Everyone is entitled to my opinion
We all were kids at one time or another. I was lucky enough to have the gift of remembering what it felt like to be a toddler/little kid/teenager, and that carried me a long way as a parent. Of course I have my own ideas on how kids should be raised.
We were all kids back in the day
My opinion: kids should not be potty trained until they are begging you to get them out of those diapers. So you’re having another baby and don’t want to be changing diapers on two kids? Suck it up. You’ll be SO sorry if you potty train too soon.
I can offer up anecdotal evidence, but it might lead to strained family relations. (I’ve been holding back a huge “TOLD YOU SO!!!” for years. I’m nice like that.)
Dessert was not a concept in our house. Too much sugar, carbs, blahblahblah. The only times we had dessert were (1) birthdays and (2) when company was over. If we went out to eat, dessert was allowed. Sometimes.
But then there was the fast-food conundrum. Most often it was take-out (after the running-loose toddlers became a bit more civilized). So the no-dessert rule and the eating-out exception made for a gray area.
The solution was to declare the French fries as dessert (my kids didn’t know any better). That way nobody was filling up on fries, leaving no room for the protein. The kids were thrilled that it was a dessert occasion. And they weren’t consuming too much extra stuff that was bad for them (I know, fast food by definition is bad, but add a mini apple pie or an ice cream something, and it compounds the badness).
My kids still can’t believe they fell for that for years. Heh heh.
