Friday, August 24, 2012

Ready, Set, Go...

Not sure where I got the idea to start attempting to potty train Sebby but I think it's because potty talk was all around me. Seems I had several friends who had kids slightly older than Sebby who were brainstorming about strategies lamenting about the trials and frustrations of potty training their toddlers. And somehow I decided that it would be a good thing for us to attempt before Little Lungette made her appearance. 

A co-worker shared that she had potty trained all of her 4 kids before the age of two by spending three focused days with them on potty training. I was intrigued by her method and thought of attempting it because spending three days on potty training sounded manageable. 

Then following various Facebook conversation threads on potty training, I read about a concept that really caught my attention. A few co-workers mentioned having seen success with a method called "Toilet Training In Less Than A Day." I thought that sounded amazing, although maybe a bit too good to be true.

After a bit of internet research, I was convinced I needed to try it. The method was developed in the 1970s by two psychologists, learning specialists working on a project to learn about what is involved in learning and how learning could be made more rapid. They found that their method helped most children in their trials learn the skills involved in potty training in about 4 hours. 

I ordered the book, a used copy first edition copy from 1976, from Amazon & read the whole book the afternoon it arrived (its short & sweet, the key chapter being the method). Sebby & I went shopping for supplies (a potty, big boy underwear and treats to reward him as he learns the necessary skills) then we set a date to try it before Darren's work schedule gets crazy busy. 





2 comments:

V said...

Good luck Tara (& Darren & Seb!)! I never really tried this method at so young an age (not implying that it's TOO young, just saying my boys were both older but at least a year) so I hope it works for you!

I went with the "lazy" method of waiting 'til they were older and pretty much potty-trained themselves within a day or two of initiating. I'm interested to hear how it goes!
Also I want to encourage you that if it doesn't work, don't worry. And don't think you've messed everything up, either. As you know, parenting is not a cookie-cutter type deal. Every kid is different. And I like to think of the attempted potty training at an early age (that doesn't end up "sticking") as "laying the foundation". :)
Good luck and have a fun Potty Party! :D

Tarren said...

Thanks for the encouragement & reassurance that even if we give up, its going to be fine. Just gearing up to write an update on our progress.