The Three Day Potty Training

The 3 day potty training or Intensive toilet training methods have become increasingly popular due to the demands of modern living and parent's time. Often, parents have to "schedule" time to take care of teaching this essential skill to their toddler. The benefits of using an intensive method far outweigh the drawbacks in trying to "let it take care of itself" and responsible parenthood requires taking the time.

I used Carol Cline's 3 day potty training method and found it simple to understand, implement and very useful. It was a successful method for us and I wrote the following article as a guide for parents who are considering using this method. It is simply a quick overview of what the book covers, chapter by chapter, so you can have an idea of what kind of content is in the book before you buy.

The book describes how to potty train in 3 days. It is 136 pages long and can easily be read in a few hours. I would imagine that the book is engagingly read by all parents about to embark on toilet training toddlers. However, Carol Cline intersperses the methodology with an historical overview of the process and general advice, gained from experience, of what to expect from your toddler during this time and also what you may experience yourself.

Chapter 1: The first chapter debunks the modern myth that children can toilet train themselves and that the later parents leave it to toilet train their children, the easier it will be. Children are potty trained later in the USA and Canada than in most of the world. She promotes a potty training method that is child centred and caring; but one that is also consistent and achieves results. Her belief is that potty training is a mutual achievement between the child and the parent and will deepen the relationship between them. This premise is carried throughout the book.

Chapter 2: This chapter sets out what is the best age to start potty training and includes guidelines for potty training toddlers aged between 18-24 months old with specific advice for parents who are trying to potty train older children.

Chapter 3: The key to successful potty training is knowing when your child is ready. This chapter goes into detail on the potty training readiness signs so you will know when the best time to start potty training your child is.

Chapter 4: Believe it or not, you need to prepare yourself first and then prepare your child. This chapter takes you through the necessity of relaxing through the process, how to handle your own expectations, what you should expect using the method, what to do and what not to do.

Chapter 5: This chapter takes you from your own expectations and the "adult mind" into the mind of your child so you can prepare them for their journey ahead. It explains the sequence of how children learn which helps you know what's going on. It also details what you can do beforehand to make the learning process easier e.g. taking "no-pressure" potty breaks before you actually start training so your child starts to become familiar with the process.

Chapter 6 and 7: These chapters take you step-by-step through what you need to have done before you start your "potty training in 3 days method" from clearing your schedule to the best foods to buy at the supermarket.

Chapter 8: This is the heart of the book. The pre-potty training "work" in the preceding chapters is not onerous and if the advice in them is followed, you will have done a lot of preparation that will reap rewards on your potty training days. The method is not set in stone but can be adapted to suit your family situation and needs. However, it does emphasise the need to be persistent, consistent, patient, loving and staying positive. It is a method that works with your child and treats them kindly throughout the process. It is a child centered approach that refocuses the adult mind into thinking of the world of a child. One of the best things about this method is that Carol Cline describes a very simple tool to encourage your toddler to use the potty that avoids the perennial "no".

The chapter also includes advice about night time potty training and observations and insights from other parents who have used the method. I found the chapter very, very useful - not least because of the methodology itself. It walks you through what you should expect, how you may feel, what to do if it goes badly and even what to do if it goes well!

Chapter 9: This chapter is a surprise inclusion. For those of us who are a little "rusty" on biology 101, this is the chapter to read! It is a basic biology lesson on our bodily functions. It then gives advice and guidance on how to ensure children adopt a healthy urination and bowel movement pattern.

Chapter 10: This is the chapter where Carol Cline leads you past thinking in terms of just potty training at home. It details how to approach potty training with your child's entire development and social situation in mind. As such it extends to teaching your child how to wipe their bum (with a novel system that won't block your plumbing with toilet paper) and how to wash their hands. At the end of the chapter, you won't be thinking about your child as a potty training toddler but as a "big kid" able to handle himself at kindergarten and pre-school.

Chapter 11: If you are about to start potty training a boy, a girl or twins this chapter will prove invaluable. It dismisses some of the myths and re-inforces the belief that every child is an individual. It deals with some typical obstacles and how to get past them in a positive way. If potty training has not worked for you in the past, or if you have a particularly stubborn child, then Carol Cline provides some very good adaptations to the method to cope with this situation. From the child's perspective, Carol Cline again puts you in their shoes and deals with some common fears your child may have and how to deal with them. I found the part on incentives and rewards particularly useful and it is something that I have put into practice in other areas of my parenting.

