Potty Training the boy

Potty training the boy is one of the milestones of his life, but it is not a fun experience for Dad.

As all you parents will know, anything that can cut down on the mountain of nappies you can get through with a non-potty user is a blessing.

My son was not keen on the potty for a long time, to the point of kicking off the moment he saw you reaching for it. We tried so many things to get him to used it.

Asking him every 10 minutes was one thing we tried, but soon he realised that if he said ‘no’, then daddy would leave him alone to get on with his important international baby business.

Not long after this he started to tell us when he needed to go, but with no interest in actually going to the potty to do it. The adult equivalent is having a beer can that you know should go in the recycling, but the normal bin is closer.

Next up was good old bribery. This was the only thing that seemed to work. First we used chocolate, but soon realised that this was not the best idea; a toddler full of chocolate is not the best mindset for teaching. So as the dutiful father, I disposed of said chocolate to avoid any future issues (the things a dad has to do for the family).

After the failure of the chocolate bribery, we switched to stickers. This worked like a dream. We got him to pick the stickers out at the supermarket, he told everyone that walked past that they were his stickers, just in case they tried to steal them I guess. This was cute for the first 10 times, but after a 30-minute shop round Tesco, it was beginning to become more like a toddler torture technique. So I used the only item (that is helpfully provided by Tesco for free) to combat the constant onslaught, the magic free fruit.

Back at home armed with the stickers and a potty, he was soon on the way to being potty trained. With a sticker being rewarded for each successful visit, the wall was soon plastered with his badges of honour.