Wanted! Toilet Training Advice

Aidan refuses to use the toilet. No matter how much Paul and I cheer, coax or bribe he shows absolutely no interest. When Aidan started walking at 9 months, Paul and I had pipe dreams of his early physically ability signaling great proficiencies to come. While Paulina didn’t even start scooting until a year old, she has already started using the toilet regularly. We got it totally wrong.

I’ve been pondering how my parents were able to get me and my three brothers to use the toilet. I thought back to all of the positive reinforcement, purchasing of books that explain the process, songs and coaching. Oh yeah, they never did any of that. They just put us on the toilet and made us “go.” Then I started to think about all of the mentoring and words of encouragement they gave us over time to get us to do chores, homework, excel in sports and music and get A’s on tests. Oh yeah, there was none of that either, just the guilt laced with threats speech of how they sacrificed everything to come to this country and you better do well or else.

I guess that’s the curse of being first generation. We can hardly spin tales of having no shoes, no indoor plumbing and nothing to eat. The best Paul can come up with is that we used to play Pong on Atari while they have nearly lifelike graphics on every gaming system. I once told Maxwell that I used to wear my cousins hand-me-downs. He just rolled my eyes and asked if he could play on his DS. Later he asked me, “What’s a hand-me-down?”

What’s the best way to encourage Aidan? What can his brain really understand at 3? Going the route of “do it or else” seemed to work for my parents. Others keep telling us not to force it, he’ll come around. I guess we’ll continue to go through 120 diapers a month until he comes around.