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 sister. We told our daycare provider that she was ready and was diaper-free at home. We asked them to give it a try at daycare. They said she wasn’t ready based on a “readiness” questionnaire they gave us.  The questionnaire indicated that for her to be “ready” by their definition, she would have the ability to dress independently; sit quietly for 2-5 minutes; tell the caregiver that they need to go potty; go to their potty on their own.

At first, we were disappointed. Later on we thought, “Since she’s not “ready” based on this criteria, we can prepare her.. Since we did not want the experience to become stressful for Joanne, we continued to use underwear at home and make it fun and she continued to use diapers at daycare. We’re confident that when the daycare teachers eventually decide that she’s “ready” she will indeed be ready because we have prepared her.

My experience from my daughter’s toilet training is that starting earlier and making the process natural and fun is less stressful. The downside was that Joanne enjoys pooping in the toilet so much that when we put her to bed at night she says “I have to go poo” and she spends about half an hour bonding and playing with her sister as the “poos”. This was a great relief because for my first born Michelle, it was very hard to get her to "Poo" in the potty.

Awareness can start at any age. In my next blog, I will share with you how my friend Naitore got her baby ready by building awareness first.

Get a copy of P is for Potty today. https://www.amazon.com/Potty-My-ABCs-Training-ebook/dp/B08DKKJR7L