Oh Crap! Potty Training

way he knows how, and then one day, you ask him to poop elsewhere.
Do you see how this could be met with resistance? Imagine if you
came to visit me at my house, and I told you that we only poop in the
corner of my living room. I tell you up, down, and sideways that it’s
okay. We all do it. Really. I’ll give you privacy. Please, please, poop in
the corner of my living room. Don’t worry! I’ll clean it up! No matter
what, it would still feel wrong. Am I right or am I right? Because you
know logically that it’s unsanitary, and you have long been
conditioned to poop in the proper place.
Ahhh . . . the magic words: conditioned to poop in the proper place.
How do you condition a small human, whose logical reasoning is not
developed? Funny you should ask. I’ll take consistency and repetition
for $1,000. That is the name of the pooping game, guys: consistency
and repetition.
Why else might your child be afraid of pooping in the potty? If you
are eating while reading this, you might want to stop for a bit.
Look, all your child has known—in addition to a diaper—is the
warm, cozy feeling of her poop against her butt. That feeling is her
normal. It’s her safe, her routine. It seems pretty gross to us as grown-
ups, but it feels really good to kids. Mostly, because it’s all they know.
I’ve actually worked with kids who can say outright, “I like the warm
feeling of my pee and poop in my diaper.” Good thing they’re cute,
huh?
And of course, let’s not forget the fear of the toilet itself. Over the
years, I’ve heard of every manner of monsters that live in the toilet.
It’s all fun and games to flush until it’s time to actually put their own
tushies there. Again, looking through the kids’ eyes: they don’t