sterile and poop is not.
One additional brilliant tip from a mom: carry Post-its in your
purse. You can use them to cover up the automatic flusher sensor in
public restrooms to prevent them from going off while your child is
sitting on the potty. Because children are small, it’s not uncommon
for the flusher to go off midpoop otherwise. Good luck getting your
kid to use the toilet after that.
The Bloom Is off the Rose
This applies if you have a kid who was doing great with the potty and
then started having accidents, seemingly out-of-the-blue. The
honeymoon is over.
I remember years ago when I quit smoking. The first couple of
months were easy. I was so proud and got so much support. If I was
bitchy, I could blame it on quitting. Friends checked in daily. But
then that tapered off. I had become a nonsmoker—a bitchy, fat
nonsmoker at that—and no one gives you kudos for that. The novelty
wore off. The same thing happens with potty training. You think,
He’s got this. And he thinks, I’ve got this. And as he gets confident,
chances are he’s just waiting a little too long to get to the potty.
Handle it by going back to some watching and prompting.
This is not to say you have to be on your kid like you were in the
beginning, but do try to determine what’s behind the accidents. A lot
of times, kids get very invested in play and forget to go or don’t want
to miss anything. Sometimes they simply wait too long to go to the
potty, and do a little pee-pee in their pants. Or they can’t get to a