Customer Reviews

Potty Training in One Day: A Guide for Today's Parents

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

 

 

I have a hectic house with 4 children. My newly turned 3-year-old son is ready to potty train. He and his mommy just need a little push. So, I was looking for a book that would outline a few steps to quickly get him into big boy pants. I am ready to stay home with him a few days, get some help with the baby, and just get it done.
I purchased this book :( Much to my disappointment, in the intro I found that it is part of a "system" that includes a "drink and wet doll". The "big day" involves the child teaching the doll how to go potty. I threw the book across the room. Out of curiosity, I went to the website where you can purchase their full line of products. You can get the doll and book as a set for $49.95. Hmmmm. Or, you can go really nuts and get the "complete system" which includes doll and bottle, book, potty, and undies for $89.95. Please!!! But you cannot buy just the doll! So, what do you do if you're a dummy like me who already bought the book? You're out another 50 bucks!
I went back to the book description on amazon, just to make sure I didn't overlook something, and didn't find any mention of needing an accompanying doll. No mention was made in the two 5-star reviews either. Very fishy.
I am doing some major mental head slaps for even looking for a book! I have 2 older boys who potty trained without the aid of a drink and wet doll! I can do this!!!
I don't have a problem with someone using this method to potty train. Hey...whatever works! And, I'm sure the book makes some good points about the whole process of potty training. I'm still too mad to look at the book, though. What I do take issue with is being baited into buying a "complete system" which "includes everything a parent would need to potty train in one day". How about telling us that BEFORE we buy the book!!!

While there are some good concepts in this book, it didn't work for us.

We went into house lockdown for nearly 30 hours before giving up on it. We used the entire sytem, the training pants, the doll (which is missing like a third of her hair across the top), the potty seat, the potty cover (the "convenient" loop for hanging it on a hook snapped off after less than a week of use). The potty pants did nothing to help, and required us following our kid around with a towel the entire time. You might as well not use them at all--and we washed them beforehand as advised. We did the treats, the stickers, the having Potty Patty pee in the pot (more often than not it ends up on your leg before you can get her pants off, and the bottle is hard to get in her mouth). Perhaps this book is meant for the older child, and not one who is under 2.5 years of age.

In the end, our kid ended up being more resistant to the potty whereas before she had been so-so with it. For some reason she relates to Potty Patty though--probably because she has a lot of accidents!

Our oldest son is 32 months of age and had been showing some inconsistent interest in using the potty. Thinking he may have been ready to take the next step, we purchased this book along with the doll and training pants. He wanted nothing to do with the doll or the roll playing that is advised. And, although we believe in the idea of going from diapers to "big boy" underpants without pull-ups, the suggested response to an accident (which includes 10 back-and-forth runs to the potty and much misery to the parents and child) is pointless. Your child needs to connect the urge to void with using the potty. Simply going through the motions 10 times fails to accomplish this and makes for a decidedly uncozy environment. The book suggests that the intent of this exercise, in part, is to inconvenience the child, but we believe a wet pair of underwear and the embarrassment of failure are inconvenient enough. Endorsement from a television psychologist does not equal medical truth. Think twice before spending hard-earned money on this product.

I know the author MENTIONS having used the Azrin book "Potty Train in One Day", but I guess she forgot to mention that that book IS this book! Her "method" is EXACTLY the same as that one, save for a few tweaks here and there (she changes wet pants after an accident before practice runs, he does not).

I bought the Potty Scotty Doll and the book came with it, so at least I didn't shell out money for a book that I essentially already have, but I was VERY disappointed to see basically the Cliff's Notes version on Nathan Azrin's book!

I didn't find this system to work too well. I tried it with both a son and with a daughter. My daughter does okay, but it certainly took her longer than one day. It was a few months to get to the point of limited accidents. My son didn't respond well at all. He 'passed' all of the readiness indicators, but apparently isn't ready. Also, the panties, etc. that I purchased to go with the book aren't very effective. They're difficult for my children to pull off and on, so it is discouraging for them.

If I could rate this -5 stars I would do so...I wish we had never tried this book as it set us back 6 months or more.

After days of preparation we held our 'potty party' with the doll, treats, balloons and so on. Our daughter seemed taken aback from the start that we were to throw an unannounced party for such a reason. She was suspicious at best about the activities.

To relate how bad it got - normally after she takes a nap there would be an abundance of requests for pickup. But on 'Potty Party Day' there was nothing for a long time after her expected wakeup time. Concerned, we went in to find her cowering in the corner, totally silent, evidently hoping she could avoid further Potty Party Festivities.

