Problem Free Potty Training

At left: If a cat can be trained to use a toilet, why are kids such a challenge?

Sometimes I wonder how parents have done it for thousands of years. People have grown up and grown older for generations, and somehow they were raised without a stack of instructional manuals. Of course, nowdays there are several sections at the book stores and libraries telling us how to physically, mentally and emotionally raise children to the point that there are phrases such as "over parenting" in the lexicon.

One phase of life that even caused Freud to believe it affected our adulthood was the act of potty training. Remember the whole argument of being anal retentive or not?

Now there is a new "system" for toilet training called The Potty Boot Camp. Dr. Suzanne Riffle promises that a child can be accident free and beyond the diapers in about a week. I am a little skeptical that this is possible, as kids bodies may not be fully mature and night time accidents may happen. The key is to not try to potty train until a child is 18 months old or older, and apparently the system offers reward to the child.

I am skeptical when the thoughts of reinforcing self esteem and going to the bathroom are discussed in the same sentence, but there is method of reinforcing personal responsibility in a child that is at work. Some of the reviews or feedback mentioned parents using stickers or M&Ms to help the child focus on the goal of using the toilet instead of diapers.

The book is available through eBook download for $5.95. If you are a parent who is at wit's end, then it seems like its a small price to pay for giving something else a try.