Potty Training is Scary

By Kenda - March, 21st 2012

My second child is ready to start potty training. In all honesty he probably could have been trained several months ago, but I’ve been scared to start. You may be thinking, “Didn’t you say SECOND child? You’ve done this before!” Yeah. I have. A bazillion years ago.

My boys are 12 years apart. My eldest was potty trained before he was 2 and I think it took less than a week. The problem is, it’s been so long – that’s all I remember. I don’t remember what methods I used, what type of potty seat, how I motivated him etc. Now that it’s time to potty train our 29 month old I’m scared that I won’t know how. The biggest rule of potty training is : once you start – don’t stop. I’m so nervous about that part. What if it doesn’t work? What if he just refuses to sit still long enough to learn? Will I give up….will I give in?

I’ve even made excuses by saying to myself that he doesn’t meet every single criteria for potty training. But, now there’s no denying it. He gets upset any time I want to put a new diaper on him, tells me when he’s soiled his diaper, knows all the words and their uses (pee pee, poo poo, potty etc) and we’ve already had him with us in the bathroom so that he knows what the potty is for.

Today I was in the bathroom and talking to him through the door as usual (you moms know exactly what I mean) and he said, “me poo poo. I’m coming, mommy!” and tried to climb over the gate. He was disappointed to find out that he’d already soiled his diaper so he could only sit on the potty and nothing more. But, I knew that was my last (painfully obvious) sign.

We’ll be doing the direct approach: underwear during the day – pull ups at night. So I’ll have my hands full (…literally, I’m afraid). I keep researching how this works and all the articles reassure me that it’s simple and, supposedly, fast. I want to believe that. I really do. So why do I keep Googling ‘potty training tips’ as if there is some magical step I haven’t found yet?

Moving to solid food was a cinch. Giving up the bottle was easy. Going from crib to toddler bed was effortless. With potty training I feel like a first time mom. I feel like this is one of the most important milestones for a child and I want to do it right. Not for me. For him.

Usually we worry if our children can learn something.
This time I’m worried if I can teach something.