It took another *6 months* before we could get peeing in the potty down and another year before we achieved the other. Clearly some kind of mental block formed.

I have no doubt that the author has zero practical baby experience and is marketing a product to parents like us who foolishly think some kind of quick fix formulaic solution can work with something as variable as a human being.

So - we tried to train our independent minded 3-year old using the system described in this book, and now he refuses to wear pants. The problem is - part of the process involves negative feedback for wet pants by making him wear them while you run to the toilet 10 times. Well, my son figured out that this is undesirable, and his solution is not to wear pants; he now freaks out when you try and put pants on him after bringing him to the bathroom. I'd give this system negative feedback if I could.

I had heard about this book and doll system from a friend who raved about how it helped get her three year old son out of diapers and decided to buy it as I had no other ideas on how to start potty training my first child. I'll admit, I dreaded the process generally, having seen other friends struggle with inconsistent results using bribery and nagging, and didn't really want to have to go through all that with my daughter. With this book and the doll, I didn't.

I suspect that with a good deal of forethought, one might be able to come up with these ideas oneself, but it was so helpful to have the charts to follow, detailing the process of demonstrating desired and undesired behaviors.

I have read the previous comments, and while I appreciate that the repetition of the 10 practice runs could be stressful, the author emphasizes repeatedly that the parent must remain calm and not allow it to be part of a battle of wills. For my daughter, the repetition certainly emphasized the process and was integral to her mastery of the potty training, and I think it is the reason why we have had no accidents since our two day weekend process (at 2 years and almost 5 months). She had until then talked a lot about the potty and had seen friends use it, had sat on it occasionally with clothing and sometimes without, and had once accidentally used it (it was not apparent that she expected anything to happen and seemed surprised when it did). After this, she gained not only the recognition of the signs that she needed to go, but also the ability to chart a course to the bathroom, remove her underpants, sit, go, and wait to finish before standing. Stupid as it sounds, the ability to take off her own underpants is essential, as it means she can initiate without asking for a grownup's help, which for my INCREDIBLY independent little one makes her willing to go and use the potty, since she can do it by herself. I think the fact that some friends' children are dependent on adults to remove their pants is one of the reasons for accidents and the repetition of the steps, including pants removal allays this problem.

To address the issue of all the necessary products, we bought the doll and the book, but bought our training pants and potty seat, etc. elsewhere. And when we put the book in our cart, Amazon suggested the doll as a combination, so I think the association is there.

Is the doll necessary? For us, the process basically has taken three days (though there were no accidents on day three, it was still the main subject of conversation all day and we continued the dry/wet pants checks, so I count it as well, even though she was demonstrating initiative and mastery. We only used the doll the first day. It was indeed helpful to be able to demonstrate with the doll and I think that it was part of what made the "BIG DAY" feel unlike any other day. Could it be done with another doll that doesn't pee? Perhaps. But it did work for us and my daughter is now very fond of the doll since she taught Potty Patty to use the potty. Which brings me to my final point. The whole point of this method is to have the child "teach" the dolly how to use the potty, dealing with successes and failures along the way, practicing themselves in tandem. For a child who is very parent-pleasing, perhaps that is not necessary. For a child who is very reward driven (ex/ will put away toys for M&Ms or stickers), perhaps that is not necessary. But for a child who derives a lot of pleasure from independence, from "helping" other kids, and from demonstrating ability ("I do it myself!") it was a perfect fit. And with such a calm and straightforward guideline, we were able to make potty training not an unpleasant chore, but rather a lovely, exciting milestone, reached and celebrated together. It was actually a lot of fun for both of us!

Narmin has captured the essence of the One Day Training Method and disseminated the information through an easy to follow style. I have trained four children using her proven techniques; all of them trained within a day! It was the most fun we had working as a team. After achieving success, my children exhibited confidence in other skills areas such as: dressing and feeding themselves; "I Do It!" was the theme of the day!

You will enjoy Narmin's fresh approach to the daunting task of potty training. She uses no negative, manipulative nor ambiguous methods. You will get straight forward steps outlined clearly, as well as some exciting ways to reach the understanding of your toddler. Breaking down the sequence of Potty Training is a learning experience for the parent before it can be shared with the child. By follwoing Narmin's techniques, you will be utilizing the same methods learning specialists have understood for decades!

I can't say enough about his book. You will succeed, if you follow Narmin's method.

The book is not very well written, but that isn't my biggest gripe. The main problem is subjecting a child to repeated practice potty with wet underwear.
It did not work.

My little boy thought we were angry with him and now it is difficult to get him to wear training pants at all.
We have to assure him that that they are nice dry pants and that we won't be making him wear wet pants again.