out a typical “potty routine” that incorporates five helpful potty-time signs: POTTY, MORE, ALL DONE, WASH, and GOOD JOB. Additional motivational components include a lift-a-flap board book, conductor’s whistle and stickers.

To review: If children are physically and cognitively “ready” for potty training between ages 1 and 2 and can be inspired to cooperate using fun materials, why wait! Help reverse the diaper-industry-inspired trend toward later and later potty training by getting your child out of diapers by age 2. Your child, the environment, and your pocketbook will all thank you!

Linda

Linda Acredolo, Ph.D.

Co-Founder, the Baby Signs Program

and

Professor Emeritus, UC Davis

Potty Training: What About Cognitive Readiness?

In my last posting I pointed out that the American Academy of Pediatrics cites three factors as indicators that a child is “ready” for potty training: physical, cognitive, and emotional. In that post I focused on physical readiness, pointing to the fact that children used to routinely be trained by 18 months as clear evidence that children are physically ready much earlier than they are currently given credit for.

Today I’m taking a closer look at the second factor: cognitive readiness. According to the AAP, in order to actively participate in potty training, children must understand what it is they are supposed to do and be able to communicate about it. That is, be able to:

1. Associate the need to eliminate with using the potty
2. Understand simple instructions
3. Signal an adult when they need to go

Again, the fact that children in the past were routinely trained by 18 months indicates that the first two of these abilities are both available quite early and certainly by 18 months.

As for signaling an adult, that’s easily dealt with through the use of simple signs! Just as children can learn to let their parents know when they feel the internal pangs of hunger, thirst, and even illness using simple signs like EAT, DRINK, MILK, MORE, and HURT, they can equally easily signal the urge to eliminate using a simple sign—POTTY. We’ve seen it work ourselves and have heard success stories from countless parents.

Bottom line? Using simple signs helps provide children the “cognitive readiness” they need to take and active role in potty training even before they can talk.

Linda

Linda Acredolo, Ph.D.

Co-Founder, the Baby Signs Program

and

Professor Emeritus, UC Davis