The School of Poop: Potty Training School for Kids

We’re going to try potty train our oldest child soon – so it’s with great interest that I read this CNN article on … poop school for kids who hate to go potty (or are afraid of the toilet):

While Dunn works on the kids, psychologist Elaine Leclair, an instructor at the Harvard School of Medicine, offers frank advice to the parents in a separate room.

"I just say, ‘Step back.’ They hate to hear me say this, but I say whatever you’re doing now is not working. You really need to try something different," Leclair said.

She said many parents come to the sessions angry and anxious. "They come in feeling extremely discouraged, very isolated thinking they are the only ones in the world who have this problem."

Teres acknowledged that’s how she felt. "Imagine my surprise to find out there were thousands of kids who had this problem." After years of hiding her daughter’s toilet training troubles from family and friends, the group parenting sessions allowed Teres to open up about her frustrations.

"It was like going to Betty Ford," joked Teres, who felt she had exhausted all her other options.

Link – Thanks Tiffany! (Photo by egg on stilts [Flickr])