Why a free intro to potty training?

I had a look on Mumsnet yesterday. They have a whole forum dedicated to Potty training, with a post called “Potty training during lockdown” with more than 6400 replies on it. I didn’t dare look at that one, but I did look at many others and frankly, I was scared. I was scared by the number of parents “winging it” and feeling like they are failing, by the number of parents who thought their 3 year old STILL wasn’t showing all the signs of readiness, by the sheer number who simply do not know where to start.

I’m not here to judge individual parents, it was evident that all of them were doing the best they could with the information they had. My issue is precisely with the information they did or didn’t have. With so many parenting gurus offering advice, it’s hard to know who to believe. Gina Ford and her 7-day plan suggest sitting on the potty (fully clothed) for a week before starting. Sarah Ockwell-Smith says you need to take them to the potty hourly. How contradictory that a gentle parenting coach suggests ignoring your child’s body signals and simply taking them to the potty, whether they need it or not…

It was jaw-dropping to see the amount of stress these parents are going through, because they haven’t got the right tools and the correct information. So many of them were dismayed because their child didn’t notice they were wet or had a full nappy… but disposable nappies are made to feel dry, so how could a toddler know it’s wet!!??? And if we’ve been consistently telling them that warm squishy poop is ok, why would they think otherwise? Yes, there is a human instinct to be clean and dry but we’ve been very effective at teaching them to ignore that!

Anyway, this is what spurred me on to share a free 20-minute potty training intro. I would love it if parents decide to sing up to my potty training class, but that’s not the aim of the intro. I want parents to learn that they don’t need to keep waiting for readiness. And I want them to have the right information to make potty learning an enjoyable process, not a taxing one.

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One tip for potty training and EC…

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Five natural alternatives to disposable nappies