My Mother prided herself on the fact that she toilet trained me at six months. I never really believed her until I toilet trained my children. Then I realized that my mother was toilet trained. She knew when to put me on the potty and did. Apparently, I must have been like my youngest grandson who poops exactly at the same time twice a day. Really.
I add toilet training to the list of a parent’s terrible jobs and responsibilities.
I hated toilet training my children. I found that other mothers had unusual methods that seemed to work, but could not work for me. One friend, still a long (we never say old) friend, and I toilet trained together. She believed in leaving her daughter undressed in the house from the waist down so she could grab her and put her on the potty. It seems that this method is very popular in 2013 too. I never got it. I did not want to clean a child AND a portable potty. I liked using the toilet itself with one of the seats that sits on it.
I found that the second child seemed to toilet train herself. She wanted to be a big girl like her big sister. Toilet training a second child is much easier than a first child. I see that again with the younger of the siblings of my grandchildren. Each one, in his and her way, has chosen when and how to go on the potty. Aha! That is the trick. The child must be ready.
However, for those parents and grandparents who think toilet training is a sign of whether you are a successful parent or grandparent, there is good news. It was only time before the I Pad made it to the toilet training world.
In the Miami Herald, Saturday, May 18, 2013, Leanne Italie, in an article titled, “Tots’ Potty Seats Go High-Tech,” promotes the CTA Digital 2-in-1 Potty with Activity Seat for I Pad.” She tells us that the molded plastic potty seat industry was worth more than $50 million in 2011, according to the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association. She says:
Potty seat choices have proliferated, sprouting all manner of bells and whistles. Many convert like Transformers to serve multiple functions. One has a voice recorder to add a personal message (“Go Jacob!”).
I am not kidding. She adds:
Others belt out happy tunes, have cubbies to stash wipes and books, sport their own toilet paper holders, simulate flushing, look like mini-urinals and are decked out as fancy thrones. There is one with an IPad holder and another with handlebars that looks like a ride on toy. Still more can be monogrammed, are round to appear as ladybugs and soccer balls, rock like rocking chairs and, for the design-minded, look like contemporary furniture. And there’s no end to TV, movie and book tie-ins, from Sesame Street to Spongebob.
The potty with the IPad is $39.99 at Amazon.
Here is where I am really concerned. Ms. Italie quotes Angie Peterson, marketing director for Levels of Discovery, “which puts out painted wood potty thrones for up to $83 a pop that include a place to slide in a photo of your little one.”
Grandparents are often the buyers of these thrones, she said, and the chairs match the company’s bedroom sets. They come with matching wood seat covers that turn them into regular chairs when training is complete.
Aha! This company and the industry must have read what I read that Boomers have all the wealth in this country. They are targeting us with potty seats! BUT WE KNOW BETTER.
So, it seems, does the author of the article, who ends with:
But the bottom line: what kind of seat you put that cute little bottom on matters far less than how ready your toddler is to start potty training.
So, Grandmas everywhere REBEL against this new marketing trend. Remember this Grandma’s saying for everything: Don’t worry dear (to daughter, daughter-in-law, son, son-in-law, grandpa), my precious grandchild will be using the potty by the time he or she is walking down the aisle!
And for those Grandmas, like me, who must bring a present every time we visit. Spring for the best potty seat that goes on the toilet in the house and splurge for Disney Cars at around $14 (not $83): Click here to purchase at Amazon.
And for the parent, a folding potty seat to travel with at around $8: Click here to purchase at Amazon:
After all, do we want our grandchildren to get hemorrhoids when they get older as parents train them to sit for hours on a potty?
I am so happy I am past potty training.
Joy,
Mema