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Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
Should You Let Your Child Watch You Use the Potty?
By Lisa A. Goldstein
You would think that using the bathroom should be a guaranteed way to get a few minutes to yourself. But now that you have a child who's in the process of mastering potty training, should you give up that privacy to help him learn? Is it OK to let your child watch you or a sibling use the toilet?
"In my experience, this is one of the most commonly used tools for teaching a child to use the potty," says Dr. Bryan Burke, associate professor at the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children's Hospital. "The parent sets the example far more commonly than another sibling does. Children learn well when they have a concrete example to follow."
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), children are often interested in their family's bathroom activities. In its "Toilet Training Readiness" article, the AAP recommends: "It is sometimes helpful to let children watch parents when they go to the bathroom. Seeing grown-ups use the toilet makes children want to do the same. If possible, mothers should show the correct skills to their daughters and fathers to their sons. Children can also learn these skills from older brothers and sisters, friends and relatives."
While parents can show children of different genders, it's probably more helpful to have dads show the boys while moms show the girls, says Laurie Rogers, a children's advocate at Spokane, Wash.-based Safer Child, Inc. After all, our bodies, the way we eliminate waste and the way we wipe are all different.