Book Review: Toilet Training in Less Than a Day

My mother claims that I was toilet trained at 9 months. She claims that my sister, who was the naughtier one of us, was trained by her first birthday. Finally, she claims that my brother, who has Down Syndrome, was toilet trained by the time he was 2 years old. I don't think it surprising that I feel some pressure to have my 28-month-old trained.

We have been doing some potty practice along the way since before Ellie was a year old. At this point, she can tell when she has to go, and she can certainly use the potty all by herself when she wants to. She just doesn't usually want to. I have been listening to suggestions and personal experiences from family and friends for the last several months. Then I bought the above mentioned book. A family friend recommended it, and when I checked it out on Amazon, all of the reviews were extremely positive. My thought was that, since all these other success stories certainly were children of average intelligence, my child of (of course!) above average intelligence would most definitely be toilet trained in an hour or so. WRONG. DEAD WRONG.

Common sense would have told me that this method would not work, particularly on my junk food junkie daughter. The idea is to reward good or desired behavior and to redirect undesirable behavior. The rewards being candy, chips, soda, cookies, and other treats. I'm sure you see where this is headed. After an hour of our day together, Ellie was already showing signs of sugar-induced loss of control. This is a state in which my tiny toddler runs around in circles cackling and screaming, or some variation of such action. Then the defiance began.
Urine and defiance is a nasty combination. She peed on the family room rug. The book says that when this happens, you have the kid clean up the mess, continue to wear the soiled underpants while you have her "practice" going to the potty quickly from various locations in the home. The child is supposed to feel bad about having an accident and then learn and understand that she needs to get to the potty quickly when the urge arises.

Not with my kid. Oh no! She was proud of the fact that she peed on my rug. She laughed when I made her clean up the mess and she laughed the whole time we "practiced." Soon thereafter, when it was her nap time, she announced that she "peepeed" in mommy's bed. So I went up, pulled the sheets off my bed, and put Ellie to sleep in her bed. Five minutes later, "Mommy I peepeed in my bed!" So I took the sheets of her bed, and having run out of beds with sheets on them, I laid a blanket on the floor of her room for her. Five minutes later, "Daddy I peepeed on the blanket!" By this time, Jake and I knew that these were not accidents. Basically, we were getting spanked by our baby.

So, I laid down another blanket. Yep, again, five minutes later, "I peepeed on the blanket!" After about two more of these incidents, I put the kid back in diapers, thinking that would be the end of going up to change her. If she peed now, I would not change her.

Ten minutes later, "Daddy, I poopooed! I poopooed!" "She did it on purpose!" was Jake's reaction. Then, "Daddy, it's coming out! It's coming out!"

Ellie 10, Parents 0

I feel thoroughly beat, whipped, and spanked.

This book sucks.