The 5 Worst Things About Potty Training Your Child

Occasionally when I talk about cloth diapers I hear a response of, "Cloth diapers? They sounds so gross!" Or, "Yuck: I could never handle the poop." In my opinion, cloth diapering exposes parents to less yucky stuff because children in cloth diapers experience fewer (if any) poop blow-outs compared to children in disposable diapers. Handling a poopy cloth diaper is also very easy. If the child is breastfeeding, liquid poop dissolves in the washing machine. If a child is formula fed or eating solid food, then poop should be knocked into the toilet, or rinsed into the toilet using a diaper sprayer. The "grossness factor" during cloth diapering was extremely minimal for our family.

Potty training, on the other hand, was a whole different story than cloth diapering. I think all parents have to accept that, when you have kids, you are going to be exposed to poop, vomit, and other unpleasantness. I would take cloth diapering over potty training any day, and here is my humorous list why:

The top 5 worst things about potty training your child:

1. The potty chair
Your child may be too short to fit onto the regular potty, or she may be too independent to get help. This means you're stuck with the endless job of cleaning out a germ-ridden, child-sized potty chair. A diaper sprayer can be a great tool because it allows you to quickly rinse the potty chair and get it ready for the next use.

2. Over zealous potty-using
Kids are learning something new and they are bound to be excited about it. However, after your child has used the potty 30 times in 1-hour, you're going to be less than enthusiastic about his newly discovered potty skills. You may be ready to lean over the toilet yourself after your child has seven poops in one evening. I guess some kids are very determined to be successful!

3. "Doing it themselves" mentality
I love independence in children, but sometimes kids aren't ready for certain tasks. Your child will be seeing you clean out the potty chair, which means it won't be long before he gets the idea to try it himself. Next thing you know, you're walking into the bathroom to find a naked toddler throwing pee into the toilet.

4. Beware of pets
If you have a dog, you know that dogs are not the smartest creatures on the planet. Think again about procrastinating on cleaning up the small terd your child just deposited in the potty chair. You just left a delectable treat in a shinny dog-sized bowl. YUCK.

5. Say goodbye to your expensive things
There is a law of nature: if it's your favorite/most expensive/nicest - whatever it may be- your child is going to pee on it. Move it before the inevitable accident occurs. You may also want to plan ahead, and buy a gallon-sized jug of white vinegar to sterilize potty accidents that happen on carpet (or the one rug you have in your, now, totally barren home).

The next time someone talks to me about how "yucky" cloth diapers are, I will laugh and warn them, "Cloth diapers? Those are a treat compared to potty training!"

Has potty training created some humorous scenarios at your house?

Bio: Nissa is a researcher and writer working in the life sciences. In her free time, she enjoys writing about natural parenting, cloth diapering, and eco-friendly living at Cloth Diaper Guru.


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