Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/i-want-to-wear-a-diaper-today!-what-we-learned-from-child-led-toilet-learning/5026937/
*Gan in Hebrew means – preschool or daycare
In 2018, after working for three years in Israeli child care settings, my colleague and I opened Educare Gan*, a RIE®- and Pikler®-inspired child care center for children from birth to 3.
And no, we did not just put a Pikler triangle in the room. We studied and brought Emmi Pikler and Magda Gerber’s ideas to our daily routine and built a real care-based curriculum.
After three years of this wonderful journey, I would like to share an amazing experience of child-led toilet learning, and my discoveries along the way.
At Educare Gan, we did not potty train children. Toilet learning happened from the first diaper change until the
moment a child mastered using a potty/toilet. It was completely child-led and worked wonderfully.
It is important to mention that the educational team worked hand-in-hand with parents, and before joining the program, every family had an interview during which they were informed that there is no potty training happening in the child care and there is no support for families who decide to undertake it. We also provided materials to read about why it is important to trust the child to lead this process. As a result, ...