My life has been radically blessed in the last 25 days. Not only have I achieved a 14 year goal in my career but my 4 year old son has finally become Potty Trained.
When you have a baby you expect the next 2 years of your life to be spent cleaning up dirty diapers and poopy messes, but I didn’t realize I would be spending an additional 2 years after that in poopy detail too. I will spare you all the grossness but you can imagine my son is a big healthy eater who is very regular but never went in the toilet. I am very, very grateful for Young Living’s Thieves Cleaner which I needed to use just about daily.
But all that changed about 2 weeks ago when all of a sudden my son was potty trained. On further analysis I realize that it wasn’t all of a sudden and that there were some key things that led to his change of heart. I also realize that some of these same principals can be applied to other difficult situations in our lives too.
So here is my list of Tips for Potty Training and Life:
1) Expectations – Joshua was my first child so I really didn’t know what to expect so I didn’t set any expectations until recently. I also was told “boys” take longer to potty train and I guess I set that in my mind as an expectation.
2) Create Urgency – Because both my husband and I work from home and have a decent income that we could “afford” spending money on diapers there was no urgency to get him out of them. Many moms who I talked to in different financial and work situations had their kids potty trained by 2 years old.
3) Consistency – I admit I wasn’t consistent myself in getting my son potty trained. I would “train” one day and then not the next. Or one week and then let it go the next. I am sure he was a bit confused too with that kind of schedule.
Also downstairs he had a small portable potty but then upstairs he had a little potty seat that goes over the big potty. I found both of these a hassle to clean and they were just gross. So literally the day after I got rid of them he started being fully potty trained.
4) PRAISE PRAISE PRAISE – After reading this quote by Michelle Duggar, mom of the famous 19 Kids and Counting in her discussion about changing and molding a child’s good behavior “praise 10 times more than you correct”.
So I started doing that in a lot of things with my son and wow it really works. When he did have an accident I would do the clean up, make him help clean up and take him out of “fun” for at least 10 minutes so he understood this wasn’t good behavior. I didn’t use words like BAD BOY but rather kept saying where do we go pee pee and poopy on the potty… when you do this it’s no FUN and lots of work for MOMMY which is no FUN…
A side note on this one… some parents told me they spanked their kids when they messed their pants and that seemed to correct the behavior. The reason I didn’t go down that path fully is because I once had a patient who was chronically constipated her whole life. After doing some serious Neuro Emotional work with another doc friend of mine we found a root of that issue was when she was pretty young she had pooped her pants and been severely spanked because of it. Her system always took “pooping” as bad and held it in most of her life, which led to some pretty bad outcomes.
5) Accountability – We started using a potty chart where Joshua would get a star on the chart every time he went pee pee on the potty. Then after he was pee pee trained we moved to poopy stars. It was a visual reminder of his success and progress
6) Reward – At first we did the M&M reward every time he went peepPee on the potty and I quickly had my son addicted to candy after 4 years of avoiding that. Then I moved to SunChips, a little healthier type of M&M and I ended up getting into them… (not good). Then we moved to stickers, and finally now we do a toy prize at the end of a week when we poopy on the potty everyday for a week.
7) Prayer – When my Mommy Helper came down from New York to live here in Florida and work for us, she got more than she bargained for when it came to clean up duty. At least 2 times a week she would get the brunt of poopy clean up mess. So being the prayerful woman she is she started bringing her request to God along with her prayer team. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that Joshua was potty trained after that either. Prayer is one of the most powerful tools we have.
So how can you apply these principals to your own life or maybe your own behavior changes?
1) Expect MORE- Don’t use excuses about age, environment, finances, or the fact that most people do _______. Make your own destiny and throw away excuses.
2) Create Urgency – If you are comfortable in your life or situation there is no urgency to achieve a goal. Cut up the credit card, get real about your weight or health condition and do whatever you need to do to create urgency. The most successful entrepreneurs and home business owners were usually desperate to succeed.
3) Consistency is the KEY… – I have an amazing distributor on my team named Kim. She is successful at whatever she puts her mind too and Young Living has been a part of her life since 2006. Her commissions could easily be 10 times what they are now but her pattern of working in her YL business is inconsistent.
She will share it consistently for a little while and then move on to the next best thing then 6 months or a year later come back to it. She loves the product and continues to use them all these years but because she never stays focused on the business for more than a couple months, she loses opportunities and income. Consistency is the key to success.
4) PRAISE PRAISE PRAISE – It works in all areas of life. It’s like watering a new plant. You must praise your progress daily. Even little “sprouts” we call them… they need to be watered everyday.
5) Accountability – Dave Ramsey suggests having an accountability partner in his Financial Peace University and I would suggest it in any long term goal. Someone or a group of ‘someones’ who help lift you up and also tell you like it is. I would also suggest tracking your work and progress will help you stay accountable too.
6) REWARD – All the hard work won’t be worth it if we don’t get the REWARDS too. Set reward system for yourself so you have things to look forward to weekly even. Maybe if you work your home business in the evenings every night you get to watch all your favorite recorded shows on Saturday night. Or if you achieve a new rank in your home business you get to purchase your favorite essential oil with your REWARDS points.
7) PRAYER – The most powerful tool you have. Combined with the 6 positive actions above, it can change your life.
So I hope my son’s Potty Training Success can help you in achieving your hard goals too. Remember, it’s a process. It takes time and it may not turn out exactly as your thought because God’s plan might be different from your plan.
Disclaimer: This information is not meant to diagnose, prescribe, treat or cure any illness or disease. It’s strictly for informational, educational, or entertainment purposes ONLY. The products I talk about are not meant to diagnose, prescribe, treat or cure any illness or disease. Any information I give you about them is for informational or entertainment purposes only. They have not been evaluated or approved by the FDA. Please seek the qualified health professional of your choice when making health decisions for yourself, your family and your pets.