ELIMINATION COMMUNICATION

Elimination communication is based on the fact that babies know when they need to go to the bathroom. A parent can take advantage of this fact and, using things like cues and timing, allow the baby to eliminate in the toilet.

Method
To begin, start by observing your baby’s signs. You will notice that, before they eliminate they do certain things. Signs can include facial expressions, unexplained fussiness, squirming, etc.

When watching your baby, you will also notice that they eliminate at certain specific times, such as after meals, when they wake up in the morning or after their nap.

Once you notice your baby is about to eliminate, take them into the bathroom, remove their diaper and hold them over the toilet. Make a ssss sound if it is for urination, or an mmmm sound if it is for a bowel movement. This is to let them know that this is an acceptable place to relieve themselves. Eventually, they will learn to associate these “cue sounds” with elimination and will make the sound to let you know that they have to go.

Answering Objections

“It’s the parent who gets trained.”

Whether you are changing diapers or using elimination communication, you are going to have to deal with your baby’s elimination needs one way or the other. It might as well be this way as opposed to changing diapers for two years, then trying to toilet train your child when he or she is at their most oppositional stage.

“I can’t see myself doing this all the time.”

Elimination communication doesn’t have to be practiced full time. Even if you can only do it once a day or at some other regular interval, the infant still responds very well to it.

“What if you’re in a situation where you can’t get the child to a toilet?”

Elimination is very adaptable to different situations, such as in the car or out in public. However, if you can’t get the baby to a toilet or some other acceptable place, don’t worry. EC is like a bus. If you miss one, you catch the next one.

For more information on the adaptability of elimination communication, visit
Diaperfreebaby.org

ORLENA CAIN JOINS MIX 97

Orlena Cain has joined the Mix morning crew on Belleville's Mix 97.

Orlena Cain runs Sugar Cane Entertainment, an online magazine. According to its website, the magazine's staff is made up of "journalists, public speakers and media professionals" so presumably she isn't just on the show for her remarkable ability to get guys sexually aroused.

Due to the fantastic lack of details on the website where I originally found out this news, I don't know what happened to Ingrid Moore, the standard female broadcaster who was on the morning crew until only last week.

I don't know Quinte Broadcasting anymore!

Update 09/17: Ingrid Moore is co-hosting mornings at Mix 97's rival, Quinte's Best Music 95.5.

STEVE MARLIN AND MIKE HILL FIRED FROM CJBQ

Recently, Quinte Broadcasting employees Steve Marlin and Mike Hill were let go, which is to say fired.

Marlin had worked at Quinte Broadcasting for 28 years and had been doing middays on Cjbq for the past two years.

Hill had been with the company six years and had been a full-time music director for the past two years, occasionally filling in on-air.

Quinte Broadcasting president Bill Morton called the firings "simple restructuring."

What the buck. Quinte Broadcasting used to be the type of company that never fired long-time employees. What earthly good could this move have for Cjbq and Quinte Broadcasting as a whole?

Replacing Marlin in middays is recent Loyalist College grad J.D. Brown. He's very talented and personable but this decision still sucks.

I just don't know this industry anymore.

CKWS-TV, CHEX-TV: FALL LINEUP

At this time of year, I like to check out Ckws and Chex-tv to get a look at their new fall schedules. This season, they have made the following changes:

Both stations now have an hour and a half of Cbc Kids programming instead of an hour.

Evangelist Rod Hembry is on at 10:30. I think this is a good thing. It helps make them distinct, and is better than the infomercial that was previously in that time slot. Hembry isn't the only preacher that airs weekdays on Ckws and Chex; James Robinson is still on at 8:30.

At 2:00, it's "One Life To Live." I don't know if this is a good choice of programming since soap operas are becoming less and less popular. However, they literally have nothing else to put on the air since "Stephen And Chris" is on hiaydis.

At 3:00, it's Divine Design/Take This House And Sell It. Again, the last thing anyone needs to see is another home makeover show but they don't have anything else to put on the air. Cbc apparently hasn't renewed the rights for Martha Stewart.

At 4:00, it's Ghost Whisperer. Though I personally disapprove of this show, this is a good decision from a programming standpoint since you can't see reruns of Ghost Whisperer many other places. It also might attract teenagers coming home from school.

At 5:00, Ckws and Chex were faced with the problem of what to run, due to the fact that Cbc is no longer rerunning The Simpsons, showing an expanded newscast in it's place. In answer to this question, these two stations have chosen to run The New Adventures Of Old Christeen. Personally, I don't know anyone who watches this show, but again it has the factor of being a program you can't see reruns of anywhere else.

On the whole, Ckws-tv and Chex-tv's fall lineups offer distinct programming, but they also smack of these two outlets just trying to stay on the air.

Further details as they become available.

Update 9/09: It turns out Ghost Whisperer is also being shown on the main Cbc network.

REPLY AWL

There was an article in the June 24 edition of the Independent which talked about children under five being suspended from British schools for "sexually explicit behaviour." The problem is, the article doesn't mention any specific sexual behaviour. "Reported incidents included biting, a persistent refusal to follow instructions, swearing, running away from staff, kicking or hitting staff, climbing the school fence and throwing chairs." Doesn't sound like sexually abused children acting out to me. It just sounds like undisciplined children. An article in the June 23 edition of The Guardian talks about flexi-time, where children spend part of the week in school and part of the week being educated at home. The writer predicts this practice will become more widespread due to new home-schooling regulations in the UK. "Badman (appropriate name, AH) called for restrictions for full-time home educators, forcing families who opt out of schooling to register annually with their local authorities, submit learning plans and undergo regular inspections." Want to guess how many learning plans will be approved and how many parents will pass inspection? I really don't think flexi-time is a good idea. Homeschoolers should not be bedfellows with the public school system. A post on the public school system is coming up. The writer sites the social benefits of flexi-time. I'd like to point out that home-schooled children don't suffer less socially than children who go to regular schools. They can play and participate in activities with their publicly educated friends outside of school hours. I would remind UK parents of the axiom "you can't have it both ways." As for home schooling parents having to submit learning plans, where's the guy who mailed the anthrax letters when you need him?