Mom's Point of View on Potty Training

Hi my name is Terri and I am a mom of 4 that home-schools. My friend Jenny contacted me on Facebook to ask me if I would do a post on potty training for the To Each Their Own blog. I told her sure, but then I started thinking: how will I go about picking a potty training topic. There are soooo many ways to write about potty training. There are the horror stories, tips and tricks, old wives tales...the list goes on and on. There really is an endless supply of potty how-to material out there. There are also many reasons why we as parents start potty training. Either a new little one is to be born, preschool says your kid can't go there if they are not potty trained, pressure from loved ones, etc. I am going to give a quick overview of my experiences potty training my four kiddos and touch on a few different things mentioned above.

Child #1 the only little girl. Our little princess who will soon be turning 10 was 2 years old when we started potty training her. Hard to believe that it has been that long ago when our sneaky little girl would hide behind a curtain or chair to poop. Our reason for starting with her was we were preggo with child #2 and I did not want two in diapers. That was how I felt at that time anyway...Feelings change they really do! We were given some of those thick training underwear and plastic ones to use on her. Those plastic ones do not keep the pee from leaking out down their legs. They just do not work...or at least the ones I was given didn't work. Over all, child #1 was pretty easy to train. Sure she would sometimes sneak off and poo in a secret spot but she usually went on her Dora potty seat on the big potty. It took about a month for her to potty train and she was potty trained before #2 came along.

Child #2 my first boy and my sweetest child. He is now 7 years old. Oh my there are so many things that drove me crazy with this kid. I love him to death but he was so stubborn. He was about 3 ½ before he potty trained. He pushed every button I had when potty training. They say boys are the hardest to train...yes this boy was making me believe that saying. The reason I started with him was because I was getting pressured by other moms to do it. He was in preschool just before he turned 3. Other moms would say how they potty trained their kids because they were told they had to or their child would not be allowed to go to preschool. I was never told that by my child's teacher but it made me feel guilty so I took him out of preschool and decided to teach him at home and also started potty training. Please moms never let other moms make you feel that way about your child. You do what is best for them because you really do know what is best even if the world does not agree. Once I showed him what was in his diaper a few times, he decided that he didn't want poo stuck to his butt and he did really well.

Child #3 my second little boy was so easy to potty train. He is now 4 years old. It kinda floored me how easy he was. I did not start potty training because child number #4 was on the way and I did not potty train him because others wanted me to. It was just time and I wanted him to do it. I have now had 2 in diapers twice. Child #2 and #3 were in diapers at the same time and child #3 and #4 were in diapers together. I had given up the I need to not ever have 2 in diapers at the same time mentality. It was just not going to happen. I had all of them 3 years apart except for the last 2 because they are about 21 months apart. I didn't space them out like that on purpose either (but that is another story.) Child #3 was such a breeze. He was almost 3 years old. I decided to put him on the potty while he screamed at me that he did not want to go. I did that all week long with him fussing and fighting me. I do give out rewards...with him it was M&Ms that did the trick. He stopped fighting me by day 6 and he was telling me that he had to potty. From that day on he was potty trained! Yes it was that easy. I guess with some kids it just clicks.

Child #4 my last baby boy. Yes he is 2 ½ now but he will always be my baby. Well, they will all always be called my babies. Anyway, I had no intentions of starting with him any time soon. I was fine with changing one kid's diaper and wasn't really wanting to train him yet. I was told by my mother-in-law that another grandchild who was younger was going to the potty. I told her that he was my son and I would potty train him when we were both ready. So one weekend my mom had my kids and when we go to pick them up my mom tells me that child #4 was going on the potty for her. I was shocked! The little booger wouldn't go for me. He even gave me the excuse the next day when I asked him to potty that he would only go for his Nanny. I told him “no way boy I know you can potty so get on that potty.” He actually went for me and just started going from then on. Sure he still had accidents and still wears a pull up at night just to be safe but the boy is sure enough potty trained thanks to my mom for starting it for me.

[Child 2,1, and 4 now]

So there you have my adventures in potty training. I have learned that every child is different and they will go potty when they want to. Never feel like you are failing when you potty train. I have some horror stories I could share but that is not the route I wanted to take with the post. I wanted you to see how different each child is, to know the truth behind girls potty training faster is not always true and to never let someone make you ever feel like you need to potty train your child. You are their parent and really truly you do know what is best.

[Me and Child #3]

I want to thank To Each Their Own for letting me do a guest post for them.

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We Thank Terri for sharing her awesome insights/experiences on potty training for our guest post this week!  To read more from Terri, check out her blog "Mom's Point of View" at http://mompointofview.com/ !