#69, You and all these kids u know that are 3 and still in diapers are retards. I HAVE 3 KIDS AND ALL OF THEM WERE TOTALY POTTY TRAINED BY 3. If you dont have ur kid shiting somewhere besides their pants by 3 u should not be able to breed.

Ashley: I've studied the legal system plenty, given the number of lawyers that I have in my family whom I've asked for advice on free speech issues (I work in network security). I have dealt first hand with more than a few First and Ninth Amendment cases. I can tell you, with full confidence, that you are full of shit. You know absolutely nothing about the U.S. Constitution, how it works, or what its LIMITS are. Not a single one of the freedoms it guarantees are absolute, nor do they even APPLY in a private forum. And save your breath about my parenting skills. You have no idea what you're talking about. You're just making shit up because it makes you feel better. PassiveSunshine: I'm going to break a major rule of Internet arguing here and apologize. You're clearly not the person I thought you were. Based on personal experience, I still disagree that there is something *wrong* if a child is not fully potty trained by three years old, but I think it's clear that we agree on several other more important issues. Kudos especially on the cloth diapers. We use them too. They're a lot of work, but I think it's worth it. What I meant by "pick" was not that you are somehow choosing only the kids that you want, but that by making potty training a requirement for entry, that means that the kids you see most often are, by definition, within the age group AND potty trained. That leads to confirmation bias. SO... We have your experience, which I believe to be skewed one way, and my experience, which is quite possibly skewed the other way (due to lack of a statistically significant sample size). So what we need are the numbers. Do you know of a study that shows the min/avg/max age ranges? These stats seem to exist for nearly every other aspect of child growth. There MUST be some around someplace.

star_ver: I'm not related to the OP. For some reason, I find FML "debates" rather fun and amusing. They can be surprisingly thought-provoking. Just when you think something is clearly black-and-white, you find some commenter 126 posts down who makes an observation that pops your eyes out. It's not entirely... how should I put it?... "good clean fun," I'll admit. Sometimes I find people like PassiveSunshine who are intelligent and keep their cool and prove themselves worthy conversationalists. But I enjoy tweaking people like Ashley as well. She clearly can't control her temper and doesn't really have anything to say, and it's fun to get her all riled up. I'd feel bad about it if she didn't so richly deserve it. But yeah, I get going a bit too fast sometimes and stick my foot in it. That's fine. I'm not perfect either. But when it happens, I've been known to apologize. (see above) A hero complex though? Nah. I just click the "monitor" button on FMLs that seem to have something interesting in them. The nature of my days gives me little bits of time where I can read these, and sometimes respond, but NOT larger chunks of time where I could go do something more useful. I'd much rather go work in my garage or in the yard or write some Perl. But as you can imagine, the last thing my wife wants after being home with the kids by herself all day is for me to go get all dirty and smelly and greasy. Not great for being available to take the kids. So I read these. I don't really take it as seriously as my comments probably sound. It's not arguing with people on the Internet that's pathetic. It's only pathetic if you *actually* get all upset about it. Trust me, I sleep just fine. ;) As someone once sarcastically put it, "I can't go. I'm busy! Someone on the Internet is WRONG!" Ha!

Istill do that

I get you 100%, Thuryn. Thanks for your reply :D.

peeps saying she needed to teach her 3 year old not to obviously know NOTHING about child development of the brain..they learn from experiences and seeing..not hearing....... i started reading this and was like "oh god" because i thought you were going to wake up to a house on fire or some kind of gas leakage or spilled cleaning supplies.. i am glad it wasnt as much as a safety issue as those would be.. FYL..but also try to keep a better eye or put the child down for a nap in the same room as yourself so you can prevent future mishaps

Apology appreciated Thuryn. I do not know of any studies offhand but I will confer with my colleague, a professor, she teaches a fantastic Developmental Psychology course and has greater access to studies such as these.

agreed with #4. why isn't your child potty trained at 3 years old?

PaasiveSunshine: If you find it, post it here, I guess? :p I'll leave "monitor comments" turned on. This thread seems to have otherwise quieted down anyway...

im pretty sure that by three years old they know that poop is gross and they are not sposed to play it..YDI for having a dumb child