Part IV - Poop On Mars (of Our Poop Series!)
Welcome to our FINAL Poop Blog (well, for now...)! Let me know how all of this works for you if you give it a try!
Objective:
My child will poop on that potty with enthusiasm and vigor!
Activities:
Sit child on potty. Try anything to get poop to come out.
When child is not on potty but displaying signs of incoming poop, GET THEM TO THE POTTY RIGHT AWAY…
When child doesn’t want to sit on potty, do everything you possibly can to distract them and keep them on that pot.
I have been thinking a lot about how to get this kid of mine fully potty trained. And while we are super close…. I mean… down to about one accident a day! We are not there yet and both my husband and I have been getting frustrated. My husband is frustrated with my son (mainly because he pees as fast as he can and then shoots up like a rocket and runs off to go play… but then he has to pee again like, 10 minutes later…) and then I get frustrated with my husband for being frustrated with my son. And you know how this goes, on and on and on... UNTIL! We come up with something more creative to address the issues.
So, a few things have helped us and I have a few additional ideas to help other potty-training families when you are super close but nothing seems to work. For all of these recommendations, we must tap into that beautiful, plentiful, rich place in a child’s heart and mind:
My son develops these little special interests (as do most kids). We can always tell what his special interests are at any given time because it is literally the very first thing out of his mouth when he first wakes up (and sometimes, he even proclaims the word loudly in the middle of the night!). For a while it was “DUCK!” and then it was “DOGGY!!!” and then “TRUCK!” and now… it is “A MICKEY MOUSE!” And oh my goodness, if only you could hear the way he says it first thing in the morning. It is just the sweetest thing ever. Whatever his special interest is at the moment, he LOVES it, looks for pictures of it (ducks or doggies or trucks), and proclaims the word loudly multiple times an hour all throughout the day.
So, instead of getting upset with David when he would have an accident, we have decided to capitalize on those special interests in creative ways as incentives to keep his pants clean. While we had been doing the commando thing for quite a while, we thought that maybe if he wore Mickey Mouse underwear, he would feel more responsible for keeping his pants clean. We went to Walmart, picked out the cutest Mickey Mouse underwear (yes, they are a bit big because NOBODY makes 18 month or 24 month underwear, do they???). Each morning, when we first put his underwear on, we would say “Look David! Mickey Mouse is going to be with you all day today! Make sure you keep Mickey Mouse clean. We do not pee on Mickey Mouse.” Then, we will pull his pants over his underwear. We also started to use a Mickey Mouse toilet insert on our downstairs bathroom and David LOVES to go “visit” Mickey! One of the other things we have started to do is to bring his stuffed Micke Mouse (MM) into the bathroom if he is struggling to poop. We will use the little MM voice and encourage him to poop. MM will even grunt along with him and then congratulate him once he is finished.
And you know what? It worked… He now says “Mickey Mouse” with a look of concern whenever he has to go potty, he will knock on the downstairs bathroom door and say “Mickey! Mickey!” And if he has an accident, he feels even sadder than before! (This part is so adorable but also, I feel just a tiny bit guilty about it!)
But this whole thing really got me thinking about tapping into kids’ imaginations for potty training. So I had a two additional creative ideas for kids struggling to poop…
POOPING ON MARS!!!
Materials:
Some kind of “Astronaut Helmet” (motorcycle helmet, fun hat, or even a box with a cutout for their little face!)
Your phone
Your favorite outerspace book!
Glow in the Dark Stars!
Activities:
Give child a “custom-made, magical portal to Mars, astronaut pooping hat! Whenever you get that funny feeling in your tummy, you can put on your magical pooping hat and push out that poop!”
This would actually just be motorcycle helmet / box with cutout for their little face to wear while they sit on that potty.
Add a special pair of “goggles” (Glasses} for an added bonus!
Read them stories about space as they sit there with their little helmet.
Listen to Laurie Berkner’s song “Rocketship Run.”
For every poop they make, feel free to add a glow in the dark star to their bedroom wall or ceiling, or even to their little potty!
Many children become embarrassed about pooping as they get older (this is part of why they go to hide in another room) and they might even feel frightened by it. Tapping into their imagination is a great way to get their mind on something else and to help them feel excited instead of scared.
UNICORN POOP!
Okay seriously… who doesn’t love unicorns???
Materials:
UniDooDoo Tiara: An old roll of toilet paper that your child can decorate with glitter and color to their heart’s content with some string to tie around child’s head OR follow these DIY instructions HERE for a way cooler Unicorn Horn.
Glitter Stickers
Your phone
Your favorite Unicorn Book!
Activities:
Give child a “custom-made, magical UniDooDoo Tiara! Whenever you get that funny feeling in your tummy, you can put on your magical UniDooDoo Tiara and push out that poop!”
Add a special “wand” as an added bonus (this can literally just be a slim dowel rod wrapped in pretty ribbon
Read them their favorite unicorn book!
Listen to Mis Patty’s song “Unicorn.”
I know the song is ridiculously annoying to adults, but man, if that doesn’t get your kid jazzed up to push out a poop, I don’t know what will!
For every poop they make, feel free to add a glitter sticker to a special notebook or on the underside of their little potty!
I have found that kids love to hide things, so hiding a sticker underneath the potty chair is really exciting for many children!
As you are reading this, I am sure you are sensing a theme…
Special Interest + Imaginative item to wear + Story + Music + Reward = SUCCESS
Let me know how this works for you or if you have other Imaginative ways to get your child to GOOOOOO!
Thanks again for visiting!
Angela