Potty-Training Gone Wild!!!

I have already recognized that potty-training is vastly different from child to child. I think that eventually they just decide that they don't want to deal with diapers or pull-ups. Each child makes that decision at different times. Grace made the decision right before she turned two. Anne made the decision at about two and a half. James is still indecisive. Sometimes we have a perfect record, and then sometimes it's yesterday and he drops his pants in the middle of a birthday party after he had an accident.

If there is any one other conclusion that I have come to, it is that the assumption that boys are harder to train, is absolutely the truth. The fact is that you have to teach both boys and girls to actually use the potty. With boys, you have to go a step further and teach them to aim. Break out the Cheerios, everyone!

So, I would love to hear your stories about potty-training. To get the ball rolling I will share one from each of my children.

Grace:

If only all babies could train as easily as Grace. The only difficult thing about potty-training her was that she insisted on removing all of her clothes. I don't know if it was because she didn't want to get them dirty or what. Anyways, it's a normal day. I have clothed Grace. I am pretty sure she has basically gotten the whole potty-training thing. I walk outside for just a moment to check the mail. So, I am at the mailbox when my daughter comes racing out of the house towards me. She's naked. I am still not sure how she stripped that fast. I dropped the mail and got my child back inside. From that day on, I always made sure I closed the door tightly so she couldn't get out. At least she likes to wear clothes now.

Anne:

Anne never wanted to leave her potty. She wanted meals and her toys while she was sitting there. I couldn't seem to convince her that she could leave it. Her story starts at lunch time. I gave in to her mostly, thinking at least she isn't having any accidents. I checked the potty and then gave her a sandwich. I told her that she had to finish her sandwich first. Then, I would give her some baby carrots. I went to make a sandwich for my older daughter, Grace, and myself. Everything was going well. Both girls seemed to have eaten their sandwiches. I gave them some baby carrots. After lunch, it was time for the girls to lay down for a nap. I get Anne up to put on a pull-up for her nap...and there is her sandwich. I guess she really wanted her carrots. She put the sandwich in the potty...and peed on it. Yuck! When she went to grab it, I yanked it up quick. That was one bit a grossness I could live without.

James:

I think we are somewhere in the middle of potty-training with James. I have learned the hard way that he goes often, and when he tells you he has to go he is on the verge of an accident. I always give the kids an opportunity to go potty before they lay down for their nap. He had gotten up ten minutes after he laid down and told me he had to go poop. I honestly thought he was just trying to get up. He is always trying to skip nap time. So I told him to go lay down. Twenty minutes later I was doing a check to make sure he was sleeping. I opened the door to find a disaster. He did have to poop. He had pulled of his clothes and let it rip...all over his room. There was poop on his bed, the rocking chair, the walls, and the carpet. His body was covered in poop. There he was. My precious baby boy smearing poop into the carpet. The best part of this whole thing...it was just our third day in our new house. The old house had hard-wood floors. As I scrubbed carpet and walls I thought of all of the benefits of those hard-wood floors.

I was going to try to share one of my own potty-training stories as well, but I talked to my mom, and she reminded me of exactly how long ago it was that she had gone through these things. The one thing she did share is that she remembers wishing that my dad had gotten more involved in training my brother. MEN: We don't have the equipment to show boys how to aim! I have to admit that it would be easier if my husband would show our son how it goes. 

So once again, please share your stories. And if anyone has some good potty-training tips, please share those as well!

What Home-schooling Means To Me

My husband and I have been following the story of a family from Germany who have come to the United States so that they may home-school. This family, the Romeikes, decided that they didn't like the way that the public schools were teaching. More importantly, they decided that what the schools were teaching did not align with what they believed as Christians. Their struggle has inspired me to really look inside at all the reasons that I have decided to home-school.

I went to public school. I had many wonderful teachers, teachers who inspired me and helped me to become who I am. I will never forget them. However, I cannot put that label on the Geometry teacher who had us open our books and read while he slept. Nor can I give best teacher award to the math teacher who lectured us on hygiene the day someone passed gas in her class. I used to wonder what it was that made the difference. I think I understand what it was now.

I have remained friends with one of my favorite teachers. I have since learned that she often broke the rules. Her constant desire to help students drove her to tutoring after school. She would stay until the student felt confident in what they were learning. I thought she was amazing for doing what she was doing. She made me feel special. I wanted to be a teacher just like her.

I went to college with stars in my eyes and hope in my heart. I did well in at least most of my classes. Then I got to a class that dealt with the laws associated with teaching. Even though I did well in the class, I started to become dis-heartened. I could be sued for hugging a kid who may really need it or for leaving my Bible on my desk. Despite these issues, I thought I could still make a good teacher.

As part of a class I was taking, I was given the opportunity prior to student teaching to go into a classroom and teach real kids real lessons that I had come up with. It was while in this class that I finally figured out that I would never make a good public school teacher. I came face-to-face with a child who desperately needed a hug. The teacher I was with talked to me about what he knew about the child's home life, a life full of social workers. I had nightmares of facing this same child over and over again, each time with a different face and spaced all too frequently throughout my career. I remember crying at night.

I turned to my favorite teacher. She had felt the same way. She left the public school system to teach in the private sector where she could be the teacher she wanted to be without hassle. Apparently, she had not received the high praise I felt she deserved. After giving so much to her students, she had instead been constantly complained about and to regarding the fact that she was always staying late at school. When she retired, they gave her a $20 gift card.

I was going to take her advice and go into the private schools when I met my husband who introduced me to another option. He had been home-schooled. It was almost a radical concept to me. I could teach my students. No lesson plan is too complicated. I can hug my students. If they need more help in one subject, I don't have to worry about boring twenty-nine other students to help the one who needs it, or leave one student behind on behalf of twenty-nine. If my child is advanced in a subject, I can spend time nurturing that advancement.

Sometimes it feels like I ran away. After all, public schools need good teachers. I wasn't afraid of being a good teacher. I instead feel like I have made the decision to break outside of the mold and be a different kind of teacher. I think it makes me brave in a different way.