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Mom ‘Too Busy To Potty Train’ Defends Sending Her Daughter To School Still Wearing Nappies
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Mom ‘Too Busy To Potty Train’ Defends Sending Her Daughter To School Still Wearing Nappies

Mom ‘Too Busy To Potty Train’ Defends Sending Her Daughter To School Still Wearing NappiesMom Fumes Over Claims Potty Training Takes “Weeks” And Defends 4-Year-Old In Diapers“Guilty As Charged”: Busy Mom Defends Sending Her Daughter To School Still Wearing NappiesMom Fumes Over Potty Training Claims And Defends Sending Daughter To School In Diapers“Guilty As Charged”: Mom Defends Sending 4-Year-Old Daughter To School In DiapersMom Fumes Over Potty Training Claims And Defends Sending Daughter To School In DiapersMom ‘Too Busy To Potty Train’ Defends Sending 4-Year-Old Daughter To School In NappiesMom Speaks Out About ‘Guilt Trip’ To Many Parents And Defends Sending Daughter To School In DiapersMom Defends Herself After Facing Backlash For Sending 4-Year-Old Daughter To School In Diapers
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Potty training is a significant milestone in a child’s early development, but it can also be an incredibly stressful and challenging time for both children and their caregivers.

A mom-of-four has found the practice particularly trying and has even taken the extra step to defend sending her child in diapers to school.

A mom defended sending her four-year-old daughter to school in diapers in response to a politician who said potty training only took “weeks”

Image credits: Danny Lawson – PA Images)

Shona Sibary expressed her frustration over British Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) Miriam Cates, who had previously insinuated that the potty training process could be completed in just a matter of “weeks” with sufficient commitment.

Talking at the Alliance For Responsible Citizenship conference, the MP said:  “Consider the rising number of young children who start schooling in the UK still wearing nappies… potty training can take weeks of dedication to the task.

“This is increasingly impossible when our GDP-obsessed economic system demands that even mothers of small children leave their infants in daycare to return to the workplace.”

Shona Sibary wrote an opinion piece criticizing Britain’s economic system and the hardships of balancing work life with parenting

Image credits: Shona Sibary

In response to the politician’s comments, Shona wrote on behalf of other mothers in the Daily Mail: “I can only imagine their fury, matched with mine this week, that MP Miriam Cates now blames us – an army of exhausted mums trying their best – for the rise in children starting school in nappies.”

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“Of all the weeks to lay this particular guilt trip at our door – just after a relentlessly rainy half-term, with the spectre of Christmas looming,” the irritated mom added.

She continued: “And to pour even more fuel on the fire she seemed to focus her ire on working mothers as if dads play no part in the parenting equation.”

“Was this my fault for focusing on work and not spending my days encouraging her to sit on a potty?” Shona wrote

Image credits: energepic.com (not the actual photo)

Shona went on to denounce Miriam’s claims that it only takes a mere couple of weeks to potty train a toddler, as her country struggles with a “GDP-obsessed economic system that demands that even mothers of small children leave their infants in daycare to return to the workplace.”

“My blood boiled,” the mom recalled. “But I must admit to agreeing with part of her remarks.”

The West Sussex resident went on to admit that toilet training was not only difficult but also “incredibly tedious.” 

She said: “By the time I’d had my fourth child, Dolly, I was so over this particular parenting challenge that I (look away now, Miriam) almost raced back to work to avoid it.

“Happily, much of the task then fell to our useless au pair, whose modus operandi seemed to be to allow Dolly to run around the garden all day wearing nothing from the waist down, letting her pee all over the rhododendrons.”

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The mom-of-four said her youngest was sent to school in nappies as a result of being “a late August baby”

Image credits: Shona Sibary

Shona explained that as a result of her youngest daughter being “a late August baby”, her daughter started school just one week after turning four and would therefore “still wear nappies at the time”. 

“Was this my fault for focusing on work and not spending my days encouraging her to sit on a potty?” the fuming mom wrote. “Guilty as charged, I’m afraid. But that was my choice.”

The busy mom admitted that she realized she needed childcare to help her work effectively, as well as outsourcing “some of the more boring bits of parenting.”

“I’m utterly convinced that as two working parents with demanding careers during our children’s early years, we would be divorced by now had it not been for getting outside help,” Shona wrote.

She explained that for many mothers school offers relief because it allows parents to go on with their jobs with “far less hassle and expense”. 

Shona defended “an army of exhausted mums trying their best”

Image credits: Chloé Fusillier (not the actual photo)

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Shona might’ve had a point regarding the length expectancy of potty training.

