The hard word on toilet training… our top 5
I found myself emailing a friend the other day, and the subject line of the email was ‘Potty matters’.
What has life come to? I’m writing an email about potties??! So while I’m at it, what the heck, I’m going to write a post about toilet training children’s books.
There are lots of toilet training books for parents, of course, and most toddler parenting books have at least a chapter on toilet training, but what I’m interested in at the moment is children’s books about the potty, to get Rowan thinking about it. Peer-pressure of the positive variety is a wonderful thing in toddlers, I’m finding. And reading about appealing characters who are starting to use the potty seemed like a good part of the preparation for toilet training.
Once I started researching this topic further, I discovered just how many books there are, not to mention the contraversies! Getting the balance between showing enough detail, making it fun, and encouraging success without making the experience stressful and therefore off-putting…. Gee!
And so following my research I too now feel qualified to enter the fray. Why, oh why, do so many potty books picture the use of a potty as a hat? Isn’t this the last thing you want to show a toddler who hasn’t thought of it yet…? And how can you write a potty book without ever showing someone actually sitting on the thing? Many of the books out there are just too coy about the mechanics…
I have to say that the selection of books on the subject of toilet training do not inspire me as much as most of the other books I have reviewed on this site. But nevertheless, these books seem to me to strike the right balance, and they represent my top 5 books to encourage toilet training… We will be reading these books over the next few months. Any further suggestions gratefully received!
1. I Want My Potty (Tony Ross)
Tony Ross has written a great little series of ‘issues-based’ books for toddlers based on the character of the little princess. His illustrations are very witty, and I love the fact that mum and dad, the king and queen, wear normal clothes and do normal things around the house. In this book, the little princess decides that ‘Nappies are YUUECH!’ This is the type of peer pressure I’m looking for! Tony is a very prolific author/illustrator and apparently this book is his personal favourite. I like it too.
2 . Who’s in the Loo? (Jeanne Willis and Adrian Reynolds)
There’s a very long queue for this loo, and we are taken on a zoological rollercoaster as we imagine which animal is taking so long in the loo. ‘A wandering wombat who wanted a widdle? A waddling penguin too frozen to piddle?’ No practicalities, mechanics or toddler issues in this one, but lots of fun, and I could imagine it might be a handy reference when you are stuck in a public toilet queue…
3. Time to Pee! (Mo Willems)
Written by the author of the popular Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Mo is refreshingly uncoy about showing pictures of the toilet, undies around the ankles and toilet paper. It covers lots of the practicalities without seeming heavy-handed. I love the toilet-covered endpapers!
4. A Potty for Me! (Karen Katz)
Australian and other non-US readers will probably need to substitute some of the terminology in this one (lots of references to ‘diapers’ and ‘peeing’). The form of rhyming text in this one is not my favourite style, but this book does canvass many of the real-life issues, and the bright colours and flaps are appealing. It’s pitched at a young audience - so it’s a good one for the under-twos.
5. Everyone Poops! (Taro Gomi) 
This book, and the others mentioned by Lou in her previous post, are a good way to bring some fun into the toilet training caper. The humour will appeal to kids as soon as they start to find excretion hilarious… So much too look forward to…
Hi All,
we also love Zoo Poo by Richard Morgan. It, like some of the others you mentioned goes through animals in the Zoo and how they doo-doo (we often substitute poo-poo) It has a cute ending with the baby doing poo-poo on the loo and some extra parenting tips for mums and dads.
It is quite funny and all that talk of pooing never fails to amuse!
How tense a time is toilet training though???
13 May 2008 at 3.15 pm
Hi Everyone
I was talking about this very issue today with some other Gymbaroo mums and advising strongly against the potty. Go straight to the big toilet instead. The whole mess and cleaning up of a potty is the other thing that is omitted from the books that you have reviewed here but is the most essential thing you need to consider as a parent who is toilet training to eliminate some of these things from your life!! I know some children prefer to use a potty and I did buy one but very quickly realised that it was nothing but hassle.
Keep up the great work on the blog, am really enjoying it.
Pinny
14 May 2008 at 7.37 pm
Great recommendations. We also have the DK book - Big Boys use the Potty. It’s quite good, talks about all diferrent types of potties, and also just about getting used to using them. AND it has a little star chart so you can reward your little potty trainer with a sticker each time they score (or at least try). We’re currently in the throes of potty training too.. I never knew it was so messy!
16 May 2008 at 10.04 pm
Hello to all,
thank you for all these helpful suggestions. A huge success here, is “The Story of the Little Mole Who Knew it was none of his Business”, by Werner Holzwart & Wolf Erlbruch. Basically, an animal has done something on the mole’s head, so he goes around asking all the animals whether they’re responsible for this. They all say know and show him that their poo is different from what he has on his head. It’s hilarious, ends in a very funny way, and the drawings are great. I recommand the biggest hardcover copy you can find. It makes it bulky but is worth it.
Another one they love is “Once upon a Potty”, by Alona Frankel. It takes us through all the steps a little boy goes through before achieving that wonder, peeing in the potty. His Mommmy is extremely proud of him! It also teaches you about different parts of the body. The drawings are really sweet, and both of you can really relate to the story. It’s very old-fashioned (the little boy’s nappies are made of fabric…), but I still like it. And there’s a girl’s version!
Good luck to all the potty-training mummies, I really need some in that regard!
23 May 2008 at 6.16 am
[...] and other ‘topic’ titles could pre-empt behaviour issues before they’re there. (See Katie’s previous post on Toilet Training - “Why, oh why, do so many potty books picture the use of a potty as a hat? Isn’t this [...]
26 May 2008 at 10.14 pm