Potty training is a big thing, not only for our little ones but also for us, parents. For various reasons, because we are busy working, looking after our kids, cooking, fixing a car, doing shopping, walking dogs, etc., etc…The list is humongous, so I won’t be going into too many details. Most of us, therefore, find it rather hard JUST TO CLEAR our daily or weekly schedules and shift our entire focus on things like potty training. Yes, we do. I find it VERY hard…because I have a new job, I have lots of meetings, training sessions, and a couple of significant projects to complete. This means only one thing – my life is hectic (well, at least at the moment). Let me start from the beginning…

I have always strived to do my best as a mummy, in every possible aspect. So, prior to doing the potty training with my little one, I read a lot of blogs about potty training, and I followed endless posts on Facebook about it. I also watched numerous videos on YouTube. Then, I bought a couple of potties for my little one, and guess what? I was exhausted after all this, without even starting the actual potty training J For some of you readers, it might not be a great surprise, right? We rely on social media these days, don’t we? I would lie to you if I said that I didn’t find good hints and tips about potty training out there, but for some reason, none of them worked for us.

I simply decided that I won’t bother with it for a while. We waited for a few months (yes, months not weeks). As I am writing this blog post, my little one will be three in the Spring.

And…just one day, as I was browsing through things online, I came across this book: “Oh Crap! Potty Training” by Jamie Glowacki. One of the mums on Facebook highly recommended it. I normally tend not to pay too much attention to this kind of thing, but I thought I would check it out. I ended up purchasing it (luckily it wasn’t too expensive!). A day after purchasing it, I read the first 75 pages of that book. I reminded myself about my student life and how ‘nice’ it was to study during the night-time before my exams. As I was reading it, it was becoming more apparent that those were some of the most valuable pages I have ever read in my life. Yes, I mean it. The book itself is written in a rather simple style, but it is rich in the amount of advice it provides. I don’t want you to think that I get any profit for saying this. I just wanted to find a source that would help me do potty training, do it once, and do it right.

I started with following one of the very first pieces of Jamie’s advice, and I cleared my schedule…yes, my WEEKEND schedule as it was easier for me to begin potty training with my little one on the weekend when I am not at work. On Saturday morning we started with the ‘Block One’. For those of you who have never read the book (I will perfectly understand that), Jamie divided the potty training into three blocks. In each of them, she describes different behaviors you might expect from your little one as you go through the training, and she presents different methods/ideas/options that you as a parent can choose from as we know our little ones best. I don’t want this blog post to be a review of this book, so I won’t be going through every block or chapter.

Retrospectively, one of the main reasons why I found this book particularly useful is because as a parent I needed that ‘gentle’ reminder that potty training isn’t actually about our little ones, but it is about us, parents. No, I haven’t made a mistake here –  I think this is the quintessential part of the whole process because, we as parents, need to be mentally prepared to do it, we need to clear our schedule to do it (or at least to start it!). We also need to prepare essential things for this process in advance (for example, purchase potty (potties), toilet seat(s), pants, etc.). And, finally, we need to shift our entire attention to our little ones during this process (not that we don’t do it anyway). I hope that you know, or at least assume, what I mean, particularly when I am talking about it in the context of potty training (staying observant at all times, otherwise accidents are more than likely to happen).

Finally, I found the two days of the weekend of potty training exhausting, but very rewarding in the end. I wouldn’t be entirely honest if I said that the potty training was completed just after two intensive days. There is still a long way to go, but luckily, throughout the week my little one receives plenty of support from the team at Plantos Nursery.

I do realize that things mentioned in this blog post might not be a big revelation to you, but I do hope that you will find them useful to an extent, especially if you are planning potty training in the future (or maybe even entertaining if you are reading them during your weekend after doing potty training with your little one).

Kamila, mummy of a toddler who attends Plantos Nursery