One way that theories can be practical is when it is applied to real-life situations. One way of applying a theory, such as the psychoanalytic theory, is the concept of toilet training. While reading chapter 7, this short reading particularly caught my attention. This is because I have a four year old niece, with whom I have had a difficult time toilet training.
When Freud's psychoanalytic theory refers to toilet training, it was thought that if the training was too strict or was instructed to the child before he/she was ready, the parent-infant interaction would be stuck in a conflict. The conflict would be a result over the child's refusal to potty train. The psychoanalytic theory also presumed that the child would develop an anal personality (relating to anal stage), and would often be seeking control as well as uniformity in their daily adult life. Of course, this caused fear within parents which then caused them to postpone toilet training.
As I read the short reading on this topic further, it was interesting to find that there were some parents who were able to toilet train their children, as early as six months old! Research on toilet training in children, found that the preferred age for toilet training children depended on the parent's socioeconomic status or SES. So my question is what the best toilet training method is universally. Is it best to have a child-centered approach where you let them take their time and get trained when they wish to do so? Or is it better to toilet train your child according to age?
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