Chapter 12: Parents of children with Autism, Asperger's and Down Syndrome face particular challenges in trying to potty train. The chapter deals with these issues and covers area such as language issues, sensory problems, the stress of learning a new skill and visual aids to potty training. It also includes some observations and advice from parents who have been through and are going through a similar situation.

Chapter 13: This covers in a little more detail the "bumps in the road" and how to respond to them in a positive way.

Chapter 14: It may be that you feel that your child may have a medical problem and this chapter points you in the right direction on how to recognise it and what to do about it.

Chapter 15: "Out in the world" is the title of this chapter and this is where you will spend most of your time with your potty training toddler! It covers everything from going to the mall and on long haul flights; what to bring and suggestions for how to explain to your toddler about "special situations". Like any parent, I found planning trips and outings more stressful than I would like in the beginning and Carol Cline puts it into perspective so you can emerge from a trip to the mall having enjoyed yourself rather than making potty training the centre of your world.

In order to gain the most from the book, I would suggest purchasing it a month before you plan to potty train. You will have the time to read the book a few times and really absorb the methodology. This makes it easier to "get ahead" on the practical stuff like clearing your schedule and getting everything organised.

Symbol

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other makes use of, see Symbol (disambiguation).
"Symbology" redirects here. For other makes use of, see Symbology (disambiguation).


A red octagon symbolizes "stop" even without the word.
A symbol is an object that represents, stands for, or suggests an idea, visual picture, belief, action, or material entity. Symbols take the kind of words, sounds, gestures, or visual images & are used to convey ideas & beliefs. For example, a red octagon could be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for numbers. Personal names are symbols representing individuals. A red rose symbolizes love & compassion.

In cartography, an organized collection of symbols forms a legend for a map.

Contents [hide]
one Etymology
two Definitions
three Symbols & semiotics
four Psychoanalysis, rhetoric, & archetypes
five Paul Tillich
6 Role of context in symbolism
6.1 Historical meaning
6.2 Context
7 Symbolic action
8 See also
9 Notes
ten Outside links

Etymology

The word derives from the Greek symbolon meaning token or watchword. It is an amalgam of syn- "together" + bole "a throwing, a casting, the stroke of a missile, bolt, beam." The sense evolution in Greek is from "throwing things together" to "contrasting" to "comparing" to "token used in comparisons to decide if something is genuine." Hence, "outward sign" of something. The meaning "something which stands for something else" was first recorded in 1590, in Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene.[1]

Definitions

Later, expanding on what they means by this definition Campbell says:

In thinking about the effect of a symbol on the psyche, in his seminal essay The Symbol without Meaning Joseph Campbell proposes the following definition: A symbol is an energy evoking, and directing, agent.[2]

"a symbol, like everything else, shows a double aspect. They must distinguish, therefore between the 'sense' and the 'meaning' of the symbol. It seems to me perfectly clear that all the great and small symbolical systems of the past functioned simultaneously on levels: the corporeal of waking consciousness, the spiritual of dream, and the ineffable of the absolutely unknowable. The term 'meaning' can refer only to the first but these, today, are in the charge of science � which is the province as they have said, not of symbols but of signs. The ineffable, the absolutely unknowable, can be only sensed. It is the province of art which is not 'expression' merely, or even primarily, but a search for, and formulation of, experience evoking, energy-waking images: yielding what Sir Herbert Read has aptly termed a 'sensuous apprehension of being'.[3]
Heinrich Zimmer gives a concise overview of the nature, and perennial relevance, of symbols.

"Concepts and words are symbols, as visions, rituals, and pics are; so are the manners and customs of every day life. Through all of these a transcendent reality is mirrored. They are so lots of metaphors reflecting and implying something which, though thus variously expressed, is ineffable, though thus rendered multiform, remains inscrutable. Symbols hold the mind to truth but are not themselves the truth, hence it is delusory to borrow them. Each civilisation, every age, must bring forth its own."[4]
In the book Signs and Symbols, it is said that A symbol \. is a visual picture or sign representing an idea -- a deeper indicator of a universal truth.[5]

Human cultures use symbols to express specific ideologies and social structures and to represent aspects of their specific culture. Thus, symbols carryover meanings that depend on one�s cultural background; in other words, the meaning of a symbol is not inherent in the symbol itself but is culturally learned.[6]

Symbols are a way of complex communication that often can have multiple levels of meaning.[6] This separates symbols from signs, as signs have meaning.

