Nature's toilet

Award winning neuropsychologist Peter Stavinoha, PhD discusses the different views on parents letting their children go to the bathroom outside, and he shares his opinion on which option is more successful in the long term.
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Nature's toilet

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Letting your child use the bathroom when there are no bathrooms around, so the eliminate outdoors or some other place where there isn't a bathroom; is something that parents really need to think through. There is really no perfect answer for that. For some kids, it's going to send a confusing message, to where they are allowed to have this accident in their mind, outdoors at certain times, but not at other times. For other kids, I would say for most kids, you are sending the message that you want your child to be able to know when they are going to go. Then allow them to know where they need to go, even if it is outdoors. You can derail the process of potty training, by imposing conditions on a child, where it ends up with more accidents or they are having trouble holding. By allowing them to go outside, you are, basically, preventing an accident. That allows you, as a parent, to reinforce success.

Award winning neuropsychologist Peter Stavinoha, PhD discusses the different views on parents letting their children go to the bathroom outside, and he shares his opinion on which option is more successful in the long term.

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Peter Stavinoha, PhD

Neuropsychologist

Peter L. Stavinoha, PhD, ABPP, is a board certified clinical neuropsychologist in Dallas, Texas.  He directs the Neuropsychology Service at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas and he is Professor in Psychology/Psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He was named Distinguished Psychologist for 2005 by the Dallas Psychological Association. Dr. Stavinoha specializes in the cognitive, behavioral, and emotional aspects of developmental disabilities and acquired brain injury in children. As a general parenting expert, he is regularly interviewed in the media, Dallas morning television, Parents and Parenting Magazines, and numerous parenting blogs. Together with Sara Bridget Au, he is co-author of Stress-Free Potty Training. He has also authored several chapters in scholarly texts on subjects ranging from pediatric concussion to brain tumors in children. Dr. Stavinoha received a BA in Psychology from the University of Notre Dame and a PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Stavinoha completed a residency in Clinical Neuropsychology at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and is a member of the American Psychological Association, the International Neuropsychological Society, and the National Academy of Neuropsychology. Dr. Stavinoha has a 16-year old son named Joe.

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