I actually have to take back something I’ve said. Something I’ve advocated strongly in the past. . .I must now rescind. And what, might you ask have I advocated that I now have to take back? The Pull Up–but let me explain further.
No doubt, when it comes to potty training, many of us experienced moms have tales of what would and would not work. Among the top of the list of things that doesn’t work is The Pull Up. “The Pull Up is a waste of money. . .” “It doesn’t really help them learn the feel of being wet.” “It’s too much like a diaper. . .” And so on. I have always agreed. We are kind of a ‘go-naked-until-you-get-it’ type family. I’ve had three kids potty trained each in under a week. I often advocate in the forums waiting until the child is ready rather than pushing it, potty training when there isn’t a lot else going on and no major transitions on the horizons, not worrying about night time potty training (because pottying at night is hormonal rather than a ‘skill’ to be learned), and always, always, I discourage parents from getting pull ups. Until now.
I’m not sure if it’s because there are two of them that we’re trying to train this time or if it’s because we have older children–all of whom have activities to do and friends to see but it seems that we just can’t quite find a time when we’re not busy. I skipped major commitments this summer to stay home but somehow in someway we found that we were not consistently home quite enough to get the job done. I have to say too, that the twins are much younger than the others were when we potty trained them. We don’t have an agenda for them to be potty trained by a certain time, but they are interested in using their potties and well, it makes no sense to stop them.
So we began our summer with good intentions, a bunch of training underwear and a package of pull ups. We used the pull ups when we’re out because surely if we expect them to go potty while we’re out, they have to be able to pull down their pull ups. Now we’re really not a whole lot closer to being independent on the diapering front but the girls find diapers insulting. Diapers you see, are for babies–and they (at least in their own minds) are not babies. Babies wouldn’t even attempt to use the toilet.
So there it is: our diapering limbo. I would not be surprised to find that the adventures in potty training will continue throughout the fall.
Related Articles:
Tales from the Potty: The Rules
Tales from the Potty: Potty Mouths