Elimination communication. Poopin in the street and in bowls. I kid, I kid, it's much more complex than that. See this article about it in the New York Times.
I get it. It's good to be green. And equally important to feel empowered to parent the way you want to parent. But this kind of training seems developmentally inappropriate. And further, what kind of social skills are you teaching your child during a very formative time? The comments section alone is worth the read. What do you think?
We practiced elimination communication with M. For us, it was more about becoming aware of Maddox's "cycles"... the times during the day he was most likely going to go potty, and trying to get it in the toilet. It also served as a kind of bonding experience for Luke and Maddox early on, and Luke liked that. I think the best thing about elimination communication (other than not having a mess) is that it reinforces to the baby what it feels like, physically, when they have to go potty. Diapers essentially "teach" kids to ignore that feeling and not pay attention to it-- they can just go whenever they need to, so the physical cues aren't as important. Rather than having them forget about paying attention to those cues, elimination communication tries to reinforce paying attention to those cues.
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, we started elimination communication with M when he was an infant. He still isn't potty trained, but does go in the potty quite a bit. But we still found it helpful. :)
I'm glad you shared experiences with EC, Patricia. The Times article was subtly inflammatory, and incited a lot of negative backlash, which is what I'm sure the author wanted. We had never heard of EC, and now that we do, I still don't think it's for us. But what you said about bonding with Luke is interesting, and I totally see merit in that piece of the whole thing. We have begun to potty train now, and I can already tell it's going to be a challenge. H can totally go in the potty, and actually likes it, which I love! But as far as him telling us when he needs to go, well, I'm guessing we're pretty far from that. Glad you found the practice helpful.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely not for everyone... and some people are more strict ECers than we are. Like anything, I think it's just about doing what works for your family and your routine. We are hoping Maddox will be potty trained this summer, but we'll see how that goes...good luck with potty training, H!
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