POTTY TRAINING A BABY

POTTY TRAINING

I said baby, not toddler. There is a movement now that says you can potty train a baby as young as 7 months old. That doesn't mean they will be taking themselves to the bathroom before they are a year old. I saw this story on the Today show and thought it was a bunch of hooey. These mothers claim that they can tell by signs they babies give that they need to potty. Well, gee, I've never had my own kids but I'm an uncle 10 times over and even I know when a baby scrunches its face and its face turns red, he/she is going potty. Does there need to be a reason to rush them to use the potty chair before they are even strong enough to sit on it by themselves? Have we become a society so lazy that we will resort to anything to keep from changing diapers? And yes I have changed diapers before. I agree its not pleasant, but it has to be done. Unless you want to raise a baby like well know Behaviorist B.F. Skinner. Skinner is famous for his behavior research especially for the "Skinner Box" which he demonstrated that behavior is learned, not innate.

But Skinner had another idea, the "baby box."

SKINNER

He believed that clothing restricted a baby's movement, as did blankets and other things that go in a crib. What he devised was a glass enclosure where the baby slept nude on a pad with a roll of paper, similar to the way a doctors examination table is made, so that a clean sheet can be moved into place when the baby goes to the bathroom. Also, this crib would have small speakers to produce "white noise" so that the baby's sleep wouldn't be disturbed. He appeared to be very much a hands off type of person.