My new book
>> Friday, May 16, 2008
Pottytraining has a way of making you feel like you are the most incompetent parent in the world. Really. I've taught him how to eat, how to walk, and he's even getting pretty darn good at saying the alphabet. How hard can it be to teach someone that their pee and poop go in the toilet, not in their pants?
I wake up in the morning actually dreading the day because of the battles I know I'm going to face that day from the time he wakes up in the morning to the time he goes to bed. Oh the DRAMA: the whining, the crying, the temper tantrums.
And then there's all the carrying on that W does too!
I'm not proud of what I have resorted to over the course of the past two weeks to get this child with an iron will to sit on the potty. You name it, I've bribed with it.
Last night after I had vented my frustrations at full blast to hubby I was trying to unwind with some parental reading before bed. He looked at me and said, "Why do you read books like that before bed? It just makes you feel bad because our kids don't do what the book says they should be doing and then you don't sleep."
Oh wise one. How true are your words.
So we decided we are going to write a book about all the terrible, frustrating, abnormal things kids do so that moms out there like me actually feel better about their own kids after they read it. Anyone care to contribute?
8 comments:
Oooh, me! Me! Me! I'll contribute a whole chapter on kids who DON'T sleep through the night....even when they're 8 and 5 years old.
I don't know if you've heard the Poopsmith song by Over The Rhine, but I think it's required for all potty-training parents...I hope this link works: http://www.sideload.com/cb/track/?id=361739
Oopsie-I'll save chapter three for you right after chapter two: "I never knew my child's body could make that noise!"
Gretchen-Hysterical. I can't get it out of my head. I guess it's a nice change from "Big Red Car."
UPDATE: We had our first accident free day today. Can I get an AMEN?!
Amen.
Your book can go on the shelf right next to our own "And You Thought YOU Were a Terrible Parent" about all the horrible things we, as parents, hate to admit we do (leaving the kid in the car for two seconds while we deposit books in the library drop off, etc.). Our son seems to "get a cold" just before long plane trips so we HAVE to Benadryl him which also means he'll sleep.
Our contribution to your book: Our son can name half of American Idol's top ten but thinks today's Sunday school story involved a dinosaur and giant bunny.
what jonathan didn't say is that we potty trained @ by letting him go in the buff for the better part of 2 weeks. We have tile floors throughout the house. this was not without accidents. But I think it actually worked because we were in the middle of shifting cultures. So perhaps try moving to another continent, it seems to help the potty training.
J was preety cooperative when it came to potty training, writing his name, wait- holding a pencil NOT in his fist- another story. I totally got out a bag of kissables and gave one for every letter he wrote correctly today. We managed to get through the first 3 letters of his name, only 2 to go! Kindergarten is only a few short months away... Please save me the chapter on "children who can't write their name but know their way around a computer better than most mommies."
I'll add to the chapter "Boys do not potty train until 3 because they want to be in control". I worked with C on potty training many different occasions around 18 months until 3 years. He would seem to "get it" then decide he no longer was interested. I would wait a while until he was interested again, then same thing. I had been told boys do not potty train until they are 3, but I kept trying anyway. And then as his 3rd birthday approach I thought ok now I will have to really work at this and not give up. Then, on his own (since he really already knew what to do just choose not to), right around his 3rd birthday, he said he wanted to wear underwear and has been potty trained since. (Sorry if W is already 3 and this was not helpful)
I can contribute to the "kids who never sleep through the night" chapter.
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