Show Your Baby And Mine By MYRTLE l MEYER MErES ELDRED TOILET TRAINING COMPLICATED BY PUNISHMENT The difficulty of instilling a real personal satisfaction in his good toilet h habits bits in the small child should not note be e minimized d. d The mother who tries to o convince her young hopeful that being wet or soiled is a major crime is usually the mother who experiences experiences the most annoying aspects of such uch training It is her child who refuses to tell though hough though though-he he knows exactly what she wants him to do It is her ber child who stays tays on the toilet for lon long hours and then hen jumps off and md immediately wets or r soils his clothes It is her child who vho is wet no matter how many times Umes she he laboriously brings him in to the toilet throughout the long day In addition to this familiar recital of woes it is this mother who has tried all the well well known known methods of pun pun- shing her child for or his sins As is to tobe tobe tobe be expected her devotion to punishment punish ment as a means of training seldom if it ever vcr ever brings any favorable returns V WHAT AT YOU SHOULD KNOW There are a few tew principles principle that every very mother should know It Itis is easily casily possible to train the child to have lave regular bowel habits before the end of the first year This consists of putting the child on the toilet regularly after each of the four f feed cod feed feed- ings The chan chances s. s are are that at two of ot them them- there will be a bowel movement move ment If It it happens that this movement precedes or succeeds the early morning morn morn- ing ng feeding the use of ot the toilet scat seat may be inconvenient especially in winter But barring colds and teeth teeth- ing ng at which times bowel activity is s excessive these regular bowel movements are not difficult to establish establish lish ish and solidify SEVERAL MONTHS This is not true of bladder train- train In lag ng There seems to be a very generally generally gen gen- en- en held pinion opinion that this training train train- ing ng may as well not be started before the he fourteenth month The mother of course course may put the child on at al regular intervals of one hour and thus diminish the number of wet diapers but it is too much to expect the conscious con con- cious cooperation of the child child before before that hat age The child is not aware of the he sensation which precedes precede his necessity necessity necessity ne ne- ne- ne for the toilet toilet and and it is coat contusing contus- contus using us- us ing ng and terrifying to be spanked and berated for actions which have hove so soong long Ion ong gone Jone unpunished It may take several months to crystallize these good habits In Iii the meantime there will be accidents which should go unnoticed By repeating re reo re- re the word toilet each time the child is taken there we solidify the association between the act and the word If It we va do not complicate the situation by any Olny unpleasant happenings happen happen- ings ines the child develops no antagonism toward the toilet He learns to walt wait until his mother attends to him and arid later he learns to indicate his hs needs I This may take three or four months PUNISHMENT INEFFECTIVE The Information In our two leaflets leaflets leaf leaf- lets Training for tor Cleanly Habits Habits' and Retraining for Cleanly Habits Habit supplements this short discussion Send a I addressed sell stamped envelope envelope en en- with your request for them to tu this department It is to be hoped that mothers wll will not compare their children with others others others oth oth- ers in this situation All AU children do donot donot donot not havo have the same control The moment moment mo mo- ment the mother embraces the well well- worn idea that she has to teach her child not to wet or soil himself by punishing him when he does she starts that long chain of ot events which leads directly to wilful disobedience and determined antagonism to th the I 1 toilet It is just those methods which I make training so dif difficult |