Customer Reviews

Potty Training Boys the Easy Way: Helping Your Son Learn Quickly--Even If He's a Late Starter

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

YAY!! Finally, a book devoted entirely to helping moms of boys that are potty training!! This book is fabulous! It's a quick, easy read pointing out practical solutions and common sense approaches to potty training boys. I would recommend it to everyone!! I read 15 books in preparation and this was stellar! It's a must-read and a must-have. It suggests teaching boys in "Sessions" rather than the Potty-Training-In-One-Day idea that RARELY works for boys. The 'Sessions' idea was definitely the key to teaching my son in a happy, relaxed environment. I am SO SO SO SO happy I read this book and am telling everyone about it!! (I would also recommend The Stress-Free Potty Training by Sara Au. It's also FABULOUS!!!)

I read several books on potty training (incl. potty training in a day) and this one was by far the best one: easy to read, practical tips throughout. I just love the approach of training in sessions, it totally worked for my little guy! And it was easy to accomplish, no power struggle at all -- I did wait until he was not only ready but also interested and motivated!

We had gotten very frustrated with our 3 1/2 year old who seemed completely uninterested in potty training. He was obviously ready in all respects except motivation. It just wasn't as hard with his two older sisters who were potty trained easily at about 2 1/2. But after following the guidance in this book, he was completely independently going on the toilet in week. With the exception of a night-time pull-up, we are diaper free!

A few things really rubbed me the wrong way about this book.
1. First of all, I agree with other reviewers' comments about the inaccurate and unhelpful sexist comments in the book. Every child has their own personality and not all boys lack common sense, just as not all girls have common sense. The sexist slant is pervasive throughout the book and shapes the advicee given based on the authors' assumptions.
2. The other problem that I have with this book is that it is (in my opinion) biased against anyone who does start potty training before 3 years old. It is fine that the book is accepting of late potty trainers and I'm sure that it is reassuring to a lot of parents out there that they are not alone and not too late. However, the book goes too far and looks down at those who start earlier as well as those who have employed elimination communication. The book states that "until recently it was fashionable to get babies out of diapers as young as possible." The fact that they call it "fashionable" for those parents who have worked hard to potty train their children earlier, and to no detriment of the child is offensive. In fact, I think that the term "fashionable" applies better to the current trend of later and later potty training. The authors state that "if you don't rush it, potty training will actually take less time in the long run" and "even if you do manage to potty train your son early in his second year, he's then more likely to have a setback... than if you'd waited..." but they do not have any evidence or cite any studies to support these statements. They are simply thrown out there as if they were fact. Furthermore, the authors contradict themselves in the next chapter which contains a section called "don't rush" followed immediately by a section called "don't wait too long."
3. Every step of the actual training involves the parent asking the child a yes or no question (e.g. do you want to wear underwear today? do you want to sit on the potty? etc) and if the child says no, the parent just says "maybe another day" or "maybe next week". Most toddlers will say no by default because they love to say no to anything you ask. It would be much more effective and still very positive to say "hey, let's wear these big boy underpants today!" or "let's go sit on the potty!" This still gives the child the chance to say no if they really don't want to but doesn't invite them to say no just because it's their favorite word. I can just picture parents hearing the same no over and over again and delaying their progress unnecessarily. The book then offers no advice as to what to do if your child keeps saying no (with no end in sight) to the potty training steps and only says to wait and that your child must not be ready, etc.

Aside from the few normal tips that frankly is found in every other book or online article about potty training (e.g. have your toddler see you go to the bathroom), I don't think the book is helpful. It certainly doesn't offer enough useful information to warrant the offensive comments about boys and other methods of potty training. Skip this book as anything worth reading in here can be found for free elsewhere. I also think that some of the ideas in the book actually prolong potty training unnecessarily, which does not make it any easier!

