Would You Happen to Have a Potty Chair?
Aug 19 '00
The Near Mint Potty Chair
In our family, with our only child celebrating his fourth birthday this week, we never used the potty chair we got for him when he was two years old. Well, it got used, but not the way it was intended. We completely forgot we had it, until a lady came to our recent garage sale and asked if we happened to have a potty chair, since we had so many other baby goods for sale. We dug it out, and she got a never-pottied-in potty chair for a garage sale price.
Once Upon a Potty
Our son had also received a video, Once Upon a Potty for him, when he was two years old. This is a training video for very small children, teaching them about how and why to go potty. It also includes some good potty training advice for mom and dad. He loved to watch the video tape, sometimes over and over again. We let him watch it as much as he wanted, and we never pressured him to try for himself. He knew he had a potty chair of his own, and what it was for, and he never became interested in using it.
Incentive
A year ago, when he was turning three years old, my wife got an interesting idea from a friend, whose son was a few months younger than ours, but was already potty trained. She had made a poster and hung it on the wall in her bathroom where her son could see it. Each time he successfully went potty, he got to stick one or two stickers on the poster, one for peepee or two for poopoo. When he had placed a certain number of stickers on the poster he received a reward.
This was an excellent idea, so we tried it. My wife made a poster with three groups of 12 spaces for stickers. She bought a package of stickers that had cute pictures and positive exclamations on them, such as WOW, TOO COOL!, SUPER ACHIEVER, etc. He loved sticking these to the poster, and wanted to go potty, even sometimes when he didn't have to. He got to choose and place one sticker for peepee, and 2 for poopoo, just like his friend had. Twelve stickers was worth a trip to one of his very favorite places, Chuck E. Cheese's.
Within a couple of weeks, he was potty trained, and we had become regulars at Chuck E. Cheese's. The poster, filled with stickers almost a year ago and not used since, still hangs in the bathroom. It's one of those cool reminders of our child's milestones.
What About The Potty Chair?
Our son, like most kids, loves to do things his mommy or daddy do. Since he had never seen his daddy sittin' on a potty chair, what made us think he'd want to? He wanted to stand in front of the toilet, or sit on it like daddy did. So that's what he did, and to our knowledge, to this day he has only fallen in once while sitting on the adult sized toilet seat. Yuck! The problem with standing to pee was that he wasn't tall enough. He solved that problem by himself, using his potty chair, cover closed, as a stool to stand on.
Day Care Discount
When our son was successfully potty trained, the cost of his day care dropped by $50 per month. To be honest, had we known that in advance, we might have applied some potty training pressure sooner to save the money. Looking back, though, we are very happy that we did not pressure our son in any way to learn to use the potty.
When is The Right Time?
Our son learned well, in a fun manner, when both he and we were ready. It never mattered to us that other children were learning at a younger age. Raising children is not - and should not be made out to be - a competition between families. Unless your child's doctor tells you otherwise, I recommend that you potty train your child(ren) when both you and they are ready. You're all ready when you have all figured out how to make it a productive and enjoyable experience together.
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Epinions.com ID:
RuleOf72
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Member: David
Location: Redmond, WA
Reviews written: 17
Trusted by: 65 members
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