Potty Training Professionals
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April 7th, 2006
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A couple of weeks ago I posted about the early stages of our potty training adventure. At that time Daniel used the potty a little bit at kindergarten but rarely at home. Since then we've made some great progress. We feel like potty professionals here at Casa AdventureDad. Daniel is now sitting down on the potty first thing in the morning and at night as well. Not only is he sitting down but he's getting stuff done as well. Both large and small stuff if you know what I mean. We have had a few "incidents" and the potty performances have been hit or miss but the last few days Daniel is even telling us what he wants to do. And he's telling us before anything happens which is a making things much easier for us.
He's also using it a lot at kindergarten and they have asked us if Daniel can spend some time without diapers and start the "serious potty training". Sounds a little scary to me but the teachers seem strangely confident. We have of course said yes and are impressed over how quickly and effortless things have gone so far.
Me and Sandra haven't done much more than encourage Daniel, given him plenty of time, and not put any pressure on him. We did get good advice from some people and I want to say thanks to Clint at Dadventure, Freezio at Turnintostone, Misfithausfrau, and Christie. The potty stage is far from over but it looks like we're moving in the right direction. Sandra is even getting better at emptying out the potty which is amazing since she suffers from poop trauma. Have you ever heard of a mother with small children suffering from poop trauma?:-)
Have a nice weekend!
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As scary as it sounds, the go-for-broke approach to the potty was the one that worked for us, with both boys. My one bit of advice is this: buy lots and LOTS of big boy underwear and don’t worry too much about washing it out–just toss it in the trash. I know, it sounds wasteful, but it’s so much less stressful and I suspect Sandra will be happy NOT to be dealing with poopy underwear.
We’re big on recycling at Friday Playdate, but we’re not big on poopy undewear. It’s all about picking your battles. Good luck to you!
How wonderful for Daniel! I let Eleanor run around naked at home during the midst of potty training because it was just so much easier. My girlfriends with sons were not very successful with the naked thing because the boys were always fascininated with their thing.
I echo the running around naked bit. My girl seems to want to use the potty more when she is naked. We’ve had one or two small acidents, but for the most part it is when she is naked that she wants to use the potty for her business.
I heard a kindergarten in America(don’t know the exact location) wouldn’t let a kid join unless he can go to a toilet. Is this true? This boy is 5 years old and never attended a school because of his diaper.
I’d appreciate any comment on this matter.
Dec 5th, 2006 at 2:08 pm
[...] There are a few different posts about the whole process here, here, and here. Friends and all articles and forums on the Internet mentioned the danger of possibly traumatizing the child. A stressed out parent bitching to a child about having to clean up poop can quickly lead to bad confidence I imagine. What worked best for us was to keep it simple and cheerful. It's important that the potty is a fun place for your child. That might mean a nice Winnie the Pooh potty or perhaps an adapter so your child can use the regular toilet. Whatever it takes, make sure it's a fun place. We were never big believers in awards for a job well done but have always offered lots of encouragement. Even when things didn't go so well. [...]