I have this idea to save my thoughts once a year, store it in the Big Chest for posterity. My daughter, like many women today, married later and didn't have her kids till 35 and 37. Which means as much as I love them and they love me, they won't really remember who I am in 15 years when they are teens. They will see me as that "nice old grandma" who may or may not have a walker but certainly won't be climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge. They live in another state so our get together will gradually slow down. So I write about things and figure some day if they have to write a paper about their old grandma, maybe they will read these pages and feel for the first time, they know me.
Up to now that was my primary reason for writing. Well, that and trying to keep my sanity. Then today in my email I found I had one follower! Really? Someone read here with all the errors (I flash write--write as I think and hardly ever proof) and no one twisted their arm?
But as usual I diverse from the topic.
Up to now that was my primary reason for writing. Well, that and trying to keep my sanity. Then today in my email I found I had one follower! Really? Someone read here with all the errors (I flash write--write as I think and hardly ever proof) and no one twisted their arm?
But as usual I diverse from the topic.
Today's topic: Will this new potty chair be the new trend?
Before you think "who writes about potty chairs" let me explain. I would really like to know your opinion. If you are the new generation your take might be different than mine and I'd like to think I am still open to new ways of thinking.
Object of my thoughts is a potty chair that has a place to attach an IPad so the child will be inspired to sit and learn to use the potty. They say they will even develop apps about potty training for it! It came about "because they found so many 3 year olds were getting their own IPad for Christmas! Really? Does that translate mommy or daddy wanted one but didn't want to admit it so "bought" it for 3 year old?
At first glance (feel free to go look at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2261948/The-iPad-Potty-A-high-tech-aid-toilet-training.html) I just want to take my Samauri sword and chop it to pieces! What is the world coming to when you let a machine potty train your child! Are robot parents that far behind?
But the world has changed. My daughter has a 2 1/2 year old who was smart enough to come up to her on the couch where according to her she was reading and minding her own beeswax when he approaches with "Mommy, I decide I not do that potty thing, I just poop in my diaper, ok? Bye" and walks away. She has a 6 month old (trend of starting late moms) and has tried everything to at least get his interest. I even bought him a potty that played music knowing how he loves music. He managed to take it apart and figure out how to make it play without peeing. The pot is usually his new orange hat. BUT the kid does love the IPad. He usually only gets it on the plane ride to my house. A little here and there at the house but usually it is with dad at work. So after my first indignation and putting on my ninja outfit to attack newfangled potty chair, I hit pause.
It definitely is a cop out chair--but dang, I bet it would work like crazy! Would my "green daughter, Miss naturalist" go for something so obviously aimed at lazy moms? Remember, the kid wears his potty as a hat...has announced he is fine with poop in his diaper....If this stay at home frazzled mom who thanks to the party at night 6 month old hasn't slept through the night in what seems like forever, thought she could potty train that kid in one day with an IPad stuck to his potty chair....well, her idealist life might get challenged with a whack of new age logic.
So what is your opinion? World has gone nuts, Moms are lazy, Kids are doomed way of thinking or "Will it work and who cares?"
Love your blog, Donna! And I'm going to comment. I don't like the new ipad potty chair. I don't think parents who use it will scar their children, but overall I think it's a bad idea. Developmental milestones, like potty training, aren't about just the main activity. In this case, using the potty. There's a whole gamut of skills children should learn and master (or practice) with each milestone. One of those things with potty training is being able to focus on an activity long enough to get it done. So kids should have the attention span needed to go into the bathroom, get their pants down, hop up on the potty and do their business. It's psychological readiness. Offering a distraction through digital media (which if you look at the research on young children, is interrupting natural development and learning) is keeping the brain part of the milestone from truly happening. What happens when the child is faced with the next task that requires time and focus? It's not hard to see the natural progression. It sounds like your grandson is amazingly smart and simply isn't ready to potty train. He will be in his own time. I think it's more important to honor that than get him trained by our timeline. I'm guessing the most brilliant, creative minds fell outside the norm quite a bit as children. So there ya go. But again, I don't think it's evil. Just a bad idea in the long run.
ReplyDeleteHey Lora Brawley I hear you. The blog as you probably guessed is tongue in cheek but you voice the concerns I have and I'd see this just as another trend. Each skill a child acquires is a milestone in development and the current trend is to get him to the milestone as fast as possible. There was a time parents didn't spend oodles of time on making sure their child knew their ABCs or numbers by 2.5 - 3 at the latest. The kids were expected to learn through play. Through play they develop all the skills they would need to learn anything later. So the thinking went and then there was Sesemae Street and all the other learning stations plus the avalanche of learning videos. Now I like them as much as anyone but the point is, we started using electronics to teach what was at one time done on a slower scale in a more human way. Once we opened that Pandora box, it just kept getting more and more towards electronic learning. I don't know if that's bad or not, the kids are certainly smarter earlier. I just don't know how important it is to learn earlier and earlier. We see an increase in ADD and maybe just better diagnosed or it is just kids do not know how to learn without visuals and attentions spans are shorter because of it?
ReplyDeleteMiles is a good example. The child could care less what an A or B is unless you want him to sing the song! However, his ability to listen to stories read is amazing. As Marina wrote recently, "His current favorites are In the Garden of Abdul Gasazi, the Madeline books, all of the Sendak books (the weirder the better, it seems…looking at you, Outside Over There), and the shockingly sad Sylvester and the Magic Pebble." I have him hooked now on stories I make up where he has to visualize the story himself. I think these milestones are important but yet, I know sometimes when his friends know all their letters and numbers, you think "am I bad mom?" I know if you gave that kid an ipad or more tv learning stations or videos he would know them too. He can also sing you most of the Sound of Music Songs and has quite a repotire of country songs he can belt out! It did strike me as funny that there might be a few things worth taking the shortcut--potty training when you have two in diapers! She knows he won't go to college untrained, she'd just like a break now! I am sure my daughter will have a scornful reply on the link I sent her and can't wait to hear her response! lol