Popular Posts from the Past: Potty Training Made Easy
Friday, July 13, 2007 at 3:27PM [This is another popular post from my blogging past—probably the second most popular one. It was linked by a baby care site—one I hadn’t heard of previously and don’t remember—that sent me several hundreds hits a day for a month or so. These potty training rules continue to bring people to the old blog, referred from searches for “potty training.”
This is the method I used for training the last three of my children. The firstborn? She’s the kid I fussed over, bungling things up in a big way, and from whom I learned the potty training lessons that I applied successfully to the other three.]
From Rebecca’s Rule Book
I bet you didn’t know I have a rule book, did you? Well, I do. It’s impossible to raise four kids and not have a rule book to show for it. From the chapter on potty training, I give you these surefire steps.
- Wait until the child is two and a half. Or two and a halfish. If you live where there are four seasons, wait until the spring/summer/nice weather nearest the two and a half milestone.
- Make a trip to buy several pairs of toddler underwear bearing the likenesses of things beloved to the trainee. Don’t think you can substitute Pull-Ups! Pull-Ups, no matter how many gimmicks they add, can work against successful toilet training.
- Don’t allow the precious panties to be worn yet. (Admiration, however, is encouraged.) Tell your trainee that these special unmentionables are being saved for that hallmark day when they begin using the toilet (or a tree) like mommy and daddy do.
- Put the potty chair away. Go straight to more grown up receptacles like flush toilets. Unless, of course, you have some compelling reason to disregard this rule. Like, “But potty chairs are so cute,” or “I really prefer dumping to flushing.”
- Wake up one day and say to yourself, “This is the day.” It’ll work best if this is a day with weather fine for staying outdoors and a day when you can stay home, but you can also opt for a day when you feel up to tolerating puddles indoors.
- Dress the trainee in the cherished underwear and a t-shirt. Any more clothing is counterproductive.
- Go outdoors to play and wait for the first accident. Sympathize with the child over the wet underwear. Help the little one change to a new pair of similarly loved undies and have them put the old, wet ones in the hamper. Mention in passing that if the child feels like they need to pee, they can tell you and you will help them go in the toilet so the beautiful undies don’t get wet. Resist the urge to say much more than this, and avoid at all cost the question, “Do you need to go yet?”
- Repeat step 7 as many times as necessary, for as many days as necessary. You will probably be surprised how few times step 7 needs to be repeated.
- If your child is male and you have a private yard, feel free to encourage the use of a tree or fence post instead of the toilet. This will add to the potty training ease for you and the fun for him. You can always civilize him later, if necessary. If you do go this route, you may want to mention to the little guy that the parking meters on Main St. are not exactly the same thing as fence posts. And while we’re on the subject of prudent warnings, it’s also best to remind your potty trainee that the demo toilets in Home Depot are not for emergency use. With my own eyes I’ve seen the results of both these misunderstandings, and while they were certainly amusing, most of us would prefer to get this sort of shopping entertainment from other people’s children rather than our own.
- There isn’t really a step 10. There IS a money-back guarantee of success. If you follow these steps religiously and your child still goes to kindergarten in diapers, please write for a refund.
Reader Comments (8)
Made me laugh out loud! Wish I'd known all this way back when...
I second that!
Very funny - I also wish I had read this a few years back
If it's not going well, don't worry - be reassured that most children succeed eventually!
This father of eight heartily endorses this potty-training method.
Warning: keep an eye on boys, especially. Peeing outside is just too cool, and they have no geographic discernment.
Warning: keep an eye on boys, especially. Peeing outside is just too cool, and they have no geographic discernment.
Yep, good reminder. At some point you're going to have to have a talk about where going outside is appropriate and where it's not.
Yup, every time a potty-training discussion pops up online, I link to you. Our "method" was a little different (include a happy-potty-dance) but was basically similar. And your rulebook is written in such a way that it is easily modifiable to fit each family.
Thanks for reposting it on your "new" blog. (I still need to update your url on my sidebar. *blush*)
Thanks for reposting this. I am about to start potty training with my second child (and have been dreading it after a difficult transition with my first!). It's good to get some helpful advice from someone who's succeeded 4 times! I definitely agree with your advice about waiting until they're 2 1/2.