I started the potty training process shortly after my son turned two. Two weeks before his third birthday, he was STILL in diapers. I had read several potty training books, including "The No Cry Potty Training Solution." I took advice from several family members and even tried the "cold turkey" method, which involved just putting my son in big boy underwear and hoping he would eventually come to realize when he had to go. No such luck. Not only was my son uninterested in using the potty, it didn't even bother him when his diapers or underwear were wet. I tried giving him stickers and chocolates to use the potty, but he would just yell "I don't want to use the potty!" I came across "Potty Training Boys the Easy Way" while searching on Amazon. The great reviews quickly prompted me to order the book and give it a try. I read the book from cover to cover, then decided to implement the process. The day I put my son in regular underwear, he used the potty on his own. There he was, sitting in the living room, watching his favorite movie, when he stood up and announced "I need to pee." He walked over to the potty, pulled down his underwear, and did his business. It was like the clouds parted and angels began to sing. I was floored. From then on, the underwear "sessions" got longer and longer. He had a couple of accidents, but that was to be expected. Soon, he was wearing nothing but underwear at home. No more diapers or pull-ups, except at night. Finally, I decided it was time for him to go to preschool in underwear. The first day, I packed six extra outfits and underwear for him, certain he would have an accident while at school. I was shocked when I picked him up and saw him in the same outfit I had dressed him in that morning. Success! That was a month ago. Since then, my son has built more confidence and is a potty pro. He still wears a diaper at night, but that doesn't bother me. I'm just amazed at how quickly the training process went along. I wish I had found this book months ago. It certainly would have saved me many headaches!

My almost 3 and a half year old son has been impossible to train. We had tried everything. Leaving him naked for a week and a half, sticker charts, candy, timers, The Potty Boot Camp (which worked for a couple of my friends), you name it we tried it, and our son just simply would not potty train, and ended up holding #2 in the process, which is so miserable on everyone. Finally, I found this book and in less than 2 weeks, our son is potty trained. I read the book and thought "really this is all we have to do" and sure enough. It worked on the child I was certain would be in diapers or pull ups for the rest of his life!

The title of the book reads "Even if he's a Late Starter", but the "method" in the book involves starting some things when your son is 12 months old. I don't know a single parent that was thinking about potty training at their kid's first birthday. I established in the first 10 minutes of reading that, according to the authors, we had done everything wrong by starting at 24 months. There are a few mildly helpful paragraphs on what to do if your son "doesn't fit the mold" (I'm assuming the mold being when you start at 27 months and your son is trained within a few weeks). But, one of their nuggets of advice for a 3 year old still having issues with the potty was to put them back in diapers for a month. Um, no? Ultimately, this book was a waste of my money and a waste of my time. I feel that 99% of the people who are buying potty training books are not pre-planning how to do it, and are certainly not having an easy time of it if they have already started.

I'm a new Mom with a 25 month old boy and was truly fretting about the subject. Some boys are already "trained" so I wasn't sure if I was lagging behind. Great information. Although my boy is still to young for it, I applied some of the tips immediately and now he proudly uses the potty before his night bath, and sometimes asks for it at other times. I'll take it easy, like a game. Great book.Potty Training Boys the Easy Way: Helping Your Son Learn Quickly--Even If He's a Late Starter

this was a fast read-thank goodness. useful ideas that took a lot of stress out of the process. my 34 mo.old is wearing underwear for 3-4 hours at a time and it has been a very laid back process. just having this book to glance back at is reassuring.

I checked this book out from the library several months after beginning to potty train my son. We had started out strong but we were in a rut and weren't moving forward. I had gotten frustrated and lazy and we both needed a fresh start. I appreciate that the book starts out with ways to prepare for potty training before it is time. I also appreciate the fact that the steps are easy to follow and realistic for most families. I started my son over at square one- as if we had never attempted potty training. I took him to buy new potties and underwear and explained the process to him all over again. I have followed the steps in the book and we are seeing progress and success. Much of what is explained in the book seems like common sense and it is what we were doing on our own, however, sometimes you just need the motivation and a reminder- along with some tricks. I will recommend this book to friends and family with young boys.