Potty training during a pandemic

Aslm all, 

 

I know it’s been a while since my last post and loads of things have happened. What I do want to talk about is I've managed to potty train Uthmaan during lockdown. 

Let me first say that Potty training is not easy (sjoe, I said it out loud). It is a hard job and takes time, patience and discipline. Girls seem to potty train quicker than boys not sure why but it is what it is. 

I will admit that when I tried to potty train Ebrahim, I failed miserably. It might have been because he was to young (he was just over 2 years old). All the books and articles I read indicated that children should start to potty train from 2 years on wards. Well..... this did not work for me or him. It was December 2015 and I was home, my company was closed for the holidays,  and I thought this is the perfect time for me to try. After a week of epic failure, nothing worked. I tried everything from him running around with no nappy on to letting him sit on the toilet every 30 min. The moment I put the nappy on he would pee. I was so frustrated and felt like I was a failure. It took some time but I realised that he wasn't just ready yet to be potty trained. It was only when he started his new school (still on a nappy at the age of 3), did he want to be potty trained. Thank you to Shabnam and her wonderful staff of Children's Garden Educare for getting my child potty trained. 

Uthmaan, well my feisty little man showed no indication at the beginning of this year that he wanted to be potty trained (he is 3 years old), so I left him. Shabnam sent out an email in February telling us that they would start potty training him and his friends this year. I was a bit skeptical as I was not sure if he was ready.  Then lockdown happened in March and that was the end of potty training for Uthmaan or so I thought. 

One morning in April/May (can't really remember the month but what I do remember is that it wasn't really cold weather so perfect weather to potty train), I decided to see what happens if I leave him with no nappy on for the day. He was running around butt naked in the house and would make a beeline for the toilet when he needed to go. Yeah!!!! its working (I did a little dance). We did this for a week and it worked, the next week I added a underpants and a tracksuit pants. This did not work, I had to probably bath him 3 times a days. I think the underpants made him think he had a nappy on and he would just go. So, I took the underpants out of the equation and left him with no underpants on and  only his tracksuit pants. This worked and is still working. Yeah!!! so we sticking to this until he shows me signs that he is ready to wear underpants. I am not really bothered about him not wearing underpants he needs to be comfy and if the underpants is making him uncomfortable, well then it has to go. 

All of the above is great news, but it must be a bit confusing because when Level 3 came into effect. Ahmed and I would take the boys for walks or bike rides in the area. When we out I would put a nappy on for him. because of the current situation, I do not want to take the risk of having to take my child to public toilets. We all know kids LOVE  to touch everything and stick their hands in their mouth. Until we have a better grasp on the pandemic, at home he has no nappy but if we out it he will have to wear a nappy. 

We do what we have to do, to keep our children safe. 

 

Chat soon, In Sha Allah, Ameen. 

Khuda Hafiz (May Allah be your guardian). 

Ayesha