Oh Crap! Potty Training: Everything Modern Parents Need to Know to Do It Once and Do It Right

[lightreads]

Oh Crap!

2+/5? IDK, man. There are a lot of potty training books, but this tends to be the one at the top of a lot of people’s lists. I skimmed it, and on the one hand, there is useful information here. And, significantly, it is very refreshing to read a parenting book in which the author, gasp, swears. Unheard of.

On the other hand, she has strong opinions about lots of things, and she is dead wrong about one of the major ones, which makes you wonder about the rest of them. She strenuously argues that, if you haven’t potty trained by 30 months, all is terrible and everyone will suffer and you must do it immediately and it is going to be so hard, you guys. Casterbrook, to the contrary, trained with ease and minimal drama in, basically, a weekend, at age 37 months. So whatever, lady. I also really could have done without her theories about why kids get constipated (she thinks it’s the fact that parents are on the internet? Or stressed out? Or something? This was super eyerolly and hard to follow). Also, the sidebar on how she cured her kid’s eczema with the paleo diet was definitely a thing I could have gone without.

So, honestly, don’t bother with this one. Just google a few potty training cheat sheets and pick and choose your methods. That basically what I did, in the end.

Comments

[castiron]

Neither of my younger two trained until they were four. One picked it up after one weekend of plying him with water and letting him run around outside with a bare bottom; the other took a while before he stopped having accidents, but still picked up the basics quickly. We probably could've done them both a bit earlier, but at two they weren't ready.