Hidden Benefits of Potty Training

As an aid to my son’s potty training, I’ve been making “targets” for him to aim at. I’d heard various suggestions for what to use: Cheerios seemed to send a mixed message about places appropriate for food products; Piddlers Toilet Targets seemed like overkill, and at $3.99 for a box of 20, would have cut into his winter clothing fund. (Conservatively, let’s say we used six per day. That’s over $200 for six months.) Instead, I’ve been drawing on toilet paper with a felt-tip marker.

It started out simply enough: a circular target shape. As time went on, however, and I needed to keep my son’s interest, I started doing smiley faces, hearts, and stars. My son got into the spirit of things and started making requests: trains, fire trucks, rocket ships. I was pushing the boundaries of the medium and my talent, but found I could do quite a lot with basic shapes and stick figures. Then he began to sound like he was storyboarding for Spielberg. “Mommy, I want a firetruck zooming to a fire with a ladder, putting the fire out on a tall building.” “Mommy, I want a little boy washing his hands, looking in the mirror, and squirting the soap.”

All this while he’s dancing, cross-legged, in front of the potty.

He may not be toilet trained quite yet, but my partner and I will now take on all comers at Pictionary.