Symbols are the basis of all human understanding and serve as vehicles of conception for all human knowledge.[7] Symbols facilitate understanding of the world in which they live, thus serving as the grounds on which they make judgments.[8] In this way, people use symbols not only to make sense of the world around them, but also to identify and cooperate in society through constitutive rhetoric.

Symbols and semiotics

Semiotics is the study of signs, symbols, and signification as communicative behavior. Semiotics studies focus on the relationship of the signifier and the signified, also taking in to account interpretation of visual cues, body language, sound, and other contextual clues. Semiotics is linked with both linguistics and psychology. Semioticians thus not only study what a symbol implies, but also the way it got its meaning and the way it functions to make meaning in society. Symbols permit the human brain continuously to generate meaning using sensory input and decode symbols through both denotation and connotation.



Burke goes on to describe symbols as also being derived from Sigmund Freud's work on condensation and displacement, further stating that symbols are not relevant to the theory of dreams but also to "normal symbol systems". He says they[clarification needed] are related through "substitution", where word, phrase, or symbol is substituted for another in order to modify the meaning[clarification needed]. In other words, if person does not understand a positive word or phrase, another person may substitute a synonym or symbol in order to get the meaning across. However, on learning the new way of interpreting a specific symbol, the person may modify his or her already-formed ideas to incorporate the new information[clarification needed].

The square and compasses, symbol of the Freemasons
Psychoanalysis, rhetoric, and archetypes[edit]
Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung, who studied archetypes, proposed an alternative definition of symbol, distinguishing it from the term sign. In Jung's view, a sign stands for something known, as a word stands for its referent. He contrasted this with symbol, which he used to stand for something that is unknown and that cannot be made clear or exact. An example of a symbol in this sense is Christ as a symbol of the archetype called self.[9] For example, written languages are composed of a variety of different symbols that generate words. Through these written words humans communicate with each other. Kenneth Burke described Homo sapiens as a "symbol-using, symbol making, and symbol misusing animal" to recommend that a person creates symbols as well as misuses them. example he makes use of to indicate what he means by the misuse of symbol is the story of a man who, when told that a specific food item was whale blubber, could barely keep from throwing it up. Later, his mate discovered it was actually a dumpling. But the man's reaction was a direct consequence of the symbol of "blubber" representing something inedible in his mind. In addition, the symbol of "blubber" was created by the man through various kinds of learning.

Jean Dalby Clift says that people not only add their own interpretations to symbols, they also generate personal symbols that represent their own understanding of their lives: what he calls "core images" of the person. He argues that symbolic work with these personal symbols or core images can be as useful as working with dream symbols in psychoanalysis or counselling.[10]

William Indick suggests that the symbols that are often present in myth, legend, and fantasy fulfill psychological functions and hence are why archetypes such as "the hero," "the princess" and "the witch" have remained popular for hundreds of years.[11]

Paul Tillich

When a symbol becomes identified with the deeper reality to which it refers, it becomes idolatrous as the "symbol is taken for reality." The symbol itself is substituted for the deeper meaning it intends to convey. The distinctive nature of a symbol is that it gives access to deeper layers of reality which are otherwise inaccessible.

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Paul Tillich argued that, while signs are invented & forgotten, symbols are born & die. There's, therefore, dead & living symbols. A living symbol can reveal to an individual hidden levels of meaning & transcendent or religious realities. For Tillich a symbol always "points beyond itself" to something that is unquantifiable & mysterious: the symbol's "depth dimension". Symbols are complex, & their meanings can evolve as the individual or culture evolves. When a symbol loses its meaning & power for an individual or culture, it becomes a dead symbol. The Greek Gods might be an example of symbols that were one time living for the ancient Greeks but whose meaning & power are now gone.

Role of context in symbolism

Historical meaning[edit]
This history of a symbol is of plenty of factors in determining a specific symbol's apparent meaning. Consequently, symbols with emotive power carryover issues analogous to false etymologies.

This section possibly contains original research. improve it by verifying the claims made & adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research ought to be removed. (January 2010)
A symbol's meaning may be modified by various factors including popular usage, history, & contextual intent.

Context[edit]
The context of a symbol may alter its meaning. Similar five-pointed stars might signify a law enforcement officer or a member of the armed services, depending on the uniform.