“You know what, you’ve missed the boat. You didn’t start the potty training soon enough”
Did I? Umm.. I didn’t realise that.
If you are a stay at home mum in India, who makes your kid wear diapers, you may be often subjected to sarcastic remarks and verbal lambastes from the ‘world’- I mean women around.
- “You are at home, you don’t go to the office, right? And you still make your baby wear diapers?”
- “She’s careless, perhaps, and doesn’t bother much about training her child.”
- She’s just too easygoing and comfort-seeking to fulfill her duties as a mother.
But relax dear mommy, they ain’t true. Yes.. trust me on that. You are the best there ever can be.
Potty training is an arduous task, and what it takes is a lot of patience, calm and peace. Even after having watched every Youtube video possible from 4day, 3-day, to 1-day potty training, and even no pants training. I wasn’t seeing much success. And then, I read almost every blog post possible about failing at potty training, to find some cues. This entire phase of ‘Mission potty training’ has been completely exhausting for me, both mentally and physically. I was fully strained by cleaning the baby, the pants, the floor, and yet, making sure that the floor is fully dried, after the cleaning. It is important to ensure that the floor is fully dried, because, the moment you clean the floor, the child with all her might would want to come near the damp floor. Next, she slips and lands straight on the floor hurting her head. I finally gave up until I had the courage to start again.
Yes, it’s hard. It’s hard to be a mommy and do everything that you need to do. I think I am still learning what it takes to be a mom. But it was an eye-opener for me, to meet moms who had their kids toilet trained at less than 6 months of age. Seriously!!
So, I did a lot of research and found that kids are usually ready to be potty trained, somewhere between the age of 1.5 to 3 years. But, were those moms lying? Why would they?
I continued my research and had to swallow my pride to admit, that yes, it is possible to train your kids, at even 2 months of age.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw3oLxgdAVY
I wish I had known this, at the right time. Indeed, I had missed the boat.
In my subsequent phase of training my toddler, I have often had tough moments, when I was almost certain that it may not be until at least 4 or 5, that I may succeed, now. The worst part was the feeling of having failed and not being good enough.
So to find some solace, I started talking my heart out to all the kind-hearted, success story mommy friends, that I had. What I learned by being vocal about my failure in potty training, was something priceless. Yes, some of them did successfully train their kids, at less than 6 months of age, but there was more to it than met the eye.
The hidden chunk of the iceberg was the support system. For 90% of them, it meant live handy support from their moms or moms-in-law or having experienced nannies, who helped them out. While for the rest, it was the awareness and readiness, from their nephews or nieces in the family, that prepared them.
But if like me, you too are a first-time mom, with no experience tales of nephews or nieces or no expert grandmotherly advice from elders, then time surely is a good teacher. But what’s really important is to not be so hard on yourself. It may seem, that there may not be one sure shot formula, that is working for you. Still, every drop fills the ocean, over time. Every effort counts.
With so many things to tend to, single-handedly, it’s ok to resort to the convenience of diapers for your babies and toddlers. Every child is different and so is every mommy, every family, and every situation. So don’t judge yourself and relax. You’ll get there soon mommy.
I have and so will you. Love and hugs.
Upcoming Post: 5 tricks to toilet train your toddler
