I spoke to a friend of mine about my (then) 2 year 11 month old daughter’s resistance to toilet training. My daughter really didn’t care if she had a wet diaper or even a soiled diaper, she would simply keep on playing. My friend said that a Mom in her Mommy & Me class mentioned this video, and it seemed to help them. Well, I thought, why not give it a try? Off to Toys R Us I went to purchase this video. Was it a good idea? Read on to find out…

The Idea Of The Video

The box states: ”Fully animated version of Alona Frankel’s best-selling toilet-training book Once Upon A Potty – for her.” (This video also comes in the – for him – version.)

I don’t know why it states fully animated, because there are plenty of live-action toddlers in this video. Even at the end of the video, they show the child along with their name across the bottom of the screen. Most of kids are shown sitting on the potty singing the “potty song.” Most of them have on diapers, but some don’t.

At the beginning of the video, animated Prudence gets a child potty from her Grandma. Prudence's parents encourage her to try using it. Basically, on the first try, nothing happens. The second try, she goes “poo-poo and wee-wee", but it's right next to the potty, on the floor. And the third times a charm, and she gets it in the potty. “Prudence is so proud. You know who else is proud? Prudence’s Mommy & Daddy!”

My Ideas Of This Video

I have mixed feelings about this video.


What I DON’T like:

I don’t like they call pee-pee “wee-wee.”

I don’t like how cute, animated, little naked Prudence would turn around and bend over to show you her little “hole for poo-poo.”

When Prudence does finally go in the potty, she brings the potty to show her parents. My question is, who finished the job? Toilet paper, hand washing and pulling up underwear is never addressed in this video.

The child part of the video is less than 15 minutes from the song at the beginning, to the potty song with credits at the end, so I do think that section could have been a little longer. The total running time is 30 minutes.

This video was made in 1990, and it shows.


What I DO like:

It has a very catchy song that my child loves to sing.

It comes with a print out of the song, that we kept handy at my daughters potty.

It has both Prudence's animated parents giving encouragement.

It had an informative grown-up discussions at the end of the video, with advice on toilet training.

Prudence does show her underwear at the end of the video (which is exactly what my daughter did to everyone after she started wearing underwear).

I do believe that it helped my 2 yr 11 month old daughter want to use the potty.



My Child’s Ideas Of This Video

Bottom line, my daughter wanted to be like Prudence. We had to sing the potty song when she would sit, sometimes for 10 minutes, on the potty: “Yes, I’m going to my potty-potty; yeah I’m going to my potty-potty na-haw (now).”

My daughter would laugh when Prudence first got her potty and didn’t know what it was. “Was it a bird bath, a hat, a milk bowl for your cat?” My daughter would also say, “Eww” when Prudence would show her…um…hole for poo-poo.

My daughter watched this video at least twice a day for a week straight before she wanted to sit on her own potty (that we had already owned for a good 6 months).

That’s all it took! She has been using the potty ever since, and the interesting part is that she has never wanted to watch the video again after mastering the toilet training.

If you have a child that is almost three, you might want to try this video. For the success this video gave our family, I give it 4 stars. It was worth the $14.99 investment, even if it only lasted a week.


©Sherri (cubmomma) 2004

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up to Age 4