If Caillou Can Go To The Potty, You Can Too!

Caillou Potty Time is a board book measuring about 6 ? inches square, authored by Joceline Sanschagrin and illustrated by Helene Desputeaux. It has a ISBN of 2-89450-165-X and a list price of $5.95. The recommended age for this book is 2 and up, which is appropriate for the topic of potty training.

This potty training book is much like many others with a simple storyline: child is in diapers, parents want him to go on the potty, he tries, but it takes time, and finally, success!

The cover of the book shows Caillou sitting on his potty with some toys scattered on the floor by him. There is a royal blue border around this picture. Each two page layout in this book has a colored border (red, yellow, green or blue). On the left hand page is the text written in black on a white background and a small full color picture of one or two items on the bottom. The right hand page has a full color scene where Caillou is doing the actions corresponding to the text.

The bright colors in this book and the fact that Caillou does other things, like playing in his sandbox or in his room, in between ?potty times?, keeps my daughter interested in the story.

The story shows Caillou not making it to the potty in time and wetting his pants. He is upset, but his mother consoles him and reassures him that next time he will get there in time. Of course, the next time he thinks he has to go, he doesn?t and it is a waiting game until something happens. Eventually he does go in the potty and his parents tell him that they are proud of him.

Unlike other Caillou books and many storylines on the television show, in this story Caillou does not whine and complain much when his parents ask him to try the potty. Many moms I know prefer their children not watch this show on television since many episodes are centered around him not wanting to do something - and often throwing a tantrum to prove that point. This is not demonstrated in this book.

My only problem with this Caillou Potty Time is that is appears that it covers one day. From the text, it seems that less than 24 hours transpire from the time the potty comes into the house until the time when Caillou is able to wake up from sleep to use the potty successfully. I do not know about your children, but my own children, and those of friends, have taken quite a bit longer than one day to grasp the potty training concept and put it into action.

There are four books in this series, which is ? 2000 Editions Chouette:

Caillou - Potty Time
Caillou - Baby Sister
Caillou - Bad Dream
Caillou - Mealtime

If you are trying to potty train your child, Caillou Potty Time might help because it shows that Caillou has to try a few times to get it right.