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From: smuga@mtuxo.UUCP (j.smuga)
Newsgroups: net.kids
Subject: Re: Re: How do I get my kid off the bottle?!
Message-ID: <1274@mtuxo.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 30-Jan-86 16:30:34 EST
Article-I.D.: mtuxo.1274
Posted: Thu Jan 30 16:30:34 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 1-Feb-86 01:46:53 EST
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Organization: AT&T Information Systems Labs, Holmdel NJ
Lines: 45

> >WHY? WHY? Why does everyone seem to think a child must give up
> >a bottle, a pacifier, a blanket, etc. by some certain age?

> >
> A child does not do certain things *by instinct*.  A child has to be
> prodded, weaned, taught, trained.  A child does not say to himself
> "Say, I just turned three, perhaps I should give the bottle the ol'heave
> ho!"  This is similar to potty training.  A child does not wake up one
> morning and say "Perhaps I shall try the toilet for a change".  He has
> to be trained.
> 
Wrong.  Children do initiate progress.  They want to learn to take
care of themselves.  A parent's role is to *help**, not to force them.

> A child HAS to give up the bottle at a certain time. 

Who says so?

>You don't want him
> to start his first day in kindergarten with his bottle simply because HE
> still wants it at that age. 

He won't.  Anyway, the child in the original example only wanted the
bottle in the evening, as I recall.

>That is where *you* as a parent comes in.  It
> is up to you to decide if you feel he should give up his bottle.  HE MAY
> NOT BE READY while he is still relatively young; check his reaction.  Most
> children won't give up such comfort without a fight; give him another
> means of comfort.  For example, there is a point where a child does not
> need his bottle for nourishment, therefore, it is used for comfort.  It is
> YOUR RESPONSIBILITY (not your neighbor's, your mother's, any other
> mother's) to decide whether or not he is getting too old for this.  If you
> think he is, see if he is just as happy taking a stuffed animal to bed,
> rather than a bottle.

Raising children is much easier when you cooperate with them and give
them a chance to cooperate with you.  
-- 
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Janet Smuga			I've had a great many troubles in my time,
ihnp4!mtuxo!smuga		and most of them never happened.

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