Anatomic Answer to Potty Training / アメリカ人のおむつ事情

I was talking to my mom about potty training and we noticed something interesting. American people eat more meat and Japanese eat more vegetables, so the length of intestines are different. As a result, Americans have shorter torso and longer legs, and Japanese have longer torso and shorter legs. Therefore, it is not surprising to note that Japanese people probably have larger bladders.

My mom told me that my sister and I were potty-trained all night by 2 and 1/2. By the 5th or 6th grade, it wasn't rare that I went potty only twice a day. I remember my mom warning me, "it is not healthy to hold urine so long!" I didn't think it was healthy either, but I seriously didn't have an urge. And I heard that my niece is receiving the same warning too.

I was probably in a hurry to potty train our girls because under my family standards, still wetting at night at 3 was strange. But I had to remember that our girls are half American with longer legs. I bet all Japanese people would rather have longer legs, even if they had to go potty a few more times a day :)

先週４日連続、成功したもののエマが３歳半になっても、夜のおむつが取れないのであせっていたのですが、色々調べてみるとアメリカでの平均は４－５歳とのこと・・・。昨日母と電話していて、そういえばアメリカ人って足が長いから、その分腸が短いのは知ってるでしょ、って言うことは膀胱も小さいんじゃない？ってことに気づきました。

先月日本に行って、親戚によく３歳なのにまだ夜のおむつしてるの？って聞かれて考え込んでいたのですが、そういえばうちの子はアメリカ人のハーフ。日本人のお子さんたちより遅くても仕方がないんじゃないかと言う気がしてきました。私もおしっこに行く回数が多くなってもいいから、足が長いほうがいいなー、なんちゃって、自分の子供がうらやましくもあります（笑）