I am cheap, but I would totally pay someone to potty train my kids. In my opinion, it is the worst parenting task ever.
With my first and second child, I read many parenting blogs and listened to friends rave about the two or three-day potty training method. Listening to friends and reading literature from proclaimed potty training experts, the method sounded foolproof. But not for my kids.
My first child seemed to take off with the method, but a pregnancy with our second child resulted in an unfortunate regression. It took another year for her to decide that she should give potty training another try. She first mastered daytime training but took longer to master the night time. By the time she was three and a half, we began encouraging her to make it through the night without an accident. We tried multiple nights going cold turkey and encouraged her to get up as needed. Out of desperation, we bribed her with candy, cookies and toys if she would not wet the bed. None of it worked. One night after discussing her need to go potty versus wetting the bed, I happened to mention that my daughter’s cousins did not wet the bed. Amazingly this one nugget of information was all it took. Night time accidents were a rare occasion from that the moment forward.
For my son, he showed interest in the potty after his sister was born. Since she was a newborn, we spent a considerable amount of time at home so I decided to potty train him. I rolled up all our rugs, we read books about explaining how to go potty and watched YouTube videos to get him ready. A day and a half of accidents later, I threw in the towel. I literally threw the towel in the dryer over and over again from the never-ending laundry from accidents. Not only would he have an accident, but he would stomp in the puddle of pee and laugh. I waited another seven months before I tried him again.
After recently training my third child, the two-day method finally worked like a charm. Our third child is our most independent child. As soon as she discovered that going potty was something she could control and do it herself, she mastered it.
The reality with the two-day method or any potty training method is that accidents still occur. The books, blogs and friends don’t usually tell you that it still takes time for our little loves to gain full control of their bladders and bowels. It may be common for one or two accidents a day to occur until our little ones become potty experts. Until they do, parenting often becomes one big poop and pee patrol.
Writer Bio: Summer Bolte
I spend most of my time and days with my three kids, husband and dog. My kids frequently play near me as I garden, cook, DIY and volunteer. My most unusual paying job has to be feeding fruit flies in a research lab, and my most fulfilling job was being an oncology nurse for seven years.
