Potty Training

I was very disappointed when Michaela was not potty trained by the age of 2. In China, most kids stop wearing diapers after a couple of months of age. This concept has become popular in the US now -- they call it EC or elimination communication. I’ve seen these websites and they often reference China as an example of how children can be potty trained by 6-9 months. What they do not know is that just because Chinese kids stop wearing diapers does not mean that they are potty trained. In reality, Chinese people are just more comfortable with kids having accidents all the time. They think diapers are harmful to kids and prefer lots of accidents to the harm of diapers. I still think that in general Chinese kids are trained earlier than American kids. However, I did work at a Chinese kindergarten for a year and my experience was that even 2-2.5 yr olds had accident once or twice a day. I still felt embarrassed having Michaela in diapers around other Chinese children who haven’t worn them for two years.

So when we were in America for six months, I tried to train her several times, but without success. My mom kept telling me not to push it and to wait until we got back to China (which I did not want to do because I was embarrassed). But she was right. It was just about timing for us. When we got back to China, it really went easily. It took about a week and it was stress free for the most part. China, due to the reasons listed above, is a much easier place to potty train children. First of all, Chinese people expect kids to have accidents so it is much les stressful when you go out. Also, it is acceptable to let kids pee just about anywhere – in the grass, on the street, over the garbage can. Kids can’t wait; they think and therefore must go wherever they need to go. So if you are at the park, let them pee in the grass. If you are at the store, let them go in a garbage can if you can’t make it to a rest room. If you are in the car, pull over and pee on the street. The whole process was so easy once we did not have to think about waiting to find for a bathroom all of the time. The only really bad part is if you do need to use an actual bathroom because they are usually disgustingly dirty and almost always a squatty potty.