We love a good hack and enjoy sharing them with you when we find something that has the potential to change your life.
But this particular hack has had the Go Ask Mum team divided. Could this potty training hack backfire? And shouldn’t we teach kids how to do something right the first time?
Love What Matters posted a picture of a little boy doing potty training, facing the lid while going to the toilet. The child is given a marker so they can draw on the toilet lid, while they wait for their poos and wees to come out.
The Facebook post captioned the image: “Potty training Idea: let your child sit backwards on the potty and give them a dry erase marker!”
“They will sit longer and there’s less of a chance of little boys missing!”
No doubt it’s a clever idea. But one of our team members pointed out the importance of teaching children the right way to use a toilet so they know how to use a public one. And will encouraging the child to draw on the toilet lid give them free reign to draw on other things in the house?
Even my three-year-old saw the picture and laughed saying ‘what a naughty baby drawing on the toilet seat!’ What an interesting perception from a three-year-old.
Maybe we’re overthinking it?
I would never do this with my children. Most of them had a potty chair and did not need a distraction to sit there. My third child even trained himself the first time around. He would just go to the bathroom do his business and then put his pants back on. In the beginning with him if I did not see him do it , would have to check him to see if wiped properly. He ended up in hospital and at the age of two thought he was not trained had him in nappies. I then had to remind him after that when he came home plus having his arm in a half cast made going to the potty harder. The hospital staff only found out he was trained when went to the toilet un aided and were surprise that 24 month could go .