Mom's Way vs Dad's Way

As individual persons with different experiences in life, Truong and I bring distinctive aspects and viewpoints into our parenting. Truong is fond of pointing out to me that just because he does things differently, that doesn't mean he's wrong. But there is a saying: "There's the mom-way and there's the wrong-way."

MOM'S WAY
Let's take an example: toileting. A mom, when taking her child to the bathroom, goes through an intricate, orchestrated dance to accomplish correct toileting. "Correct toileting" is not merely a means to an end. It's a lesson in good hygiene, something that is very important later in life if you want your child to find and maintain a happy relationship.

We enter the bathroom and first make sure there's toilet paper. This is the Golden Rule: make sure there's toilet paper. Next, if we are in a public restroom, we line the toilet seat with several liners, overlapping each other then pull our child's pants down. However, since Kael is so tall, I skip this step and go straight to lifting the seat (only if we are at home - if we're in public, he is in no way allowed to touch anything). So the seat is lifted, the pants are down, and I remind him to take careful aim. "Point down!" is our bathroom mantra. When he's done, I instruct him to take 2 squares of toilet paper, fold it and dab or pat dry. He informs me that Dad tells him to just shake. I calmly tell him that "Dad is wrong; everyone uses toilet paper." (Mental note to self: have a talk with Dad re: correct toileting procedures.) Kael finishes dabbing dry, drop the paper in the toilet and flushes. He pulls up his pants and I remind him to close the lid and wash his hands. At the sink, we wash using antibacterial foam hand soap. We sing the ABC song, scrubbing in-between fingers and under nails. Then pat dry.

That's the Mom's Way to correct toileting.

DAD'S WAY















Apparently the boys were doing something wrong as Patrick felt the need to demonstrate the correct way of toileting au naturel.