Potty Training: There's an App for That!

Potty training: There’s an app for that.  Several apps to be exact, ranging in price and content.  For instance, Elmo’s Potty Time book is available as an interactive ebook for ipad and iphone and so is the renowned book, “Once Upon a Potty" for boys or girls.  

The market is saturated with products for parents ready to potty train their child.  Take a quick trip to Amazon and search  “potty seats" to see what I mean.  You can buy a custom made potty throne complete with book shelves and a toilet paper roll holder in queen or king style. There are port-a-potty seats and seats for the youngest of babies.

Parents have plenty of motivating factors that drive them to begin potty training their child. The cost of diapers, big boy poops and diaper rashes are just a few off the top of my head.  Whatever your reason for wanting to potty train your child, you are not alone.

Sadly however, it is not the parent who needs the motivation in this endeavor.  No matter how much we plead, beg or bribe, we parents cannot force our child to go potty. If they are not ready for it, we will have to accept that.  

Desire to use the toilet has nothing to do with developmental readiness, or cognitive skills.  You may have a completely independent and capable preschooler with fantastic verbal skills who considers the potty an interruption of her play time. Or, you may have a 1 year old who watches older siblings and insists that he no longer has need of a diaper, but does not understand why he's wet when he pees in underwear.  If you have concerns that your child's potty training motivation is not age appropriate, by all means, ask your pediatrician.  Most likely, you will be told, “some kids want to use it, others don’t.”  

Yes, there are lengthy debates over rewarding children for using the potty and what age is appropriate to introduce the toilet.  I wish I could hand you the perfect answer in this short blog post.  However, if I knew the secret that made all children want to use the bathroom instead of a diaper, I would be a millionaire.  The only advice I can give is what my grandmother passed on to my mom, “Hardly anyone walks down the aisle not knowing how to use the toilet.”  

With that in mind, be supportive of your child’s accomplishments, and don’t get to disappointed over the accidents.  Make the potty as cool and as exciting as you can possibly make it.  Read plenty of books and yes, even apps, about the potty and be sure to talk about it when you can.  Eventually, your child will become motivated to use the toilet consistently and when he does, be sure to give him a big Woo-Hoo from his friends at KinderJam!