Skip to main content

One House, Two Looks?


One of my favorite TV shows, is One House, Two looks hosted by Jane Lockhart and Jason Cass that’s aired on HGTV.  I find it fascinating how they’re able to create 2 completely different designs for identical homes.

Toilet training for my daughters Michelle and Joanne was bit like One House Two looks – the only difference is that instead of getting two different great looks – one of the looks was great whule the other one was – well – ehm not so good. With my first born Michelle, it was stressful, confusing and exhausting. With my second born Joanne, it was relaxed, refreshing and fun. Their personalities are similar in many ways – they’re both independent, focused and intense.

The main difference was that we did not have a clue how to get Michelle “Ready”. With Joanne, we learnt a new intuitive technique that has helped us get her “Ready”.

Confident that we had done everything right and that Joanne was ready, we requested her daycare teachers to start training her. They gave us a questionnaire with 10 questions that they asked us to fill. They indicated that if Joanne scored 8/10 from the questionnaire, she “might” be ready for Toilet Training. According to their assessment, she was “Not Ready”. We were faced with three choices . The first was to agree with them that she was not ready. The second was to pull her out of that daycare and take her to a place where the teachers agreed with our “readiness” perspective. The third option was to prepare her to be “ready”.


We chose the final option. We will get her "Ready" and share our tips on how to get a child "ready" with our friends and other new parents.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Potty ABCs - A is for AWARE - in practice

As soon as my younger daughter learned to sit, at about 7 months, I started getting her to seat on the potty. For a long time, nothing happened – however, I continued and made it a fun time for bonding. I wanted her to be AWARE  that potty is a place for "pee" and "poo". However, there was no pressure or even any expectation on my part that she would do anything. One day, when she was a year old, she “peed” in the potty. I was excited and clapped and danced. Every evening at bath time, I would get her to seat on the potty. I had no expectations – I wanted her to have a pleasant experience and associate the potty with good times. We had our “potty” time every evening before or after her bath as well as just before bed time. When Jo was 18 months old, she started to “poop” in her potty every evening after dinner. Gradually, she started to “Pee” and “poo” in the potty at home. Over the weekend, when she’s with me, she wears big girl underwear just like her big ...

ABCs of Potty: B is for Begin

B is for Begin! Beginning the practice of getting your baby to “pee” and “poo” in the potty is an exciting and sometimes scary thing. In order to begin, all you need is a potty or a toilet seat. At this stage, if your child is still in diapers, you don’t have to switch to underwear. Beginning involves taking baby to “poo” or “pee” in the potty. Awareness helps the parent take the baby to the potty when the baby needs to go. When you sense that the baby wants to “go”, be gentle, casual, relaxed. Be free of expectations. The idea at this stage is to get baby to start the experience. Be positive, encouraging and consistent. Avoid asking baby if she would like to go – most likely she will so no. Casually and positively tell baby “hey, let’s go potty”. If baby is completely against the idea, give it a break for a few days and gradually re-introduce the practice. When using a potty, be flexible about where to put it at this stage. Some children like to have the potty in their room, the ...

Why P is for Potty?

P is for Potty is the perfect companion for parents and toddlers at potty-training time! The perfect companion for parents and toddlers at potty-training time, P is for Potty uses ABCs to engage, entertain and teach potty vocabulary. From “A is for Ask” to “F is for Flush” to “G is for Good Job!” this empowering message will turn potty training into a fun, rewarding experience for everyone—especially your child!! “A big-eyed, blond boy is the star in the simple, eye-catching illustrations for each letter, beginning with “Aa is for Ask”—as in the unlikely question, “Can I go to the bathroom, please?” Putting a look that promotes positive toilet training into alphabetical form is a tall order, but Mutunga manages to create a reasonable, enjoyable line through the potty training process.” ​—Kirkus Reviews ... read full review