1,2,3,4.....keep your poo off the floor!

I have four "don'ts of potty training" that I wanted to share. I'm sure you've heard some of these before, but just like in the scriptures. God tells us the same story multiple times, by different people, because, well.....we just don't get it the first time. Also, you'll hear these things from more than one person, because, well.....its truth.

#1. Don’t rush it. Diapers are expensive, but cheaper than a trip to the therapist.

My first pregnancy was twins. When they were 19 ½ months old I had our third child. Yes. That is three “babies” under the age of 2 years and they were ALL in diapers. Every time I changed one diaper I ended up changing ALL of their diapers. I always had an assembly line. Everyone who had the opportunity to see would laugh. I had a system. It was great. I wish I had a picture to share with you of my diaper storage system. All three babies were in three different sizes. I used a bottom shelf in our pantry that stored all the diapers. I had three black bins (perfectly sized for a package of diapers) side by side with each diaper size, plus one that had the creams and wipes. I rocked out that diaper organization. With three in diapers.....I had too!

The twins are now 3 ½ years old and our youngest will be 2 years old in August. Our 3 ½ year old son is FINALLY potty trained, however, his twin sister refuses and our almost 2 year old is still in diapers....and I'm expecting another baby at the end of January (insert picture of crazy lady).

Before our youngest was born I contemplated potty training the twins, but there was no way I could potty train them while I was 7 or 8 months pregnant. So to preserve my sanity I didn’t push the issue. Remember, diapers are cheaper than a trip to the spa or a therapist…plus, they just weren’t ready. Kids really and truly have to be ready to potty train or it just won’t work. So relax. It will happen.

#2. Don’t try potty training in a certain time frame. Can you break a habit in three days?

I don’t know about you, but I bit my nails as a child and continued to do so until I was 18 yrs old. It took me a month to finally quit. Have you ever tried to break a habit? How long did it take you? Children will grasp the idea of using the potty in about three days, but they will have MANY accidents and won’t master their new skill in three days. And if they do, well, you have my permission to call them a child prodigy.

#3. Don’t berate your child for having an accident. Children thrive on encouragement. This needs to be a positive experience so they will actually WANT to use the potty.

Would you want to try something new if someone was yelling at you every time you failed at it?

#4. Don’t give in to peer pressure or judgments from family, friends….or yourself!

This is the one thing that I personally struggled with the most. I am a very self-conscious parent anyways so I am constantly comparing myself to other moms and how amazing they are. Also, friends and family always have advice to share whether welcomed or unwelcomed and while they mean well it can sometimes come across as being judgmental….or at least we can take it that way and end up being really hard on ourselves.  I always feel that if my kids aren’t able to do something yet that it’s my fault and I have somehow failed them. Well, I know I’m not the only parent out there that feels like this and I have one thing to say to you. Stop it. Stop it right now. This is about your child. Not you.

I hope my perspective will empower some moms and also help you to remember that you are not alone and many have done this before and you can do it too!

Also, this will be my last post for To Each Their Own. Bianca will be coming back next week! Hopefully I will be able to guest post again in the future! This has been a wonderful experience for me and I am grateful that I was asked to participate on this blog for a few weeks. Thank you all for the feedback and comments!