Toilet Learning: The Picture Book Technique for Children and Parents

by Alison Mack

Book Overview

Includes separate discussions for parents and children about the whys and hows of using the toilet. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316542377
• ISBN13: 9780316542371
• Release Date: May 1978
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Length: 109 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

This is a necessary resource

I have gotten discouraged by other parents who brag about how well their little ones use the toilet, but Toilet Learning points out that the average age a child is ready to learn is around 2 1/2 years old. My daughter is 20 months old and she's not ready to use the toilet. Alison Mack's book is so informative: I learned the history of potty training over the last 100 years and the biology of the excretory and nervous systems, and how it is crucial for these 2 systems to mature before one begins teaching a child to eliminate in the toilet. The most important point Mack makes is that children's "muscular control and the understanding needed for toiet learning arrive at about the same time." I will be careful to watch for my daughter's cues and communication that she is ready to learn before insisting she use something she's not ready for. The story book contained in Part 2 are good. I wish it came as a separate book, perhaps a board book. The pictures are a bit dated but the information and straightforward, childlike text in which the author describes the characters' actions is excellent. I read one unfavorable review for this book that talked about the pictures not being all in color. Perhaps that reviewer had a different book, because all my pictures have color in them. They don't bombard the reader with too many colors but that just makes them easier to tell what's going on in the pictures.

Great book!

My daughters daycare uses this book in the toddler room to help with potty training. I was at my wits end with all the other books and videos to include Once upon a potty. and the other standards in potty training. The daycare let me take this book home for a weekend and I had to buy my own copy on Monday. My daughter loved the pictures and I got a lot of useful information and tips from it too. By far the best potty book out there!

MY CHILD'S FAVORITE BOOK

This book immediately became my little boy's favorite book. "Look, Mommy," he said with a big smile. "It's about me!" After a few days of looking at the charming, colorful illustrations in Part 2 (the book's children's section), designed by experts to help children learn about their bodily functions, and of having the book's cute story read to him, he let me know that he was ready to go to the bathroom "just like a grownup." I couldn't believe how soon he was using the toilet by himself. The whole process was amazingly hassle-free. I found Part 1 of the book (the section for parents, which contains complete information about the psychology and physiology of "toilet learning") fascinating. In fact, the relaxed, patient attitude Part 1 recommends has carried over to every other area of my parenting. There's a banner that runs across the upper-right-hand corner of the book's front cover that reads, "The classic bestseller." I can certainly see why.

This book made me a better parent--and my child diaper free

My daughter loved this book. She asked for it every day and now she is diaper free. I found the parent section highly informative. IT MADE ME A BETTER PARENT. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Great resource for information on toilet learning

What's great about this book is that it covers all the basic information in a quick and easy to read format. The combination of having a section for parents and then a section for the child is wonderful. The bottom line message which I think all parents should follow is to let your child give up the diapers when he/she is ready. Otherwise you spend a lot of time and effort on "potty training" when the child is going to do it when they are ready anyway.