TOILET TRAINING IN LESS THAN A DAY by Nathan Azrin

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "What the heck does toilet training have to do with Enduring Romance?!" Duh. Everything! This is Real Life, people! In Real Life, romance leads to love which leads to making babies. Babies grow into toddlers and toddlers must be toilet trained or they wreak havoc on the household and the romance of the parents will not endure! Little wonder I'm one of those readers who is not impressed by swashbuckling 'heroes' who have no intention of sticking around to help raise the resulting offspring. You can find a husband who is a good lover AND a good father! All right, enough ranting. On with the review!

TOILET TRAINING IN LESS THAN A DAY has never failed me. I'm a retired nanny and mother of four (three on Earth and one in Heaven.) I've done this a few times. There is a catch - my children have always taken FOUR days to be fully trained. Not one. Considering the possible troubles, however, I'm NOT complaining!

Toilet Training is like a big party in our house. We get two or three liters of soda pop, couple of bags of potato chips, and a large bag of M&Ms. The older children love helping with training, because they get treats for demonstrating the process to the toddler.

This method is thoroughly explained step-by-step in the book. Instead of reviewing those steps, I'll share the critical points I've learned to go along with them.

1) Read the book completely, every single word, and commit the basic steps to memory.

2) Be absolutely certain the pre-training phase is complete BEFORE you train.

3) Learn what motivates your child. With my eldest, it was our social interaction. With my second and succeeding children, it was a strong desire to be like older siblings. Whatever it is for your child, tailor your training to accomadate.

4) Block out an entire WEEK. Yes, a week. Block out an entire week in which you have no need to leave the house. You will probably only need to stay in the house for the first day, but make sure there's no need to leave. This is vital because there must be NO interruptions or distractions during the process and you will need that week to make certain the training has become habit for the child. If you work outside the home, at least try to have to weekend. Try to get a long weeked, if at all possible. If this is irritating, just imagine yourself changing a 4 year old's poopy diaper and you'll get over it fast. Trust me, that's not something you want to have to do!

5) Have fun! If at some point you or your child starts getting frustrated, relax! Calm down. Chill out. It's nothing personal. Losing your tempor will destroy the training. Don't let it happen. Remember the image of the 4 year old's poopy diaper!

Like I said above, this method has never failed me. Nevertheless, I know there's always a wild card in every deck. Each child is an individual. So, I'm going at this with an open mind and open heart.