I've said many, many times that letting a child older than 30 months soil and wet herself several times a day is an insult to the child's intelligence.

Actually, I absolutely know, and historical evidence confirms, that it is easier to train a child at 20 months than it is to wait much past the child's second birthday. (Ask yourself: Is it easier to house-train a 6-month-old puppy or a 1-year-old dog?)

As the age at which toilet-training begins has increased (by nearly a year in the past 50 years), so have toilet-training problems. In the mid-1950s, researchers at Harvard determined that nearly 90 percent of 24-month-olds in the United States had been successfully trained.

That so many of today's 3-year-olds are still in diapers and "pull-ups" can only mean that today's kids aren't half as smart as kids were in my generation (and our parents never claimed we were gifted).

I am cheered, however, to learn that there are still intelligent children in the world, as evidenced by this story:

The mother of a 27-month-old reads a magazine article about "readiness signs" and noting that her son displays none of them, decides to toilet-train him.

Yes, you read that right. She correctly ascertained that the writer of said article was simply engaging in "parenting correctness." Mom promptly announced to her son that they had no more diapers; therefore, he would have to use a potty from then on. They went out together and bought a potty and big-boy underwear.

She writes, "I didn't hover, nor did I ask or remind him to use the potty. I was training him, not me. I was prepared for plenty of accidents, and figured each one would be a lesson in cause and effect. When he wet, I said something like 'Gosh! That looks uncomfortable. Let's get you changed.' I didn't force him to clean up by himself, or scold him. I just responded matter-of-factly. He got stickers to put on the potty and some mild praise each time he was successful, but not a party."

Three days later, the child was accident-free. His mother thought she'd been lucky, but has since had the same experience with two subsequent children, none of whom have, she admits, "gifted and talented bladders."

The important thing is that this mother approached toilet-training with no apprehension, as if it was the most natural thing in the world — which, in fact, it is.