The Princess and the Pee

Potty-training has begun in full force this week. We're 24 hours in, and it's been going well. No accidents as of yet and Margot has been very cooperative.

I know lots of parents introduce M & Ms around this age as incentive to get their kids out of diapers. Not me. Instead of bribery, I employ psychological warfare to encourage Min to use her potty. (M & Ms are neither good for Margot's skin [chocolate makes her break out] nor for her attitude [the caffeine makes her crazy]). Instead, her reward is simple: toilet paper.

It works like this: I never let Margot play with the toilet paper in the bathroom as a tot. Months ago, I created an aura around the paper by saying, "Oh, no, you can't touch that Margot. It's only for people who use the potty." Eventually, Margot decided she wanted to use the potty and aha! She gets to use the paper. Really, that's all it took.

Oh, and there is some princess underwear involved here too. Margot is wearing underwear with Disney princesses on it, and she doesn't want them to get wet. This is not a novel potty-training technique, but it does seem to work.

I'm thinking of patenting the "No toilet paper until you use the potty" idea, though - that one's all mine.