Parenting

Parents, let's just concede the point that (excluding abuse) there is no necessarily wrong way to parent as there is also no right way. A parent's goal is to basically try to screw up their child as little as humanly possible because we all make mistakes and errors in judgment. We all, as human beings, hurt other people without necessarily setting out to do so.

I was having a conversation with another parent the other day and was admonished for having my 3 year old son sit to go potty on the adult toilet. This other mother told me that it wasn't right and that I should go out and buy a separate, plastic toilet for him to stand over. I explained to her that he wasn't tall enough to use the real toilet standing up yet and that I just think that he shouldn't do so until he can use the real toilet. She stressed the spend-money-on-a-bucket-for-him-to-urinate-in idea.

If I wanted him to pee in a bucket, I'd empty out the ice cream bucket from the freezer and give him that. However, I think that's kind of disgusting (mostly in appearance, but also on the bucket-of-pee front).

Recently, I also had the alternative conversation with another mom who agreed with me. She's also got a 3 year old son and she has him sit to go potty. Her reason is also because he is not yet completely toilet trained and does not know the difference between the feelings of his bodily functions. So, in standing up he has in the past accidentally done both bodily functions instead of what he thought he was trying to do. I mean, it makes sense.

Although it's common sense, no one tells you that one of the biggest secrets of being a parent is to take other people's opinions with a grain of salt. You can't let these things get to you because, regardless of the situation and the circumstance, someone will always disagree with you and think you are wrong in whatever you are doing.

My son has no problem going to the bathroom sitting down. I tell him simply that it's a big boy thing to stand up to potty. I tell him that when he's bigger (taller) that he can do that, but until then he has to sit. It's just the way it is, and he's fine with it. He is too young to have any sort of "masculinity" so sitting down is completely non-threatening, unlike what the first parent insinuated.

I just thought I'd put that out there real quick.