I'm sure you all remember the advert, and the slogan "I'm a big kid now!"
It's a confusing time when thinking about or in the throes of potty training.
We are targeted by companies to buy there products. We believe they will help us AND help our children learn, during the potty training process.
Butt (get it?)
How useful are they? Let me answer that for you.
NOT. USEFUL. AT. ALL.
Pull ups are in fact GLORIFIED DIAPERS. There about as much use as a chocolate teapot.
It's normal for parents to talk to their children about getting rid of diapers and using pull ups. They go on like underwear, and they are easier to remove than a traditional diaper.
(Esp) when your little one gets to the point where they no longer want to be changed. It's easy to get covered in poop.
We treat them as a stepping stone for the sake of the process, to get from A to B.
Diapers - Pull ups - Underwear
It makes sense to us, as an adult. We know how to use the bathroom, we know when we have to go and where we should go. We know what we want our children to do.
In more cases than not, we think that by telling our toddlers, that they are no longer a baby, but a 'big kid'. That they don't want / need to wear diapers anymore. 'Thats what babies wear', we say 'Your a big boy now' etc.. etc..
We think that by doing this, they will get it too.
BUTT (sorry I can't help it) they don't
I want to help you see it, through a young child's eyes. So you can see how using pull up's or even potty training whilst wearing a diaper, only leads to confusion and lots of accidents.
Since birth, an infant has peed several times a day. It just comes out, so does the poop, although it can often be more difficult.
We recognize that they are wet and we change their little cheeky bottoms. Over and over again.
As they get older, we start to think about potty training.
We think (with our adult brain) that by exchanging the diaper for a pull up, we can start to work on this process with less clean up (accidents).
However, to a child, things feel the same.
They still feel safe.
Just like wearing a diaper.
The only different is, Mum keeps going on at me, to use that potty. I don't want to sit on that thing, when I can pee right here. I wish she wouldn't keep asking me, I'm just going to keep saying "NO", I don't have to go pee.
Children actually create muscle memory to feeling safe, regardless of what they are wearing. So if they are in a diaper or a pull up, it all feels the same. In the moment (and remember they can't multi task like we do) they just go. Pull up, diaper, or underwear, It all feels the same.
We then think. Why are they not getting it?
Make sense?
Remember:
Accidents are an opportunity for your child to learn how to do it right. At the end of the day, your child is doing what they have always done, which is to pee where ever they are.
DIAPERS and PULL UPS are PROP'S in this process, to learn how to do it right, ALL PROP'S much be removed.
If you are struggling, you can download our FREE Get ready to start Potty Training e.Book.
If you feel like you need more, there are several options available to meet all budgets.
Potty training Ebook with Video + email combos.
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