They still read books—June 19, 2012✓ Verified purchase
After getting advice from a friend to get this book (she potty trained both of her boys in one day using this book/method), I immediately went out and got Teri's book. I read it once, took the test to see if my daughter was ready (she wasn't), and waited. I have to admit I was skeptical at first - how could anyone possibly potty train a child in one day? Once I believed my daughter was ready (and, honestly, when I had the time off to devote to the potty party), I dove head-first into the potty party suggestions from Teri. Overall, the day was a general disaster! She only had accidents, and even though she went poop twice that evening, I was a total wreck and felt absolutely disappointed. However, the reason was, my daughter wasn't ready. I immediately went to Teri's website and sent her a message; I laid out my failed attempt to potty train my daughter as my friend had done successfully, and sought advice/tips on what to do since the potty party had failed. As much as Teri's book is a FANTASTIC resource (and I whole-heartedly encourage all parents to purchase the book and follow her advice -especially the readiness quiz!) the greatest part of this whole experience for me has been communicating with Teri since I first tried to potty train my daughter. She immediately contacted me about my potty party day, and I recieved astounding encouragement, help, advice, and solid suggestions from her. How many authors make such a tremendous effort to contact their fans/readers? I didn't even believe when I first contacted her via her website that anything would come from it. I just wanted to vent. And even though my potty party wasn't an immediate success, my daughter learned a lot. Just a few months after the potty party, she has essentially gotten to be fully potty trained. She remembered songs we sang, gestures, etc. from the potty party, even though I abandoned potty training during the interim. And the best part is that Teri has stuck with me through it all. She continues to support me and provide assistance, and I will recommend her book/assistance to all of my friends who are working to potty train their kids. I believe her potty party idea is the best one out there, and I will be using it for my future children (when they are ready! Have I mentioned that enough?). Teri is an author with a true purpose, and she won't let you work through this challenging experience alone. Read more
Buffy—February 2, 2011✓ Verified purchase
My 2-year-old daughter had been sitting on the potty chair for 4 or 5 months, liked to talk about using the potty, like to flush the toilet saying "bye bye pee pee", and was fascinated by big girl panties, so I bought this book looking for good ideas to introduce the concept. The book has some very great info. I like having a clear picture of what being potty trained means - a child can identify the need to go, goes to the bathroom on their own, can pull their pants down, get on the potty, go, wipe, wash their hands and get dressed again. I also loved the idea of making a big deal out of the big day with presents and treats, a party and a celebration at the end. I spent about a month getting everything together - the potty doll, the training panties, panties for the doll, the treats, the decorations (which I kept to a bare minimum as my daughters party experience was so limited as to be completely unaware). We had the grandparents at the ready to answer the phone to hear the big news, and daddy was coming home early for the celebratory dinner. The morning went great. My daughter loved taking "baby doll" to the bathroom, loved reading the potty books and watching the one potty video Potty Power over and over. She was amazing that baby doll pooped chocolate frosting, and peed in the potty. She did not notice or mind when baby doll had an accident on the couch - that part went right over her head - she did not feel badly when baby doll "got in trouble". We had lunch and then brought out the panties. She squealed with delight and put them right on. She had had plenty of pretzels, marshmallows and juice boxes (all never-before-seen treats) and she was able to pee and poop in the potty right away! We called daddy, and she peed on the floor while we got him on the phone. We sat on the potty and had another success. We called grandma and peed on the floor while telling her the news. We had another success and called the other grandma, and then pooped in the panties while on the phone. Few things are less fun than cleaning up poopy panties. There were six more puddles on the floor, the carpet, the chair. It was now nap time and I was so exhausted, disheartened, crabby I did not know how I was going to go on. After nap time, we put plastic pants on over the panties, which kept the mess off the floor but also created a perfectly comfortable situation for her, she could not feel she was wet, or did not mind. I knew this was counter to the training process but I had gone as far as I was able. Daddy did not make it home in time for the celebratory dinner. I vowed to try again in the morning and posted my dismay on Facebook where friends laughed and laughed at the idea that this could be done from start to finish in a day. I did not get the sense that she had even an inkling of when she needed to go. I can't help but wonder if I had left the plastic pants off during that first week if she would have got it after a few days. Instead, for about 2 months we have been wearing the panties in the morning, practicing getting them up and down, practicing getting on and off the big potty with a potty seat, practicing everything except peeing in the potty. She did not even accidentally go, ever, even once. We continued to use the potty doll, and offering the potty to all dolls and bears. I also continued to offer 2 m&ms every time she sat on the potty, and I promised a really wonderful present if she told me she needed to pee, sat on the potty and then peed. She often asked for the present after telling me she needed to pee and then peeding in her undies. I reminded her she needed to pee in the potty to get the present. And then, like magic, one day she peed in the potty. And did it again, and again, and again. She was clean and dry for the entire morning. Now we pee in the potty several times a day. And sometimes outside the potty, for which she is very matter-a-fact, and always says "oh well, that happens". Indeed it does! We are not potty trained yet. She has the routine down, though, and is developing the "feeling" of having to go. It takes patience, a lot of paper towels, consistency, and enthusiasm. We are both up for the challenge on this modified schedule. I do not know how in the world this book could work in a single day. For us, the process has taken months, but if you had done a lot of the "having the feeling" work ahead of time, you might pull it off. That was not the case in our house. And there are more milestones to come, pooping, "getting it" while wearing a pull-up, using a public potty without a potty seat, and on and on. I am confident though we will be ready when preschool starts in 7 months. It would have been a LOT easier just to wait until she figured it out on her own, though I realize when months lead to years that can be discouraging for parents too :-) Read more
