When In Rome, Do As The... The Art of Negotiation

The very coveted potty-training candy--Ferro Garden: Summer Edition.

So we live in Europe, right? Europeans have a different perspective on things. For example, it is perfectly alright for a man to...um..."go #1" in public. I have personally witnessed this. A man was pulled off on the side of the road not more than two minutes from our village. All I could think was, "Really?! Really?! You can't wait, or you couldn't have gone when you were in our village?" Even the nicest, most down-to-earth people think nothing of such a sight. Our landlord and landlady for example. They are so nice and they treat the boys like their own grandsons. But to them, this is normal.

The other day I was sitting out on the front porch with them when it became apparent that Jonathan needed to use the bathroom. I was asked if I had taught him to go outside yet. I tried explaining that we just don't do that in America, but it seemed useless to try explaining this to them, so I didn't push the issue.

Jonathan must have understood what they were saying (although it was in German) because not much later we were in the kitchen when he needed to use the potty again. He ran out, and as he crossed the living room, he discovered that the door was open. "Door open. Door open," he shouted as he ran outside. I was close behind him knowing that he didn't have time for a detour. The next thing I knew, he was preparing to go potty OUTSIDE. I basically had to drag him to the bathroom with one hand while holding Erik in the other. The whole way I had been saying things like, "Don't you want a treat? You only get a treat for going on the POTTY not outside."

"Two!" he finally replied. In desperation I gave in without even giving a counter offer.

Some would say, "When in Rome, do as the Romans," but I know if this child had even one chance to do it outside, there would be no end to it.

Since our little episode, I've only seen him trying to use the great outdoors one other time. There was no negotiating this time. As President Bush once said, "...fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."