pee-pee dance, it should look like a lightbulb of sorts is going off in
your child’s head, even if they indicate it by crying or noticing if they
don’t make it to the potty. That recognition is good!
Commando
Your child should go commando (aka, no underpants but with pants)
for about a month, give or take a week. I used to merely suggest this,
but over the years I’ve come to the conclusion that it is a very
necessary step. Underpants are too much like a diaper. A few days of
potty training is not long enough to reprogram your child’s muscle
memory. That muscle memory dictates that when something snug
goes on, it’s time to release the pee and poop. Because this is largely
unconscious, it’s beyond your child’s scope to control it. In other
words, she can’t be expected to do anything but poop and pee in the
underpants.
Because they fit snugly, underpants somewhat contain an accident,
particularly a poop. While this may seem advantageous, it’s not; I’ve
seen kids have accidents in underpants and not be too bothered by it.
However, because going commando feels similar to being naked, an
accident in pants with no underpants feels much different. To be
honest, it feels much grosser. The pee trickles down their legs, and
their pants get all stuck to them. That’s good in potty training. Kids
seem to have a sense of shame when an accident happens while going
commando that they don’t really feel during an accident with
underpants. I think this may be because kids see underpants as a
diaper in another form. When I say a sense of shame, I’m not