Real Life Potty Training STories

About This Series

This is the second installment in our series of real-life stories about how real parents helped their children move from diapers to fully potty trained. We created it in recognition of the fact that all kids are unique and that no two potty training journeys are exactly the same. There truly is no better way to grasp what needs to be done (and to motivate yourself) than learning how other parents tackled this major milestone!

Introducing Mariam, Emma and Ellie

Our second story is from Mariam. Let's find out how she potty trained her TWINS, Emma and Ellie!

Question #1 - Please Tell Us About Yourself and Your Twins!?

Hi! My name is Mariam. I live in Los Angeles, California. I have a full time job at a tech company, and manage a household with my husband and four year old twin girls named Emma and Ellie.

Question #2 - When Did You Start Potty Training?

I wanted to potty train the girls as soon as we could because we were spending a small fortune on diapers, AND the only preschool that had two open spots at the same time required our girls to be potty trained. The PRESSURE was on! Long story short, we started introducing potty training at about two-and-a-half years old.

Question #3 - What Helped You The Most?

Facebook mom groups. There is nothing like thousands of twin moms who have been there, done that to help tell you the tips and tricks they used. I learned a lot from them, but I also quickly realized that the potty training journey is unique to every kid.

Question #4 - How Long Did It Take to Click?

Ellie was really interested in it and it took her just a few days, but Emma wanted nothing to do with it and got frustrated pretty early on. What “clicked” for her, was that she wanted to be in control of her potty.

Question #5 - When Were You Really Confident They Were Trained?

Ellie was doing really well about three-to-four weeks after we started potty training. She didn't like sitting in her dirty diaper so we had that advantage with her. 

Emma, on the other hand . . . where is my eye roll emoji for this article? . . was an ENTIRE year behind. I think the fact that we pushed her too early worked against us. The potty became a really sensitive issue for her, and it was something we struggled with when we finally put her in preschool. She would basically tell us off in her own words. 

Question #6 - How Did You Tackle Poop?

I think this goes back to each child's journey being unique. Our challenge with poop was that the girls didn’t want to sit on the toilet long enough to wait for it to come out. So we gave them reading materials.

I figured this trick gets my husband to stay on the potty for at least 20 minutes with out interruption, so it had to work for the kids. It did!

Question #7 - What About Training Outside Your Home?

We carried a potty and change of clothes with us everywhere. In fact my girls are four years old and we still carry a potty everywhere. The main issue is that they can’t necessarily hold their pee as long as it takes us to find a bathroom. We always have a potty in the car. Accidents have happened, but we try to minimize the number of accidents

Question #8 - How About Nighttime Training?

To be honest I haven’t figured out how to nighttime “train.” The girls are still wearing diapers to bed, and I know they would prefer to be in panties but I don’t know how to expect them to control their potty in their sleep. The urge to pee doesn’t wake them up the way it does for adults. I don't necessarily know that we can “train” them for that. What we do, is tell them to go potty before bedtime. If they wake up three consecutive mornings without pee in their diaper than they can graduate to testing out panties. I learned my lesson and will definitely not push them.

Question #9 - Any Potty Training Hacks You Can Share?

Bribery.

Question #10 - Any Last Words For Parents Just About To Embark On Their Potty Training Journey?  

Wait for your child to be ready if you can. Potty training can be a deeply sensitive thing for kids. I didn’t actually realize how damaging it was for Emma until it was too late. For her, it became a control thing. She wanted me to know that this is something that I am not the boss of her about… and she is right. As a parent we are typically “the boss” of everything, but when it comes to something so personal, its really empowering to let your kid know that they are the boss of this one thing. Oh and when your kids are ready- don’t forget “bribery is your friend." Did I mention that already?