Photo: Erika Ray/Getty Images
At my four-year-old daughter’s ballet school, half a dozen tiny ballerinas have squeezed into a two-stall bathroom for a pee break. I step in to untwist a tutu or help a little one reach the sink.
?Even if you don?t do a poo, you still have to wash your hands,? says one ballerina to another. ?That?s what my bubbe says.?
?Emma didn?t flush,? tattles another. Eavesdropping as the girls trade washroom wisdom reminds me how much there is to learn, even after kids are done with diapers. They know when they have to go and can get to the bathroom without accidents, but there are still inevitable bathroom blunders: from clogged toilets and overflowing sinks to pee-stained walls and floors. And just as with potty training, teaching children proper bathroom etiquette requires patience and repetition. ?Did you wipe"? I ask my daughter every time she comes back from the washroom. ?Front to back"? Of course, I still occasionally find stains in her undies ? the clean wipe is a hard thing to master and kids are always in a hurry ? but I know she?s doing her best.
?When they come home with messy underpants or complain about an itchy bottom, it?s an opportunity to remind them about wiping properly,? says Fiona Smith, a Toronto Montessori teacher. ?Show them a clean piece of toilet paper ? that?s what they should be looking for.?
At Smith?s school, it?s a requirement that children are potty trained, but she says teachers are usually prepared t...