UC Davis Health states that most children complete the developmental milestone by 36 months.

According to the academic health center, the average length it takes toddlers to learn the process is about six months. 

Moreover, it states that girls learn faster, usually completing toilet training two to three months before boys do.

Meanwhile, firstborn children also tend to take longer to learn than their younger siblings, who pick up cues from the older kids.

Some people thought Shona’s approach was “lazy”

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Andréa Oldereide

Andréa Oldereide

Author, BoredPanda staff

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I’m a journalist who works for Bored Panda’s News Team. The team, which has been launched on the website fairly recently, produces stories focused on pop culture. Whenever I get the opportunity and the time, I investigate and produce my own exclusive stories, where I get to explore a wider range of topics. Some examples include: “Doberman Tobias the viral medical service dog” and “The lawyer who brought rare uterine cancer that affects 9/11 victims to light”.

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Andréa Oldereide

Andréa Oldereide

Author, BoredPanda staff

I’m a journalist who works for Bored Panda’s News Team. The team, which has been launched on the website fairly recently, produces stories focused on pop culture. Whenever I get the opportunity and the time, I investigate and produce my own exclusive stories, where I get to explore a wider range of topics. Some examples include: “Doberman Tobias the viral medical service dog” and “The lawyer who brought rare uterine cancer that affects 9/11 victims to light”.

Vėja Elkimavičiūtė

Vėja Elkimavičiūtė

Author, Community member

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I'm a visual editor at Bored Panda. Looking at pets and memes is the best part of my work. I love to travel and want to see the world. Still looking and exploring stuff I like and want to do so thats exciting... and sometimes not

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Vėja Elkimavičiūtė

Vėja Elkimavičiūtė

Author, Community member

I'm a visual editor at Bored Panda. Looking at pets and memes is the best part of my work. I love to travel and want to see the world. Still looking and exploring stuff I like and want to do so thats exciting... and sometimes not

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laura_ketteridge avatar
arthbach
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is an example of neglect. It is keeping your child in a lower developmental stage solely for the parent's benefit. She asked the question, “Was this my fault for focusing on work and not spending my days encouraging her to sit on a potty?” And the answer is "Yes, it IS indeed your fault for neglecting your child in this way."

feuerrabe avatar
VioletHunter
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm in agreement. Whose fault is it when a child can't do something age appropriate? The parents and no one else's. Unless there are medical reasons for the developmental delay.

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christyleigh1 avatar
BlitheSpirit
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

“Useless au pair” pretty much says everything you need to know about this woman’s approach to parenting 🙄

v_r_tayloryahoo_com avatar
v
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You beat me to it. She's ranting against a conservative politician, presumably due to fiscal policies and such, but more so, she seems to act as if she's representative of so many working mothers and then she sneaks is the bit about her au pair. I'd be willing to bet that, in a lot of ways, she is exactly like the politician she is ranting against.

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johannakemshell avatar
JK
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I love how she blames the au pair for her own child not being potty trained(!)

sharleedryburg avatar
TheBlueBitterfly
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How dare a woman of her *importance* and *status* be tasked with doing something as lowly as potty training? Must be the au pair's fault!

Load More Replies...
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laura_ketteridge avatar
arthbach
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is an example of neglect. It is keeping your child in a lower developmental stage solely for the parent's benefit. She asked the question, “Was this my fault for focusing on work and not spending my days encouraging her to sit on a potty?” And the answer is "Yes, it IS indeed your fault for neglecting your child in this way."

feuerrabe avatar
VioletHunter
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm in agreement. Whose fault is it when a child can't do something age appropriate? The parents and no one else's. Unless there are medical reasons for the developmental delay.

Load More Replies...
christyleigh1 avatar
BlitheSpirit
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

“Useless au pair” pretty much says everything you need to know about this woman’s approach to parenting 🙄

v_r_tayloryahoo_com avatar
v
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You beat me to it. She's ranting against a conservative politician, presumably due to fiscal policies and such, but more so, she seems to act as if she's representative of so many working mothers and then she sneaks is the bit about her au pair. I'd be willing to bet that, in a lot of ways, she is exactly like the politician she is ranting against.

Load More Replies...
johannakemshell avatar
JK
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I love how she blames the au pair for her own child not being potty trained(!)

sharleedryburg avatar
TheBlueBitterfly
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How dare a woman of her *importance* and *status* be tasked with doing something as lowly as potty training? Must be the au pair's fault!

Load More Replies...
Load More Comments
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