The three P’s? I bet you are wondering what I am talking about. It is not really a thing, I just made it up. Pandemic, Parenting, and…Potty (training). It is just over a year when our lives got flipped upside down. I was on a family ski trip in Boyne when our normalcy got shut down, schools closed, and everything was on a standstill not knowing what would come next.
I have been an early education teacher for 15 years. Most of my time has been spent at The Learning Experience, I have been in the classroom that is responsible for potty training children before they move to the next class room. You can call me “Queen of Potty Training.” 😉 Hahaha! I have experienced it all when it comes to kids and the “dreaded” time to potty train the little ones. Okay, now when I say “dreadful”, I just mean that time when parents need to take the reins and teach our children to be these little humans who go pee and poop in the toilet.
I am also a first-time parent to an energetic, outgoing, adventurous, almost 3-year-old boy. As a parent, you know there are many phases that we go through with our children and potty training is one of them. If you have gone through it more than once you have probably had a different experience each time. No two kids are alike.
When Atlas was 15 months old, I started seeing signs that he might be ready to start using the toilet. He would touch his diaper when it was wet, like he didn’t like it and wanted to be changed and he hid when he had to go #2 and then told me after he finished. But being a first-time parent, I questioned it, thought he was too young to be potty trained, nervous about what others would think, and again he was only 15 months old. But being the “Queen of Potty Training”, I also knew that it would have to happen sooner or later. I knew what had to be done but doing it was another story. Strangely, helping other children that are not mine become potty trained is a lot easier.
A couple months rolled by and I started seeing on Mom Facebook groups, other mothers talking about potty training and using the OCPT method. I wondered “What the heck is OCTP?”, I never heard of it. I asked around and found out it is a book called “Oh, Crap! Potty Training Everything Modern Parents Need to Know to Do It Once and Do It Right”. I instantly jumped on Amazon and ordered myself a copy. I was so excited, I read the book in a couple days and was shocked at how much it made sense in a child development way. That was it, I planned on taking time off work right after our family vacation and ripping the band-aid off to do this thing! As a parent you don’t necessarily want to use your paid-time off to stay home and potty train your toddler. But as a parent we make those sacrifices for our favorite little people in our life.
Come back around to when things got shut down, I ended up not going back to work and taking time off was not an issue anymore. At the time, I was not sure if this was a good thing or not. To be honest, there was no excuse now. I had all the time in the world. So it was time...time to potty train! By this time Atlas just turned 20 months. He was a little more mature, a little more wild, and a lot more toddler! I did another quick scan of the book to be better prepared. I’m not going to go into great details of the method of OCPT, but say that there are “building blocks” to this method that you go through to get from diapers to fully potty trained. The author Jamie Glowacki, explains it as, “We are going to bring your child’s awareness from Clueless to I Peed to I’m Peeing to I Have to Go Pee.” Following this method seemed so common sense to me after reading the entire book, but my mental state was still a (lot) bit nervous. Again, I had those thoughts of being judged for doing it at such a young age and is he really ready? See the real thing about potty training your child is not about them being ready, but are YOU ready to take it on? It is so important that we as the parents are fully prepared for this journey. It is messy. It is frustrating. It is disgusting. It is tiring. It is hard! So set yourself and your little one up for success. Get the paper towel, cleaning supplies, potty chair, and wine (trust me you’ll need it)! Our children are little sponges. They soak up every opportunity to learn, we just need to give them the chances to do so. We as the parents need to be mentally prepared for the challenges that come with potty training.
Four months later, Atlas turned two. He did it! We did it! He was completely day potty trained and just a few months ago completely 100% diaper free! I look back at it now, it being just over a year when Covid made life difficult and I can say that from all the negative things that came with Covid, I was able to take something from it and turn it into something good for my family and I. So read up on different potty training methods, (but I highly recommend “Oh Crap! Potty Training”) and put those big kid panties on (haha) and get yourself ready for that wonderful phase of potty training. If I can do it, you can do it too!
Have some fun potty training stories? Share them for us all to lighten the mood!
-Heather Trubak, Prepper Teacher at The Learning Experience South Lyon
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