Spliggle has two favorite DVDs right now. The first is “Happy Feet,” because the Cat has an obsession with penguins, and Splig likes to follow along.
But the second is “Go Potty Go!” which we received free-for-review via the Parent Bloggers Network.
“Go Potty Go!” is produced by Mozzarella Media and is subtitled "Potty Training for Tiny Toddlers." It is designed for both girls and boys, so you multi-gender families out there can purchase a single DVD and be done with it! There is no awkward gender-specific language: all "big kids" use the potty, wear underwear, wipe, and flush.
When the Cat was toilet training, we had many books and many videos. They did nothing. The Cat loved pushing a button that made a flushing sound on a book, but didn’t quite “get” that the whole point was to go potty and then flush. Similarly, one of the more popular potty training videos a few years back had an entire montage of kids playing with their potties. Sorry, but I wasn’t appreciative of the encouragement to put a potty on one’s head! Of course, the Cat thought it was funny to urinate on one of his trains, “Hey! I am filling up the freight car!”
And so, I was a little nervous about how training would go the second time around.
Quite the converse of the materials I used with the Cat, “Go Potty Go!” Actually teaches what a potty chair is and why one needs to use one. Yes, they talk about flushing, but only after the deed is done and after wiping. Yay, wiping!
They cover the typical “everyone goes to the potty,” but they put a new spin on it by profiling that different animals also go potty.
Kids love animals. Animals go potty. Coooool!
They make a big deal about how BIG girls and boys wear underwear. And isn’t it super-cool to be able to pick out snazzy-looking underwear? Paige and Parker Panda, the stars of the show, sure do! From Moose in red polka-dots, to Elephant's "whitey-whites" to "stripes of blue" on Penguin, these animals are decked out in their underwear finest for the "Big Kids Parade" (everyone loves a parade, don’t they?) The DVD encourages the viewers, "Join the Big Kids Parade! Put on your favorite underwear!"
The video profiles all kinds of things that make a BIG girl or boy. Of course, Spliggle is independent enough; I don’t need him to think he can take over the world just yet, but I appreciate that the DVD encourages the big kids to use their potty chairs instead of diapers: "Babies use diapers, and that's okay; but I'd rather be a big kid, do things the big-kid way!"
The songs are catchy and stay in my head. Spliggle sings along. He’ll usually go use the potty right after using the video, but doesn’t necessarily continue throughout the day. Still, a little post-video motivation is certainly better than nothing. He is at the point where if I remind him of the potty, he’ll usually give it a shot. The video reinforces what I’ve been saying. But nobody listens to Mommy, right? So it is good to have the scoop from another source.
In addition to the songs, there are little quizzes: "Is this a potty chair?" "No!" or "Can Katie play with her kickball when she's on the potty?" "No! But she can color in her coloring book!" Audience participation is huge in the toddler set. Reinforcement through repetition with different activities is key.
Spliggle gives “Go Potty Go!” an enthusiastic thumbs-up, and so do I.
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