We use the potty training method "Toilet Training in Less Than a Day."  Saturday I trained my fourth child who is not yet 2 1/2 years old in just 2 1/2 hours!  No More Diapers!  

When searching for toilet training info for my first child I found this book on Amazon.com and read all of the reviews.  Reading how it worked so quickly for literally hundreds of different families convinced me to try it.  Not only the speed but the fact that this method trains the child to toilet INDEPENDENTLY was a main appeal to us.  We do not have to take our children to the potty.  They learn through this method to go themselves without assistance.  This certainly appeals to us as we usually have three children under the age of three.  We cannot easily drop everything to take a child to the toilet!

My first (daughter) took 4 hours to train.  My second (son) took a day and a half (I was nursing and the training was interrupted--I will not do that again).  My third (son) took ONE hour to train and my fourth (son) after 2 1/2 hours on Saturday has been running around the house in "big boy pants" jumping up and down saying "Yay! I tee-teed in the potty!"  

My husband and I call this method "potty training boot camp" and it is the hardest day of my year each year mentally and emotionally.  It is not easy to focus on "potty" non-stop for an entire day but it is so worth it for our family.  

TRAINING DAY:  My husband takes ALL the other kids away for the day so there will be no distractions.  I do not answer the phone.  The child-in-training gets my full attention and we follow the book's method to the very letter.  I have four pages of typed notes from the book (email me if you want to use them) that I refer to throughout the training.  It is grueling for me, mostly fun for the child (they get so many fun snacks and drinks!), and very rewarding once completed.  The hardest part is the practice trials.  With every accident the child has to do nine practice trials from different areas of the house--run to the potty (fast!), pull down pants (fast!), sit on the potty, pull up pants (fast!), and then run to a new spot and practice again.  Dr. Phil McGraw has a method very similar to the one in this book and he says these trials build "memory muscle" in the child to help them remember what to do . . . and it really works!

Now, this is definitely NOT for everyone.  My friends who prefer more child-centered parenting methods do not like (um, hate!?!) this method.  There is much work involved for parent and child (though for a limited time) and for it to work the parent must be 100% determined to follow through and to never go back to diapers.  The good news is that no matter what method you use, your child WILL eventually be potty trained!  :o) This is not an issue worth stressing over! 

The method was originally developed to train mentally retarded adults how to independently toilet (then made into a book in the 1970s to teach children over 18 months to do so).  The author says a main key to success is to not have any attempts at training prior to the Big Training Day.  I do not let my kids even sit on a potty prior to "training day".  My last two sons at age 2 1/2 began asking me to teach them to use the potty.  So I marked a date on my calendar and told them they must wait until that day when I would teach them.  I have learned that it is best for me to not toilet train in my third trimester of pregnancy or while nursing.  The families I know who use this method say that 2 1/2 is the minimum age they would begin this training.

"Toilet Training in Less Than a Day" can be found at www.amazon.com  Be sure to read all of the reviews!

:o),

Moms4Psalms