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MrVersatile48
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A Cry Like No Other
The spirituality of potty training.
Jenell Paris
Conservatively, estimating 12.5 cries per day per toddler and 15 cries per day per new baby, I've heard at least 20,050 child cries since June 2005.
Sometimes it's just a pinched finger here or an empty tummy there, but viewed all together, the cries really add up. Yesterday I heard a cry like no other.
There have been copious loose stools around my house lately (which has you thinking this is either evidence of my tendency to release too much information or a cheap attention-grabber, but it's essential to the story I'm about to tell).
Yesterday morning I found a just-awakened Wesley, one of my two-year-old twins, awash in a crib of poo. He cried because it burned, but even after I cleaned him up and applied tenderizer to the raw meat that his inner thighs had become, he continued to cry. He tried to hide his body from me and avoided eye contact; it was the first time I have seen him experience what I believe was shame. It's one thing to do something wrong, like throw a toy at someone's head, look to mommy for punishment, and then cry in the time-out chair. It's another thing to be physically hurt and wail. It's yet another thingâ€â€shameâ€â€to realize that something has gone wrong, you did it, you wish you hadn't done it, and you'd like to hide it but can't.
My doctorate is in anthropology, not child development theory, but it seems to me that potty training is a stage of immense psychological proportions. I'd even argue that it's deeply spiritual...
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/200 ... -23.0.html
See also
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/200 ... ml#related
Ian
The spirituality of potty training.
Jenell Paris
Conservatively, estimating 12.5 cries per day per toddler and 15 cries per day per new baby, I've heard at least 20,050 child cries since June 2005.
Sometimes it's just a pinched finger here or an empty tummy there, but viewed all together, the cries really add up. Yesterday I heard a cry like no other.
There have been copious loose stools around my house lately (which has you thinking this is either evidence of my tendency to release too much information or a cheap attention-grabber, but it's essential to the story I'm about to tell).
Yesterday morning I found a just-awakened Wesley, one of my two-year-old twins, awash in a crib of poo. He cried because it burned, but even after I cleaned him up and applied tenderizer to the raw meat that his inner thighs had become, he continued to cry. He tried to hide his body from me and avoided eye contact; it was the first time I have seen him experience what I believe was shame. It's one thing to do something wrong, like throw a toy at someone's head, look to mommy for punishment, and then cry in the time-out chair. It's another thing to be physically hurt and wail. It's yet another thingâ€â€shameâ€â€to realize that something has gone wrong, you did it, you wish you hadn't done it, and you'd like to hide it but can't.
My doctorate is in anthropology, not child development theory, but it seems to me that potty training is a stage of immense psychological proportions. I'd even argue that it's deeply spiritual...
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/200 ... -23.0.html
See also
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/200 ... ml#related
Ian